The plea from one of the newspaper reviewers which Sky News reels in each morning. I often feel “Where do they find these people when watching ‘Celebrity BB'”, but I increasingly feel the same when listening to the extreme, ludicrous views of these reviewers.
Maybe I’m being a little unfair. They’re discussing a complex, emotional subject. I can’t claim to have the answers to probably the biggest crisis to hit Europe since WW2. What I do know is that the surge of displaced people from Africa and the Middle East will increase dramatically in the months and years to come. What we need from the politicians and their advisors is a mature, integrated, compassionate and most of all, a practical solution to these pressing problems
Our focus in the next few weeks/months is not to have additional gunboats patrolling the Med or building taller fences in Calais. It’s an undeniable fact that our policies in the likes of Libya, Syria and Afghanistan has contributed to destabilising the region. We encouraged democratic sentiment in countries without any structures to cope with this demand for freedom of movement or expression. We have initiated force in an attempt to restrict the growth of extremists. We have witnessed a complete breakdown of authority in these countries and now we need to face up to the consequences. These ‘swarms’ of immigrants are exercising their freedom to seek a more secure and stable environment for their families. Who can blame them?
We desperately need our authorities to act quickly. We need to invest the vast resources we have at our disposal to put in place a controlled, swift and ultimately effective strategy to process these displaced people. Is it too late to control this mass movement of people?? It can be achieved if there is the political will and we recognise the need to take control of a situation that is rapidly turning into a tragic humanitarian disaster.
Sky News just loves to focus on the emotional consequence of this disaster. They have followed individual families on their journey across the Europe. They aim their cameras at crying babies. You have to pretty dispassionate not to be moved by such scenes. But then we have to stomach listening to the likes of Eamonn Holmes and his newspaper reviewers to demand we resist from becoming overly sentimental and emotional. That we need to ‘look after our own’. You couldn’t make it up.