Why it happened is a moot point, said The Daily Telegraph.
Some blame incompetence; others say it was deliberate policy. But whatever the reason, theres no doubt Labour ceded control of our borders. Annual net immigration the difference between those arriving and those leaving used to be 40,000 to 60,000, but it has been at 150,000 or more for nearly 15 years. Cameron was correct to address this. For someone who earned a reputation for owlish sagacity in opposition, it is Mr Cable whose wisdom is in doubt. It is not mainstream politicians talking about this issue that suits the extremists, but their failure to do so. Cameron: blowing his whistle?
David Cameron claimed last week that
uncontrolled immigration had led to discomfort and disjointedness in some neighbourhoods. In his most forthright speech on the issue, he accused Labour of presiding over the largest influx of migrants in Britains history: between 1997 and 2009, he said, 2.2 million more people had settled here than had left to live abroad. This had put pressure on public services and social cohesion, and was partly the fault of a woeful welfare system that had paid British people not to work. It was time, he said, to return to the immigration levels of the 1980s and 1990s, when the number of annual entrants was in the tens of thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands. The speech drew a swift response from Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, who called it very unwise. I do understand there is an election coming [for local councils on 5 May], he said, but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed. Cameron rejected the criticism, insisting he had only been setting out coalition aims.
What happened
Mission creep in Libya
But there is something cynical about raising this topic just
before local elections, said The Independent. Camerons speech didnt contain any new policy announcements: it was just a standard lament about the need to tighten our borders, leavened with the usual acknowledgment of the benefits of immigration. The speech did set out some plans as well, said The Sunday Times. Cameron promised tougher action against sham marriages, students registering for bogus courses, and asylum system abuse. The degree to which he follows through on those pledges will ultimately show whether his speech was a declaration of intent or dog-whistle politics.
What the editorials said
The contradictions at the heart of US policy in Libya are becoming more acute, said The Washington Post. Lets see if we can sum this up: Mr Obama is insisting that Natos air operation cannot end until Mr Gaddafi is forced from office but he refuses to use American forces to break the military stalemate. If he were aiming to plunge Nato into a political crisis, or to exhaust the military budgets of Britain and France, this would be a brilliant strategy. As it is, it is impossible to understand.
David Cameron, Barack Obama and Nicolas
Sarkozy stated last week that Colonel Gaddafi must go, and go for good. Rejecting demands for a ceasefire, the leaders declared that it would be an unconscionable betrayal of the Libyan opposition if Nato forces ceased operations while the dictator was still in power. However, Nato talks in Berlin ended in deadlock, with the US, Italy and Spain refusing to contribute extra aircraft for ground attacks. This week, Shrapnel injuries at a Misrata hospital There is a sense, reminiscent of Iraq in 2003, that the casus belli is being breezily Foreign Secretary William Hague revealed redefined, said The Guardian. UN Security Council that British officers would be sent to the rebel stronghold of Resolution 1973 authorised the no-fly zone in order to protect Benghazi to train anti-Gaddafi forces. civilians. Now it seems that the Western powers are aiming squarely at regime change (though the three leaders claimed, Meanwhile, the siege and bombardment of Misrata the unconvincingly, that they did not wish to remove Gaddafi; only rebel-held city in western Libya continued into its merely that he should go). There is a serious danger of sixth week, with at least 300 dead, while there was more mission creep in Libya, said The Daily Telegraph. Britain fighting in the front-line town of Ajdabiya. Pro-Gaddafi faces the prospect of seeing ground troops sucked into yet forces were accused of using rape as a weapon of war, and another open-ended risky overseas adventure. of deploying cluster bombs against civilians.
It wasnt all bad
Four British soldiers who were wounded in Afghanistan have become the first amputee servicemen to trek unsupported to the North Pole. Cpt Martin Hewitt, Cpt Guy Disney, Sgt Stephen Young and Pte Jaco Van Gass did the trek to raise money for charities including Help for Heroes. They were joined in the first leg of their gruelling journey by their former comrade Prince Harry, who said: Im thrilled that the guys have made it what an awesome achievement.
When Corey Newman
decided to set his girlfriend a life-changing puzzle, The Washington Post was happy to help. Marlowe Epstein, 31, (right, with Newman) was deliberating over the newspaper crossword last weekend, at their home in Virginia, when she discovered that one of the clues spelled out Marlowe (37 Across: Shakespeare in Love role). Another produced Epstein (39 Across: Casablanca writer Julius or Philip). And then she got to 51 Across: Words with a certain ring to them. Looking up at Newman, she said the answer out loud: Will you marry me? At that, Newman fell to his knees with a diamond ring and repeated the question to which the answer was: Yes.
A 32-year-old woman has been
hailed as a real-life superhero after averting disaster on a level crossing. Two drivers had crashed at the crossing near Hensall in North Yorkshire, and a train was fast approaching. Lucy Gale ran onto the tracks and pulled one of the motorists to safety before driving their car out of the path of the train. She then ran to the man in the other car while she was yanking the door to help him escape, the train whistled past, narrowly missing them both. I just saw these people needed help it had to be done, she said.
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