The Politics Thread 3.0

[Lex-Man]

Stephen Hawking

twitter.com/drbenwhite/status/902097476542492673

It really annoys me how much Hunt is gas lighting. How can anyone make a decision about who to vote on when politicians are trying to distort what is going on?

[Knoyleo]

Oh no, the Tories have their own grass roots youth movement, with memes and all.

twitter.com/Activate_uk_net/status/902296678778228737

twitter.com/Activate_uk_net/status/902284187687780353

#Pray4Labour

Loving their catchy @ handle as well.

[That]

How do you do, fellow kids?

[Rex Kramer]

Oh no, the Tories have their own grass roots youth movement, with memes and all.

twitter.com/Activate_uk_net/status/902296678778228737

twitter.com/Activate_uk_net/status/902284187687780353

#Pray4Labour

Loving their catchy @ handle as well.

Particularly as they can't decide whether it's activate.uk.net or activate_uk_net.

[Moggy]

"What do the kids love?"
"Errr, Star Wars?"
"Perfect!"

[That]

"#meme"

[Knoyleo]

#retweet

[Cuttooth]

That looks like a lazy parody of what a Tory attempt to getting down with the kids would look like.

[KK]

The type of story that winds everybody up...

Man born and raised in UK told he is not a British citizen

Home Office tells Shane Ridge he must leave country because English father never married Australia-born mother

A 21-year-old man who was born and raised in Britain has been told to leave the UK by the Home Office because he is not a British citizen.

Shane Ridge, a joiner from Colne in Lancashire who describes himself as “as British as they come”, received a letter from the Home Office last week informing him that his driving licence would be revoked as he had “no lawful basis to be in the UK”.

It came as a surprise because all of Ridge’s relatives are British citizens. His mother was born in Australia during a family holiday, but has lived in Britain since then and has dual citizenship.

Under UK law, if a child was born before July 2006, the father’s British nationality will usually only automatically pass to the child if he was married to the mother at the time of birth. Because Ridge’s parents never married, he does not have an automatic right to citizenship and is required to apply for “right of abode”.

Ridge said he did not know that his right to citizenship was not automatic, and is confused after being told he would have to leave his family behind or risk jail or a £5,000 fine for living illegally in the UK.

The letter said the Home Office was working with the DVLA, NHS and banks to “stop access to benefits and services for those with no lawful basis to be in the UK”. It added: “This includes you.”

Ridge was also told he must stop driving immediately.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “This is the only letter I have ever received in relation to me having to leave the country. It just came through my letterbox out of the blue.

“The last bit scared me the most – ‘leave the UK voluntarily’. I’m speechless – I don’t know what I can say. I received the letter from Immigration Enforcement saying they were going to revoke my driving licence and I should leave the UK voluntarily or face a £5,000 fine.

“I’m confused and worried that I’ll have to leave my entire family behind and move to a country that I don’t know. I don’t understand it because I was born in the UK. I did my GCSEs here, I’ve worked for six years, I pay tax and national insurance. Me and my girlfriend rented a house, I vote, I use the NHS and opened a bank account without any problems, ever.”

He said he applied for a passport last year to go on holiday and his application was declined, but he then successfully applied for and holds an Australian passport. The Passport Office advised him that he would be able to travel and safely return to the UK after his holiday and since then, he said, he had had no indication of any problems.

“I applied for an Australian passport and was accepted because my mum was born there, despite both her parents being British, and therefore she has dual citizenship,” he said.

“I went to apply for right of abode myself after receiving this letter and was told by the Home Office that I need to apply for British citizenship first before I can do that.

“The laws on this have apparently changed in 2006 and they have changed backwards and forwards throughout the years. I just don’t understand how they’ve just got through to me now. I even have a birth certificate with my dad’s signature on it – he’s British.

“If I cannot get dual citizenship or right of abode, or if this isn’t a mistake, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Ridge said he was particularly angry that his life as a law-abiding citizen in the country in which he was born had been thrown into doubt. “It’s terrifying. My parents keep telling me everything will be fine but I’m really scared.

“My girlfriend, Jodie, isn’t happy. Everyone is in shock and wondering how this can possibly happen. I’ve lived by the book – never had a criminal record.

“I have brothers and sisters. They have dual citizenship because my mum married their dad but my youngest sister, who is five, is also technically in the same position as me as my mum didn’t marry her dad.

“The letter even says they will stop me accessing the NHS or banks. I’ve always been to the doctors with no problems and me and my girlfriend have a joint bank account.”

The Home Office has not yet responded to a request for comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... ome-office

[Squinty]

They should just go witch finder general on him. Throw him in a lake, if he floats, he's Australian, if he drowns, he's British.

[That]

Do you think the fuckwits at the Home Office who conduct these bollocks investigations go home at the end of the day and feel good about themselves? I hope they don't but I suspect they do.

[Moggy]

He says he votes here. Anybody else curious what way he voted in the referendum?

[KK]

A family member works in the Home Office. More likely just mass incompetence. More interested in fitting expensive Dyson hand dryers in the lavs and relaying the carpet for the 900th time...

[Lagamorph]

Do you think the fuckwits at the Home Office who conduct these bollocks investigations go home at the end of the day and feel good about themselves? I hope they don't but I suspect they do.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if not a single person actually looked at this case before the letter went out. It's probably the result of a bunch of connected automation with no oversight whatsoever.

[Lex-Man]

Boris is as popular abroad as we thought he would be:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/b ... _hp_ref=uk

Although I feel that is a touch rich coming from the yanks at the moment.

[Cheeky Devlin]

A family member works in the Home Office. More likely just mass incompetence. More interested in fitting expensive Dyson hand dryers in the lavs and relaying the carpet for the 900th time...

I occasionally see positions opening up at the Home Office at my work. As interesting as I think it would be to work there I imagine it would be emotionally draining, especially when the positions are for processing asylum applications and preparing paperwork for those that are being sent back to their Country of Origin. No thanks.

[Cheeky Devlin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-41082916

Dugdale has resigned as Scottish Labour Leader.

Good-riddance. Did strawberry float all that I can remember during the election and from some of the things I was hearing, was actively encouraging people to vote for the Tories in seats that the SNP were vulnerable in. Waste of space who could have helped re-energise the party up here by getting in-line with what Corbyn was trying to do down south. Instead she played right into the Tories hands by playing bash-the-SNP with their "Oh no, she want's another Indy referendum!" campaign. Perhaps if she'd spent more time trying to do something herself instead of shouting at the others she'd have done a bit better.

[Eighthours]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41082916

Dugdale has resigned as Scottish Labour Leader.

Good-riddance. Did strawberry float all that I can remember during the election and from some of the things I was hearing, was actively encouraging people to vote for the Tories in seats that the SNP were vulnerable in. Waste of space who could have helped re-energise the party up here by getting in-line with what Corbyn was trying to do down south. Instead she played right into the Tories hands by playing bash-the-SNP with their "Oh no, she want's another Indy referendum!" campaign. Perhaps if she'd spent more time trying to do something herself instead of shouting at the others she'd have done a bit better.

Can’t work out whether this ‘friend’ was a real person, or the Labour Party itself.

[Moggy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41082916

Dugdale has resigned as Scottish Labour Leader.

Good-riddance. Did strawberry float all that I can remember during the election and from some of the things I was hearing, was actively encouraging people to vote for the Tories in seats that the SNP were vulnerable in. Waste of space who could have helped re-energise the party up here by getting in-line with what Corbyn was trying to do down south. Instead she played right into the Tories hands by playing bash-the-SNP with their "Oh no, she want's another Indy referendum!" campaign. Perhaps if she'd spent more time trying to do something herself instead of shouting at the others she'd have done a bit better.

Can’t work out whether this ‘friend’ was a real person, or the Labour Party itself.

There is literally a photo of the friend on the front page of that newspaper. Stay classy Eighty.

[Winckle]

I can't tell if Eighthours is a real person or a grim parody of a human being.