Good Riddance, Bibby Stockholm.

From The Guardian, 8 January 2025:

Consternation about the prospect of the barge began on 29 March 2023, when the then immigration minister Robert Jenrick told parliament the government was exploring this form of accommodation.

Announcing the bombshell development, Jenrick said: “We need to suffuse our entire system with deterrence.”

Well, here’s what “suffusing with deterrence” looks like in practice. If you aren’t appalled, then maybe you’ve turned into a rhinoceros.

Clearly “deterrence” (read: “blatant cruelty”) is only going to work if the conditions that pertained on board are given the widest possible exposure. The Guardian article  is doing just that, so the turfed-out Conservative government has no cause to complain if it shows them up for what they are.

The first disaster came on day one. As asylum seekers boarded, it was confirmed there were traces of legionella in the water supply. The bacteria, spread by aerosol droplets, can cause a rare form of pneumonia. Those who had reluctantly agreed to board were the last to find out about the presence of the bacteria…

The barge residents were faced with racist protests from some members of the local community, bolstered by visits from prominent national figures on the far right.

“Our community has become radicalised by hate,” said one local anti-racist campaigner who monitored the far right protests and social media posts. “Some on the far right use Nazi terminology such as ‘sub-human’, ‘vermin’ and ‘Channel rats’ in Facebook posts about the asylum seekers on the barge.”

Is the Rwandan Genocide so long ago that everyone’s forgotten the consequences of intemperate hate speech?