Swarm? That’s being kind

THE FRIDAY THING: THERE were some outraged voices raised when David Cameron referred to an unwanted mob of jobless migrants as a “swarm” this week.

Some of our more sensitive citizens thought the word was some kind of insult when, anyone who had watched the carnage at Calais and Dover with fences ripped up and lorries and cars hijacked by desperate gangs of unemployed folk must have wondered quite why police seemed unable to do anything about it.

In other words, the description “swarm” was probably too feeble to describe the criminality going on and the cost it imposed on those drivers just trying to do their job.

The inference from Calais was that they had the right to be here, to have homes, jobs and even £150 taxi rides into London from Kent.

The Government has decided to withdraw benefits from immigrant families and will strip asylum seekers with children of benefits to send a message to migrants in Calais that Britain is not a land of milk and honey once they arrive. They apparently need to be reminded that British streets are not paved with gold.

There was also some anger at the British Government’s threat to send the Army to Calais - a move the deputy mayor described as “outrageous provocation.” What he ignores is the far more serious provocation of the Calais mob. Calais residents, incidentally, are suffering through the violence and attacks and having their washing stolen from washing lines. Mundane, unless you are the one whose property is taken.

A key voice from the past has had a worthwhile contribution to make to the current issue of migrants. Former Oldham MP and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said that illegal immigrants would not come to the UK if they knew they were going to be locked up.

He blamed an absence of ID cards - and that his own party’s Human Rights Act was partly to blame.