They say you should never meet your heroes, but increasingly it seems like you probably shouldn’t even read the interviews they give. If Jessica Fletcher isn’t giving sexual harassment the ok, then Stephen fry is telling abuse victims to get over it. I’m running out of favourites. Then there’s the ultimate let down king, Morrissey. That racist old bastard just will not keep his mouth shut.

Let’s face it, it would probably have been better if he’d just had the grace to die young. Then at least we could still enjoy the old tunes. I’m gutted that Morrissey has ended up an ignorant, xenophobic knobber. I have long adored his music & of course his veganism. Now he’s just an embarrassment to the cause & a generally revolting person. What’s worse is what his latest outburst is part of. Namely a pervasive anti immigrant sentiment that has grown in strength since the brexit referendum. An atmosphere of hostility that has emboldened racists throughout the uk. Who can be surprised when our actual government is engaged in it’s own vile immigrant purge.

The Windrush scandal has been increasing my nausea this week. If you’re not familiar with the details, the jist is that our government is deporting people who have lived in the UK for most of their lives ( in many cases over 50yrs) despite the fact that they have a legal right to continue here. The Windrush generation came to the UK in the aftermath of WW2 to fill labour shortages & help rebuild the country. Anyone who arrived before 1973 from a commonwealth country was granted indefinite leave to remain. These are people who have lived in the UK longer than they resided in their countries of birth. They have built lives & families here. Paid taxes & contributed to society. Disregarding all of this our government is demanding they provide extensive & often impossible to find evidence of their arrival date, plus continued residence in the uk. A task made even more difficult by the home office destroying landing cards even though they were warned by staff that it may be the only recorded evidence of some people’s arrival date.

It is despicable that the conservative government’s anti immigration agenda has caused the deportation (or threat of it ) to people who have a right to live in the place they call home. It is unconscionable that elderly people should be separated from their families & sent to countries they no longer know. If you are as disgusted as I am please sign this petition calling for the government to stop all deportations, change the burden of proof & establish an amnesty for anyone who was a minor at time of entry.

The Windrush generation were invited to UK because we needed their help to rebuild our country. Similarly many immigrants today hold positions that keep the UK running. We cannot do without them. Immigrants are not a burden, they contribute far more to our economy than they take. Beyond that they have given the UK a rich multi cultural society that we should cherish. I recently overheard someone say that an immigrant is just a person who used to be somewhere else. When put like that you cannot help but see how ridiculous all this hate is.

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