The painful limbo of refugees in the UK shames our country

The story of Tamana Safi seems like so many others that The Independent has highlighted in recent years, of refugees stuck in temporary accommodation and living on impossibly meagre government subsistence.

Others with no evidence of malign intent are even confined in detention centres, their cases in apparent indefinite limbo. Many refugees are unable to work for months, although eager to pay their way and to contribute to our society.

What on earth is going on in the Home Office, that it can take years to sort out most of these cases? Surely Home Office officials should show greater emotional intelligence and a less bureaucratic mindset in their assessments? It is the same mentality that has allowed the Windrush saga to be so painfully prolonged.

If it is merely question of limited staffing, the government should be beefing up the operation, so that families can be released from this limbo and start building their new lives here, instead of remaining a continuing problem for administrators and a shame on our country.

Gavin Turner

Gunton

So Liz Truss hosts a lunch for nine people at one of London’s most expensive restaurants, 5 Hertford Street, that ends up costing  the taxpayer the princely sum of £1,400, does she?

Even though she was advised against it by civil servants alarmed by her extravagant choice of venue, she firmly insisted that they book it regardless.

She is clearly another Conservative with an overblown sense of self-entitlement and bloated ego of the type the general public in this country have come to absolutely despise, and with good reason. The “no expense spared” attitude as long as the taxpayer picks up the tab is, for many people, deeply offensive.

That foreign secretary Truss is allegedly the front runner in the scramble going on behind the scenes to potentially replace Boris Johnson beggars belief. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is not much better, for everyone in Johnson’s cabinet is tainted by association with him. Not one of them, from smarmy perma-grinning transport secretary Grant Shapps to bullying Priti Patel, possess the “common touch”.

British voters are not inferior beings, they are the people who idealistically believed and trusted in their elected representatives to selflessly act on their behalf.

Unfortunately, this crew serves only themselves. Although doubtless Truss had a veritable bevy of poorly paid “servants” to dish up the lavish feast and reverentially pour only the finest wines for her guests.

Linda Evans

London

So the Duke of York may be banned from his dressing-up wardrobe and asked to give up his title if he is found to have sexually abused an underage girl. And he’ll get his mummy to pay his top flight lawyers and any financial settlement imposed.

Why is he not being prosecuted for sex crimes? Oh yes, because he’s the Queen’s son.

Karen Brittain

York

It seems that Prince Andrew may have to give up using his titles and patronages depending on the result of various legal matters. As he seems to have already been removed from the working royals list what else will be accomplished?

Perhaps it is time to only support, and pay, the direct line of succession with the “spares” joining the working world. The world of royalty seems to include a large number of extended family members and quite distant cousins. Surely there is only a limited number of people needed to cut ribbons without injuring themselves or anyone else.

I would be happy to take over the ribbon cutting duties for a large salary which would probably save the royal purse quite a lot. I am also moderately boring and unlikely to be photographed in the wrong places at the wrong time.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne, Australia

Where’s the global vaccination “Marshall Plan”?  Having a plan to fully vaccinate everyone, everywhere in the world against Covid as quickly as humanly possible, and putting that plan into action, should be everyone’s new year’s resolution.

It’s been said before, by those experts some don’t seem to want to listen to, but the longer it goes on that there are un- and under-vaccinated populations in the world, the greater the risk that the virus mutates into a variant that actually has the ability to evade vaccines.

Therefore, even those vaccinated and boosted populations remain at risk. Also, denying vaccination to populations is itself unethical. The longer we leave it, the less effective the older vaccines that we are still rolling out will be.

Just one year of billionaires, governments and charitable donations funding a global “vaccination of everyone, for everyone”, instead of space tourism or arms races, might spare us all another year of chaos.

Ian Henderson

Norwich

I’m at a loss to understand why Priti Patel fails to see the blindingly obvious solution to her problem with eco-protesters. Why not just do what they’re asking?

It’s increasingly urgent to act on all fronts to save us all from climate change. Perhaps she hasn’t noticed that it didn’t go away after Cop26. It won’t go away until it’s put on a war footing – something the UK government attempted with some success in the fight against Covid-19.

They managed to reduce the number of deaths from the virus. Many millions will die if climate change isn’t halted, so let’s see the same determination and urgency as with the pandemic.

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We know what needs doing, why aren’t we getting on with it? Is it because we don’t want to upset those members of the public who have suffered “misery” as a result of the protests? If so, Ms Patel clearly hasn’t understood the levels of misery lying ahead while she continues to dream up more and more draconian laws restricting our freedoms.

Lynda Newbery

Bristol

Mary Bousted of the National Education Union is right to point out that 7,000 air-filtering units for classrooms is "completely inadequate" for more than 300,000 classrooms. But as a teacher, I’m not waiting for my air-filtering unit.

I decided early on to have my windows fully open and teach wearing a jumper in the winter. I’ve had very few complaints from students!

Kartar Uppal

Sutton Coldfield