Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was granted an urgent question in the Commons today over migrant crime at asylum hotels as riots grow in Epping following an asylum seeker being charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Policing minister Diana Johnson skirted around the issue, instead giving the public a lecture on keeping quiet:
“These are very serious allegations, but it is vital that the criminal justice procedures are able to run their course. Superintendent Tim Tubbs of Essex Police has said, and I quote, ‘The last thing we want is for any public discussion to hinder an ongoing prosecution.’ Criminal activity of any kind is totally unacceptable wherever it occurs and whoever it is perpetrated by.”
Philp then asked whether the government would shut down the migrant hotel in question. Johnson gave the usual non-answer. Labour once again demonstrating their inability to grasp the depth of public fury right now…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”