It is totally disheartening to read the BNP gloating over the fact that the Sun has had to retract a story it published in the run-up to the European elections, which claimed an anti-Gurkha leaflet was the product of the BNP when it wasn't.
Rather than make up bullshit which then gives the BNP the opportunity to play the victim, why don't they write about Griffin's vile comments about sinking migrant boats or about Islam being a 'cancer' which needs to be removed from Europe with 'chemotherapy'? Chemotherapy kills cancer cells - so the Sun should be asking: what exactly is Griffin calling for?
I'd never heard the vomitous term 'global chemotherapy' before watching C4 news the other night.
ReplyDeleteIt's a truly gotesque choice of words that if a member of any other political party used they'd be hounded out of a job for. Yet the Sun/Mail/other screamsheets don't even bother to mention it (likewise the 'sink the boats' remark)
Ignoring this stuff shows how these papers aren't just shit, they're irresponsible.
One thing many folks missed about the cod BNP "Story" in the Sun is that it was recycled in a supposedly "quality" regional paper.
ReplyDeleteThe Yorkshire Post columnist Bernard Dineen (the paper's resident ranting blowhard) featured the story in his 25 May column, which is still available on the YP archive:
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/opinion/Bernard-Dineen-We-should-back.5299957.jp
- it's the second item, after his typically ridiculous suggestion that the BBC is in league with the Tamil Tigers.
Thanks for the link Tim - very interesting.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, 'borrowing' stories from regional/local newspapers is another form of 'churnalism', and in particular happens with PC gone mad-type stories.
(I thought the Yorkshire Evening Post was the quality, my recollection is that Dineen and the Yorkshire Post have not had a great reputation on refugee stories, for example?)
The Yorkshire Post is (still) a broadsheet: I've not seen the EP for a while now.
ReplyDeleteDineen, I recall, used to be their business editor, but is now "literary editor". From his claimed past in the army he's probably in his 80s. The "Monday Column" or whatever it's called nowadays has been going for more than 25 years.
The stories are the usual rent-a-rant stuff: anti BBC, Immigrants getting housing priority, anyone targeting Nick Griffin is a raving Trotskyist, Army let down by whoever is in power, and of course he invariably "happens to know" someone who agrees with him, although these folk are never identified.
I did toy with the idea of doing a "Blowhard Watch" on my blog (http://zelo-street.blogspot.com/) but had other priorities. He's good fun, mind!
‘Loophole’ which allows companies to transfer non-EU workers to the UK must be tightened as unemployment rockets, APSCo tells Home Office
ReplyDelete• APSCo letter to Home Office minister
• No requirement to advertise jobs in UK first before importing foreign workers
A ‘loophole’ which allows companies to bring non-EU workers into the UK to work without having to advertise jobs in the UK first should be closed as UK unemployment rockets, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has told the Home Office in a letter.
In its letter to Phil Woolas MP, the Home Office minister responsible for immigration, APSCo said that with unemployment rising, the Government should make companies advertise vacancies in the UK first before being allowed to transfer staff from overseas offices.
According to data obtained by APSCo from the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act, nearly three times as many non-EU IT workers came to work in the UK last year than during the dot com boom when there was a chronic skills shortage (35,430 in 2008 compared to 12,726 in 2000).
The figures also revealed that 80% of non-EU IT workers (28,344) came to the UK on a specific type of work permit (intra-company transfer) which does not require the sponsoring company to advertise the vacancy in the UK first.
Ann Swain, Chief Executive, APSCo, comments: “The Home Office needs to close this loophole as a matter of urgency. The UK labour market has the capacity to fill the vast majority of these vacancies, so companies should be recruiting here first before resorting to importing staff from overseas.”
“The costs to the UK of unemployment are substantial, so anything that can be done to reduce unemployment needs to be looked at.”
“The Government’s supposedly tougher new immigration system has failed to significantly slow the influx of non-EU workers to the UK. This is because any company which has an office abroad can recruit overseas and simply ship workers across to the UK bypassing most of the checks on immigration.”
She adds: “Workers coming to the UK on intra-company transfers are supposed to be paid the going market rate for the job, but this is very difficult for the Home Office to enforce, particularly with the volume of workers coming in. Companies are even allowed to pay these workers offshore in foreign currencies, so intra company transfers are potentially very easy to exploit in order to bring cheap foreign labour into the UK.”
ENDS