As the FT has reported this morning:
On Saturday, people dressed in black and wearing scarves and balaclavas blocked roads near the Port of Dover, which is England's main hub for ferries to France, disrupting operations for several hours before services resumed.
On Sunday, a group including Daniel Thomas, the far-right activist who claimed credit for Saturday's events, sought to stop lifeboat crews in Portsmouth from bringing ashore 140 migrants picked up from a large dinghy launched from Normandy.
I have been a member of the RNLI for maybe 40 years. I inherited the interest from my father. I have supported it with donations because I believe saving lives at sea is essential. Oddly, this service is voluntarily supplied in the UK. That is an aberration, but in this case it works. I have no problem with that.
I do have a problem with people interfering with the work of the RNLI's volunteer crews when they are saving lives at sea. That action puts people at risk. Amongst those threatened were the RNLI crews, as more than one boat was involved. Worse, this was a deliberate attempt to prevent lives from being saved at sea, and national and international law has long treated this as a priority. I have not bothered to investigate the law, but I suspect it is backed by that.
On Saturday, Kent police claimed that the arrival of hundreds of people dressed in black, including their balaclava helmets, was a spontaneous event in Dover. The police did, of course, lie when doing so, and I use the term quite deliberately. I do not believe them. They can no longer pretend that what happened last night was spontaneous in any way. 500 people do not arrive from a distance spontaneously. Social media was used to promote the action.
So, what are we seeing? Is it the rise of co-ordinated vigilante action, or something worse? Is this organised opposition to the state as well as organised intimidation? What is the goal? Those of us old enough to remember will recall how "the Troubles" undermined life in Northern Ireland. Might we see the same here?
I hope our politicians have a suitable response.
And might I assure them that saying they will "Stop the boats" does not represent the response that is required. Refugees have a right to come to this country. It is their political duty to let them make their claim to remain. Nothing less will do.
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Any thoughts on the piece in the Times where a Home Office source states that only 1 in 100 asylum claims are genuine? That is the big story and is what makes people so frustrated and angry with the political response.
They are lying. Fascist falsehoods exist everywhere, including in the Home Office. In fact, given recent Home Secretaries, this is especially true there. And you are clearly a fascist apologiser. Why? My grandfather died fighting people like you.
For a thorough debunking of the Times lies, see this substack article by writer Conquest of the Useless entitled “Stop the Blokes”
https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/stop-the-blokes
Perhaps the Times “journalist” rather than talking to an unnamed alleged Home Office source, should just look at the published uk figures – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2026/how-many-people-are-granted-asylum-in-the-uk.
Figure 4 shows an initial grant rate of asylum at just over 40% in 2024, and then a projection for reconsideration and latter granting at around 45% although this is a projection, as it usually takes a couple of years to go through the reconsideration process from the looks of the chart.
A subsequent paragraph says that usually after appeals and reconsiderations, another 8-29% grants of asylum are given, which rather suggests that the initial interviews are refusing more than they should.
Thank you
I think it’s more likely the other way round.
In my opinion it’s not important if you’re fleeing from / being driven away by war, famine, horrible economy,….. to have the right to claim for asylum.
In my opinion it’s the protection from harm and the help to lead a good life.
Anyone who believes, that those people, who are deliberately putting themselves into danger of death to get away from these circumstances, are doing that for minor reasons…. go on, climb into a boat, do the reverse journey, live there for at least a year under their conditions and then go THE SAME WAY back.
And you will be grateful for having the opportunity to have this way even if it’s with danger of death, as you wouldn’t think twice.
And I would say that even if an economy would do so well that it wouldn’t need those people to work there.
Heck, I would like even more THEIR Economy / government doing so well that they don’t even feel forced to leave in the first place!
Thank you
You forgot to include your “evidence”.
Have a read of this. You won’t like it. The initial success rate BEFORE appeals is currently 39%.
Appeals granted, currently running at 40% success rate, of those applications initially refused.
https://connaughtlaw.com/uk-asylum-process-guide-claims-success-rates/#uk-asylum-statistics-2025
Of course, for those interested in division and destruction ,and the doctrines of blood and soil, lying is a lot easier, and generates more heat and hatred.
Thank you
It seems like after the appeals process is exhausted close to half the small boat migrants have illegally entered the country and cannot be excused that crime on the basis of seeking international protection.
There will always be some criminality in those who migrate here, perhaps on a par with the general level in society, but the level we see is vastly disproportionate.
It is 100% legal to enter the UK any way you wish if your aim is to claim asylum.
Stop lying.
You are the problem.
Yes Craig, I have many thoughts about that spurious number. The figures on immigration and asylum are complicated. It is easy to distort them for political reasons.
Please read this analysis and think again.
https://fullfact.org/immigration/asylum-backlog/
Then why are over 80% of asylum claims approved? This is the trouble with relying on right wing comics for your information – they end making you look like a fool.
And in related news……
Did you know that the beer at a popular pub beginning with “W” causes mens’ testicles, penises and brains to shrink. Doctors at a leading Russell group university have been running tests for 20 years and are about to publish their findings.
Shocking news. I understand you will be able to read all about it in reputable newspapers such as The Sun.
The RNLI sits at one end of the human empathy spectrum, the imbeciles that tried to hinder their work at the other. The UK is entering a very dark phase.
[…] four decades of neoliberalism so degraded our humanity that Kushner and those blocking refugees from landing at Portsmouth share the same thuggish approach to human […]
The AfD election results in Germany will not help, adding fuel to the right wing frenzy in Europe and the UK. Le Pen next year in France’s Presidential?
I agree with you unreservedly. I have nothing but praise for the brave members of the RNLI. As such, that institution represents all that is good in the human race – a group of volunteers who risk their lives to save unknown people from drowning for no reward whatsoever. They embody the notion of a community that cares. I regularly visit my local lifeboat station and see the dedication that these brave souls give to their cause. What we witnessed in Dover and Portsmouth is the complete opposite. To suggest, as my local police (Kent) have done, that the thuggish gathering in Dover was “spontaneous” is simply ridiculous. Bearing in mind that Kent County Council is now “run” by Reform, who have made “stopping the boats” a central policy, I can only conclude that the police took no action because it suited their political paymasters and, perhaps, they also subscribe to that political policy. Of course, when a local woman stood on a roundabout in Canterbury with a poster expressing her support for the people of Gaza, the police lost no time in sending two officers to the scene and arresting her. My worry is not only is this orchestrated but far worse is to come. Dover and Portsmouth may just have been an exercise in testing the boundaries of the “authorities” and the more they are allowed to get away with the worse it will become. Add to this the weak response to the plastic patriots and their lamppost flags and the relatively easy ride given to Farage and his ilk by the mainstream media and it is not difficult to imagine far worse behaviour coming down the tracks in the very near future. We are living in truly dangerous times.
We are in agreement.
The ignorance of those sounding off about small boats is so galling.
As signatories to the Refugee Convention as you say anyone arriving in the UK claiming asylum is automatically a legal entrant until his asylum application is finally determined. That is International law reflected in the Convention.
That in no way prejudges whether or not they are entitled to asylum under domestic law. I suspect like many I am in favour of rigorous but fair vetting of such applications.
The other point is of course that small boat arrivals ( reported to be at an historic low over the last 3 months) at say 50K per year, are just the tip of the net migration iceberg, but of course the most useful from a propaganda point of view.
Watching some clips on YouTube and the comments BTL it does seem widespread that the great replacement trope is common ground, that Islamophobia is rife, and that white supremacy dressed in the clothes of “I want my country back” is also a constant theme.
Thank you
I find it impossible to believe that the police/Special Branch have not infiltrated these fascist groups, who clearly present a threat of violence, funded from abroad. The penetration need not be deep, as they make plenty of public threats and calls to action on social media.
So Kent Police’s lack of action, as one of our main seaports was blockaded by uniformed, masked thugs, was not caused by a lack of advance intelligence.
Will Kent police be held to account? By whom? The Tory Police and Crime Commissioner? (elected 2024, 20.22% turnout)
I have got to the point where I feel the UK government has lost legitimacy, and I can no longer offer it any sense of loyalty. I do not any longer, feel like a citizen (or rather, subject) – I do not feel connected. Not my country. Something just switched off inside my head, & the flag has been lowered. It probably won’t result in any external change, I’ll still be living a quiet life as a good neighbour, working for peaceful change within my limitations, but it’s an important shift inside my head. I’m glad I have another, more permanent citizenship to fall back on, and in the meantime, the lawless British state, can go whistle. I suspect I’m now what would be called an “out-law” back in Robin Hood’s time – when the King and the Sherrif were crooks.
Anyone else feel that way?
I think a line has been crossed
RobertJ “I find it impossible to believe that the police/Special Branch have not infiltrated these fascist groups, who clearly present a threat of violence, funded from abroad.” I am afraid I believe that many of the police and Special Branch are full members, not infiltrators. The speed the thugs got to Portsmouth is, to me, a clear indication that they were getting inside information.
To be fair, they could have got it from the ever helpful (to those obsessed with small boats) BBC, who were reporting on that larger boat’s progress throughout the day.
Dear RobertJ
I have felt like that for a long time. I am hoping, hoping, hoping for Scotland to gain independence. I will qualify for a Scottish passport and will get one ASAP.
This country is a frightening place now.
It is.
This whole thing reeks of money – lots of money.
I do worry that the official policy of containment – to try to de-emphasise what is going on – is maybe counter-productive .
I agree that we need to strong showing by the state that this will not be tolerated. Somehow though, I think that the state has already to some extent been captured.
If, as I understand the law, the Public Order Act, 1936, makes this black clad mobs actions a criminal offence, why therefore didn’t the Police use their powers of arrest?
That law allows them to use their discretion.
I think they will, in a very different way from how it was used against left-wing protests to save the world.
Is not the case that when people are dressed in a uniform and acting to disrupt activity an offence under the Public Order Act 1936?
Yes, in my opinion.
Stopping the boats would be easier if the govt made it possible for people in need to come here without having to pay exorbitant sums to international criminals. Put those boat operators out of business, prevent loss of life at sea, respond humanely to those in genuine need and benefit from their skills (present or future) contributing to our country.
The answer to the boats problem is easy: give people a ferry ticket. The issue would go away. Then we need to invest in what is essential, which is a proper vetting system. I am not denying the need for that.
Indeed this – logically you set up processing centres in northern France, ferry across the successful claims and ferry back anyone landing directly in the UK who hasn’t passed through that centre.
That should stop the drive to cross the channel in dinghies (and instead of performative illegal nonsense like Rwanda, the process is lawful and implies the claimants can still claim, just in France), saving lives. Note that this takes ingenuity, hard work, foreign engagement, guts, compromise, time. It isn’t a hyper-facile, slogan friendly strategy.
The clear political problem would be the pictures of smiling “vetted” claimants (heading off that particular rightwing trope too) disembarking at Dover. The far right press would screech about “letting in” people, which no politician is currently willing to stand up against.
Why should France host such centres?
I’m sure that these “protests” will be framed as evidence of public frustration with immigration policy and highlight the need to crack down on “illegal” migration. Contrast this with how climate and pro Palestine protest is framed as resulting from extremist left wing ideology and antisemitism with no suggestion made that we should look at the underlying issues in these cases.
Agreed
One major ‘driver’ IMHO is that the UK doesnt have a Population Register or ID Card system and there is a large poorly policed ‘black economy’ which makes it ‘less difficult’ for economic migrants to avoid the system.
There would clearly be a lot of benefits from introducing a Population Register – we have a National Insurance one which covers pretty much everyone and as about 75% of us have a passport I dont see that bolting on an ID card would be difficult.
Oh and when I picked up a courtesy car from the garage recently they were able to check my driving licence on line via my Ni number so there is a lot going on behind the scenes
Couple it with something like the Italian Gardia Finanza (Tax Investigators with funny hats and guns) then it might sort out a lot of issues.
Having spent a little time in Belfast, the appearance of fading national flags zip-tied to rows of lamposts and gangs of balaclava-wearing men filling the streets does not fill me with patriotic pride in our “United” Kingdom. The government, supported by our overwhelmingly good and tolerant people, needs to act rapidly to stop the rot before it descends further.
Agreed, entirely.
Could it be the Channel 4 effect? Tommy Robinson is due to star in Channel 4’s next big expose coming this week. It seems funny considering the timing that Tommy Tennames is involved in this ‘spontaneous’ renta-mob incident. Channel 4 have hobbled Farage, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they have found on Yaxley-Lennon as I’m positive he’s taken some very dirty money in his time.
You say: “because I believe saving lives at sea is essential”.
I thought it might be helpful to refer to International laws / Treaty Documents – including the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea), Rules of the Road and UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law at Sea), and Search and Rescue (SAR) Convention. These International Treaty documents place responsibilities on Countries and anyone in charge of a vessel at Sea – Saving lives of anyone in danger at sea is not just a ‘nice thing to do’.
A helpful quotation follows: “Article 98 of UNCLOS states that masters of vessels must rescue anyone found in danger at sea, and that states shall cooperate to establish adequate SAR services. In other words, like SOLAS, UNCLOS imposes a duty to rescue persons in distress. It also defines maritime zones (territorial sea, Exclusive Economic Zone, etc.) which help determine which state’s SAR authority has jurisdiction. Thus, UNCLOS underpins SAR obligations at the highest level, though the detailed SAR provisions are handled by IMO conventions (like the SAR Convention).”
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) HQ overlooks the Thames and Westminster in London. So you’d think that any clarification wouldn’t be difficult to obtain. :).
The UK’s delegation of some of this duty to a volunteer RNLI does seem strange – but I don’t know anyone who uses the water who’d like to see that changed.
Thank you