Bombs, hotels and migrant centres shambles
Petrol bombs exploded at a Dover migrant centre causing 700 refugees to be transferred to Manston centre, a short-term holding facility for up to 1,600 people for 24 hours. But there were already 4,000 on the dangerously overcrowded site with some migrants threatening to self-harm and hunger strike and unrest spreading across the camp. Dozens of charities, sent an open letter to Ms Braverman (who had referred to the refugee crisis as an invasion) saying, ‘You refer to this country's proud history of offering sanctuary, so we ask you to make this happen with fair, kind and effective systems for refugees. Deal with the backlog in asylum cases, create safe routes, respect the UN convention on refugees, and give refugees a fair hearing, however they get here.’ The next day hundreds of migrants were moved to hotels as the government was accused of presiding over a ‘shambles’. Meanwhile a group of migrants were reportedly mistakenly taken from Manston and stranded in central London, cold, hungry and without accommodation.
Church of England launches initiative to reach young people with the Gospel
The Church of England has joined forces with Christian charity Youthscape to help parishes connect with young people. The £1.29m project is being rolled out to 450 churches across the country after being trialled in Blackburn, London and St Albans. ‘It's really a hopeful approach to engaging with young people in a parish, looking into strategies and confidence building,’ the Church of England's Vision and Strategy team said, ‘It's about working with the church leaders to help them develop what might be the right next steps in their context.’ Churches will have access to a five-session Youthscape training course to help volunteers and youth workers formulate plans to work with young people in their parishes. Sometimes it's the simplest things that don't require a lot of money but require you to look and have insight into how young people are living in the parish and look at where they might be able to engage with them.
300,000 new homes target
Housing Secretary Michael Gove has said the government is still committed to a manifesto pledge of building 300,000 homes every year by the mid-2020s. Former PM Liz Truss had cast doubt on the aim, saying she wanted to scrap ‘Stalinist’ housing targets. But Mr Gove - who returned to cabinet after Ms Truss's resignation said he wanted to build more homes, both for ownership and to rent, and that new developments should have the consent of local communities. He also warned meeting the target would be ‘difficult’ due to the economic circumstances. ‘We need to be straight with people: the cost of materials has increased because of the problems with global supply chains and also a very tight labour market means that the capacity to build those homes at the rate we want is constrained,’ he said.
Criminals in police forces
Paedophiles, rapists, a murderer, and a neo-Nazi all managed to join the police due to a widespread failure to screen out dangerous and corrupt officers. Hundreds, if not thousands, of serving officers have criminal records, are linked to gangsters, or pose a risk to the public, watchdogs warned on November 1st. Analysis of personnel files found it was far too easy for misogynistic, corrupt, or predatory officers to join up and stay in uniform. They include Benjamin Hannam, a neo-Nazi who was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for a banned far-Right group two days before he applied. He became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker told the Met that he was a member of National Action (white supremacists) and recruited others to a group that backed the murder of MP Jo Cox.
