Might be a bit early in the morning as I’m typing this to get into a massive political debate, but that’s the exact conversation that the BBC is having with Gary Lineker right now after he spoke out against Suella Braverman’s new migrant policy and compared it to Nazism.
Featured Image VIA
One of the key promises of Rishi Sunak’s government was that he will stop migrant boats crossing the channel and Suella Braverman posted up a video on her Twitter account explaining exactly how she was going to do this yesterday. Basically under new legislation, anyone arriving into the UK via a small vessel or other unauthorised means would no longer be able to claim asylum in this country and would instead be shipped off to Rwanda or similar, whilst also receiving a lifetime ban on re-entry to the UK and possible jail time as well.
Lineker responded to the video with the following comments:
Good heavens, this is beyond awful. https://t.co/f0fTgWXBwp
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023
There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023
Uh oh. It was the Nazi Germany remark/implication there that really rubbed people up the wrong way and led to quite a lot of outrage on Twitter and calls for the BBC to sack him from his job on ‘Match Of The Day’. For what it’s worth, the BBC released the following non-committal statement about the incident:
Gary will be spoken to and reminded of his responsibilities on social media.
The BBC has social media guidance, which is published.
Individuals who work for us are aware of their responsibilities relating to social media.
We have appropriate internal processes in place if required.
Yeah, doesn’t really sound like they’re going to do anything does it? Lineker had the last word by posting the following just now, which I’m sure will send some people off the deep end again on Twitter.
Great to see the freedom of speech champions out in force this morning demanding silence from those with whom they disagree. 👊🏻
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) March 8, 2023
I have never known such love and support in my life than I’m getting this morning (England World Cup goals aside, possibly). I want to thank each and every one of you. It means a lot. I’ll continue to try and speak up for those poor souls that have no voice. Cheers all. 👊🏻
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) March 8, 2023
Fair play I guess. Gotta stick up for what you believe in, just like everyone who vehemently disagrees with him is doing. Gotta love free speech right?
As for Braverman’s new policies I’ll be honest and say I don’t know a great deal about them or the migrant policies in this country, but I have heard multiple times before that we take far fewer refugees than any other countries in the EU and that it actually costs way more to send them over to Rwanda once they’re here too. Yeah, of course there are going to be a minority that turn out to be murderers or whatever, but there are people like that already in the country anyway. I’m fairly certain that most of them are just desperate to get away from torturous and murderous regimes and work in the crappy jobs that you don’t want to do so you can sit in an office and earn the big bucks. Give them a break.
Of course, I think the £7 million a day that Braverman claims we spend on hotels for refugees is nothing compared to the £350 million we were supposed to give the NHS after Brexit but didn’t, or the billions of pounds the Tories spunked on giving their mates government contracts during the pandemic or on the track and trace system that didn’t work. Just something to think about. That’s enough politics for now though.
For more of the same, check out when Gary Lineker got ambushed by swarms of STD infected ladybirds. Awkward for the guy.
