Would the Mail rather migrants sleep in filth in the 'jungle'?
With ‘Mother’ Theresa May gliding in on her white horse to save us from a migrant invasion, or something, you might think the Daily Mail would be happy.
Instead, the paper accuses France of ‘sabotaging’ a deal with the UK by requesting funds for more beds for migrants in Calais.
As the Mail’s front page squeals: ‘WHAT A FRENCH FARCE!’
The paper welcomes the deal, handled by our booted-saviour May, to ‘deter migrants and root out people smugglers’:
“But her tough stance is being undermined by France’s vow to improve humanitarian support for the 5,000 people massed at Calais and hoping to sneak into Britain, by offering hundreds more beds.”
This makes sense only if you think people across the world are currently being deterred from making for Britain solely due to the lack of comfortable sleeping arrangements near the Chunnel.
Of course, the Mail is being shifty, as usual.
What the paper is really objecting to is a key part of the UK-French deal – to provide humanitarian support for vulnerable migrants. By requesting EU money for more beds, the French government is simply doing what the deal involves, as well as balancing out the security elements with some migrant TLC. (They are the Socialist Party, after all.)
To call this ‘sabotage’ is ridiculous. ‘Mother’ Theresa’s deal is not being ‘undermined’ by the terms of the deal!
Providing extra beds is not a ‘magnet’ or ‘pull factor’. It’s an attempt to stop migrants who will inevitably come from having to sleep in filth.
As of right now, they are forced to live in a ‘jungle’ of tents and dirt.
It’s almost as if the Mail is simply opposed to helping soften the rough lives of vulnerable migrants…
More likely than mere cruelty though is the propaganda value of the ‘jungle’. Treating migrants humanely would make it so much harder to deny their humanity and portray them as swarming animals. And then we might be shamed into adopting more civilised immigration policies.
Our policy as it stands now, with politicians and media pretending less than 5,000 migrants are a threat to a rich country of 60 million, is the real farce. A humanitarian approach, as promised in this deal, is the obvious solution.
To call it ‘French’ and denounce it as treachery is the roar of Torydom against reason and compassion.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
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6 Responses to “Daily Mail accuses France of ‘sabotage’ for giving beds to Calais migrants”
jj
That’s pretty silly. Look up the definition of an ‘immigrant’, I think if you were born in the country you are living in, you are not, in theory, an immigrant. But hey ho…