Only by showing his distaste for the EU can the David Cameron convince us to stay

Telegraph
The balance of hope and fear, however, has changed. The great moral advantage for the pro-Europeans 40 years ago was that they represented hope, whereas the No campaign drew on fear. It felt like the 21st century versus 1940. The future defeated the past.
Now that we live in the 21st century, the shocks of the euro and mass migration and the marked decline of European world competitiveness, have ensured that the EU does not feel like the future any more. The argument for British membership is now almost wholly a status quo one – that getting out is too risky. No sane British pro-European publicly campaigns for much more Europe (although that is what many of them privately want): that side has lost its visionary power.
If it gets it right, the “Leave” campaign can annex both hope and fear – hope that we could be freer to govern ourselves and freer actors in the wider world where the global future is actually being decided; fear that if we stay in we shall be more regulated, more dragged into the deeper Euro-project and more vulnerable to uncontrollable immigration.
Add the fact that voters are much less respectful and more insurgent than they were in 1975, and a Crosby-ish calculation of the outcome becomes much narrower now than then. Recent polls tend to bear this out. The pull of aspiration among the undecided is away from the EU, while that of security is still for remaining. A typical formulation of such a voter might be “I want my country back, but not if it means I lose my job”.

How Volkswagen was caught

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun (Australia)
......to do the first ever evaluation of the tailpipe emissions of diesel cars in America made by European manufacturers.
They tested three cars: a BMW X5, Volkswagen Jetta and Volkswagen Passat, while travelling over 2400kms on each car to get their results.
After driving from Los Angeles to Seattle and back they noticed something odd about their Passat. Going by Volkswagen’s claims, it should easily have let out the least amount of pollution between those three cars — it had a more modern catalytic reduction system which is meant to convert toxic fumes into safer ones — but that wasn’t the case. The nitrogen oxide that came out of the Passat was in fact 20 times more than the baseline levels permitted by the California Air Resources Board.
The team was puzzled. There was no way it could be wrong. They triple-checked the accuracy of their equipment after the Volkswagen Jetta they tested showed readings 30 times more than the claimed pollution rating.
The BMW, though, gave off the exact results they expected.
At the time, the team had no idea why the cars were emitting so much pollution… “...We didn’t point and say, ‘Volkswagen has a defeat device’,” Thiruvengadam told Autoblog. ......"

Toxic facts about dash for diesel

Daily Mail

Tony Blair introduced the ‘dash for diesel’ in the late 1990s to meet climate change targets. Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol wealthy countries had to slash emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, by 8 per cent over 15 years.

Like other leaders, Blair was swayed by the motor industry’s argument that switching from petrol to diesel would lead to huge drops in greenhouse gas emissions.It’s true that diesels emit less CO2 – mostly they are more efficient and go further on one litre of fuel. However, in the 1990s the industry argued the average diesel emitted 13 to 17 per cent less CO2, a figure that turned out to be hugely optimistic. How was the UK persuaded to switch to dirty diesel?

The 2001 Budget overhauled vehicle excise duty and introduced a new banding system, still in place today. The more CO2 cars emitted, the more owners had to pay. The system favoured diesel cars which, according to the manufacturer’s test results, tended to have lower CO2 emissions. Labour also brought in tax breaks for diesel company cars to encourage businesses to switch."

How West Virginia engineer exposed Volkswagen's catastrophic environmental fraud and wiped BILLIONS off company's shares

Daily Mail

The results of that study, which was paid for by the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in late 2012 and completed in May 2013, were later corroborated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board (CARB).   ......."(We) saw huge discrepancies. There was one vehicle with 15 to 35 times the emissions levels and another vehicle with 10 to 20 times the emissions levels."Despite the discrepancies, a fix shouldn't involve major changes. "It could be something very small," said Carder, who's the interim director of West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions in Morgantown, about 200 miles (320 km) west of Washington in the Appalachian foothills."It can simply be a change in the fuel injection strategy. What might be realized is a penalty in fuel economy in order to get these systems more active, to lower the emissions levels."Carder said he's surprised to see such a hullabaloo now, because his team's findings were made public nearly a year and a half ago."

International migration to Britain jumps by 24% in a year to 558,000, the third highest rise in the world

Daily Mail

Britain experienced the third largest increase in migrants of any major nation last year, a new study revealed today as European ministers held a summit to tackle the refugee crisis. International migration to the UK in 2014 hit 558,800 - a 24 per cent increase on 2013. Only Israel and the Czech republic saw bigger rises. As concern over the flows of people across international borders grows, the OECD think tank also warned that Europe must prepare for 1million people to claim asylum this year."

Migrants buying fake Syrian passports on FACEBOOK

Daily Express
Fights have broken out between real and fake Syrians, with many using stones and bottles to attack one another on migration routes.  ........
Disturbing recent figures from the EU reveal that only one in five migrants are genuinely Syrian, but 90 per cent of those trying to cross the border claim they are Syrian because they think it is the surest route to gaining asylum. The Arabic version of Twitter even has an “expose fake Syrians” hashtag, which is one of the most trending topics in the war-torn country. The trend has increased fears the well-trodden migrant route could be exploited by terrorists who pose as refugees in a bid to make it into Europe and carry out an attack. German police arrested a Moroccan-born jihadist, who had used fake documents to pose as a desperate refugee. The head of Europe’s border agency Frontex described the abhorrent trend of buying fake documents as a “windfall” for economic migrants, amid the revelation dubious markets selling fake Syrian passports have sprung up across Turkey.
Fabrice Leggeri said: “There are people who are now in Turkey, buying false Syrian passports because they have obviously realised that it is a windfall since Syrians get asylum in all member states in the European Union.."

Europe faces political war on two fronts as backlash builds

Telegraph

The EU's Eastern states shocked to lose their sovereignty over borders, just as southern Europe lost economic sovereignty by joining the euro"

50,000 failed asylum-seekers have gone 'missing' in the UK since 2012, report finds

ITV News

The Home Office has come under fire in a critical report into the country's immigration system.
The Public Accounts Committee found that 50,000 failed asylum seekers have gone missing in the UK since 2012, while 175,000 are still awaiting removal from the UK.  .....

In addition, a 29,000-strong backlog of unresolved asylum applications dating back to at least 2007 means a "worrying" 11,000 asylum-seekers have been waiting for at least seven years for an initial decision on whether they can stay in the country, the report found.
As well as longstanding applications, the department is also struggling with fresh asylum claims, the PAC report said, with a backlog of cases awaiting an initial decision jumping 70% to 16,273 in the first quarter of this year."

Migrants in the Balkans: Everyone wants to be Syrian

Telegraph (USA)
HAJDUKOVO, Serbia

A Pakistani identity card in the bushes, a Bangladeshi one in a cornfield. A torn Iraqi driver's license bearing the photo of a man with a Saddam-style mustache, another one with a scarfed woman displaying a shy smile.
Documents scattered only meters from Serbia's border with Hungary provide evidence that many of the migrants flooding Europe to escape war or poverty are scrapping their true nationalities and likely assuming new ones, just as they enter the European Union.
Many of those travelers believe that using a fake document — or having none at all — gives them a better of chance of receiving asylum in Germany and other western European states. That's because the surest route to asylum is to be a refugee from war and not an economic migrant fleeing poverty. That fact has led to a huge influx of people claiming to be Syrian.
Serbian border police say that 90 percent of those arriving from Macedonia, some 3,000 a day, claim they are Syrian, although they have no documents to prove it. The so-called Balkan corridor for the migrant flight starts in Turkey, then goes through Macedonia and Serbia before entering the European Union in Hungary.
"You can see that something is fishy when most of those who cross into Serbia enter January first as the date of their birth," said border police officer Miroslav Jovic. "Guess that's the first date that comes to their mind."
The chief of the European Union border agency Frontex said that trafficking in fake Syrian passports has increased.
"A lot of people enter Turkey with fake Syrian papers, because they know that they'll get asylum in the EU more easily," Fabrice Leggeri said.
In Germany, customs authorities have intercepted packages mailed to Germany containing Syrian passports, both genuine and counterfeit, the finance ministry said."

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/news/nation-world/article34240329.html#storylink=cpy

Tony Abbott gets it right on Syrian refugees

The Australian
Tony Abbott got the policy and the politics of Syria right yesterday. He was a bit slow off the mark at the weekend but he quickly identified this shortcoming, read the community sentiment ­accurately and drove government processes to produce a credible policy response. .....In particular, this act of generosity is possible only because the flow of illegal immigrants by boat to Australia from the north has been halted.  ......
But the Australian people want to know that it is their government that controls Australia’s borders, and that refugees come here in an orderly way, given that there is no immediate neighbour from which anyone can legitimately be fleeing persecution to Australia.
In other words, this generous action is possible only because of Abbott’s success in stopping the boats."

Turning back refugee boats saves lives - as Australia found out
"The conclusion from the Australian experience is that those who benefit most from tough border protection are the immigrants who come here fairly and legally. Strict controls help dampen down xenophobia, and ensure that decent treatment is given to those seeking the nation’s hospitality. If only you Poms had not surrendered your sovereignty to Brussels! "  (Spectator, Australia)

Welcome Islamic Neighbors: Europe Welcomes You With Open Arms! …Yours For The Taking!

NoTricksZone
I’m feeling cynical this evening. Off topic… How incompetent and clueless are Europe’s leaders? Well this may be the first time in human history that Europe has chosen not to defend itself against an invasion. In fact it is even surrealistically welcoming it! Dear Islamists, you have been dreaming a long time of overrunning Europe, with many of you thinking it will involve patience and might take some decades, or even a century or two. Well, good news for you – your wait is over! It can be yours in less than 10 years! It’s for real. Tens of thousands have already done it. Why now? Never have European leaders been so incompetent, naïve, and so generous. They are welcoming you with open arms, gifts, food, money, free healthcare and warm places to stay. They want to show the whole world how good and moral they are – because they are suffering from a guilt trip of some strange sort."
.....And there is nothing that will be done about it. European leaders, by allowing a totally uncontrolled mass immigration across their borders, have thrown the national security of their citizens overboard. These fools don’t seem to realize it, but the first target of terrorists is often the state itself. There’s no way of knowing how many terrorists and fighters are embedded among the refugees. This is negligence of the worst kind."

As Europe opens its doors, Japan considers clamping down harder on asylum seekers

Reuters

As the worst refugee crisis since World War Two forces Europe to break down hurdles and accept hundreds of thousands of migrants, Japan, which took in just 11 asylum seekers last year, is looking to clamp down even further.
Measures including deporting failed applicants, curbs on repeat applications and pre-screening of new asylum seekers are being considered as part of changes to the country's immigration system, an official said on Wednesday.
If implemented, the changes would make Japan an even harder-to-reach destination, activists say. The country is already one of the developed world's least welcoming countries for refugees, accepting 11 of a record 5,000 asylum seekers in 2014."

Merkel’s grandstanding on Syrian refugees will lead to many more deaths at sea

Spectator
Of all the irresponsible decisions taken in recent years by European politicians, few will cause as much human misery as Angela Merkel’s plan to welcome Syrian refugees to Germany. Hailed as enlightened moral leadership, it is in fact the result of panic and muddled thinking. Her pronouncements will lure thousands more into the hands of unscrupulous people-traffickers. Her insistence that the rest of the continent should share the burden will add political instability to the mix. Merkel has made a dire situation worse.  ......Merkel’s actions, now, will be hard to correct: her words cannot be unsaid. She has exacerbated a problem that will be with us for years, perhaps decades. More than 40 per cent of those who applied for asylum in Germany in the first half of this year came from the former Yugoslavia; the last of its wars ended 14 years ago. Handling all of this correctly will require true statesmanship, which means thinking through consequences. Merkel is failing that test spectacularly. "

Denmark suspends ferries as migrants demand route to Sweden

Telegraph
The refugees refused to register with Danish authorities, which would mean having to apply for asylum in Denmark or returning to Germany, preferring instead to seek asylum in Sweden, where asylum conditions are more generous.
Sweden, one of many European countries struggling with the worst migration crisis since World War II, has become a top EU destination for refugees by issuing permanent residency to all Syrian asylum seekers."

This has never been about race... 8million foreign newcomers is far too many for a small country like Britain to absorb

Daily Mail
It has just been revealed that the number of people who were born abroad and are now living in Britain has hit a staggering 8.3 million.
That’s almost exactly the population of London, our capital city.

While we remain in the EU and chained to the pernicious Human Rights Act (another broken Tory promise), we are powerless to prevent mass immigration, both from within and without Europe.

It’s pointless putting forward any proposals to stem the human tide and protect our borders, since the political will simply doesn’t exist.

Donald Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate, may be a rabble-rousing circus act, but he is surely correct when he says a country which won’t secure its borders isn’t a country at all.

The 8.3 million already here are only those we know about. How many are here illegally?

The Government can’t, or more likely won’t, say.

But getting on for 15 years ago, the then Commissioner of the Met told me he reckoned there were at least 300,000 people living in London the police knew nothing about.

What’s the score today? Your guess is as good as mine."

BBC coverage of the migrant crisis is the gospel of the liberal left

CW
It’s plain that many if not most now camped out in Budapest and Kos and Calais are not ‘refugees’ or ’asylum seekers’. Because of the EU’s open borders, no one seems to have a clue about their point of origin or their reasons for being here.
The suspicion is that a high proportion are economic migrants; pictures suggest they are mostly male and they are desperately trying to queue jump in order to get what they want.
This is potentially worrying because it suggests the beginnings of the complete disintegration of border controls. The EU’s ‘free movement’ principle has seemingly transmuted into a total free-for-all."

'They're NOT refugees, they're migrants after a German life': Hungarian PM claims thousands fleeing war zones should stay in Turkey because they are no longer in danger

Daily Mail

Viktor Orban says many migrants are seeking the 'German life' because they refuse to stay in other safe countries

Calls on EU to provide financial support to countries such as Turkey so migrants stay there and do not move on

Germany expects to receive some 800,000 refugees this year and has urged other EU members to open their doors 

President Francois Hollande said France would take in 24,000 refugees over the next two years to help the burden

But he warned that without united EU policy to share migrants the borderless Schengen system would collapse

Refugee crisis: What will the true cost of taking Syria's displaced be?

Telegraph
In March 2015, a Freedom of Information request revealed that the UK spends more than £700,000 a day housing and feeding asylum seekers – prompting representatives of Ukip and the Taxpayers’ alliance to complain that people were not being processed quickly enough. Once the cost of taking, say, 10,000 Syrian refugees is properly understood, we could see a political backlash against it. Where are the school places? The hospital beds? ......  But even if we help bring peace to Syria, we shouldn’t expect the Great Migration to stop. Because it’s about more than people fleeing immediate peril. It’s about a desire to economically better oneself and it’s made possible by a revolution in cheap communications...... Intellectuals and populists warn that huge transfers of populations are bound to change the culture of the country involved. That's the argument of Hungary's controversial premier, Viktor Orban, who has spoken of the erosion of Christian identity"

This child's death was tragic but it was not our fault

Daily Mail

Which brings us back to the child’s corpse on the beach in Turkey. I repeat, it’s awful. Heartbreaking. But it’s not our fault, and it’s not our responsibility, however compassionate we might feel.

The father told the Mail that the family were fleeing the war in Syria when the dinghy capsized.

Miraculously, he survived, although he couldn’t save his wife and two children.

But here’s what puzzles me. They’d been living in Turkey for the past year. So why didn’t he apply for asylum there? After all, surely culturally Syria has more in common with Turkey, another Muslim country, than with Tunbridge Wells or Trondheim.

We’re also told that he’s a Kurd. So why didn’t he move to Kurdistan? Who knows? And that’s just the point. No one knows anything for sure.

Similarly, the shocking death of a child should never be exploited just because media tarts and ‘liberal’ luvvies such as Jackboots Jacqui and the absurd Emma Thompson can feel good about themselves.

However horrible, however tragic such cases are, they’re not a sensible basis for a realistic asylum policy."

Tragic Aylan's final journey: Father of drowned boys returns home to bury his wife and two sons - in the war-torn city of Kobane

Daily Mail
The barber had paid people smugglers £2,900 over the course of three attempts to reach Greece from a refugee camp in Turkey."

OPINION: This man is responsible for the deaths of his wife and children. He took them from a safe place - Turkey - and placed them at great risk using people traffickers and THEY paid with their lives.

From the comments:

"Ok it's time all EU countries return anyone that comes by boat! Let them know if they do they will be refused entry full stop! Then this would stop the trafficking and the drowning,"

"These children and their parents left the safe haven of Turkey and in the Father's own words undertook a hazardous journey on an unsuitable boat on rough seas. Turkey is not an island, it has land borders with European countries, just not very attractive countries to migrants. Migrants are dying because when they are safe from ISIS/war/famine etc, they choose to head for a 'prosperous' life in Western Europe."

"Cameron, would you enlighten us as to where the UK is going to find the 'thousands of houses' needed to accommodate the 'thousands of refugees/economic migrants' that you have agreed to take? What about their health care, school places for their children and of course Benefits for the whole bunch? Where are the jobs? We can't house, provide adequate healthcare & schooling for our own people. As for jobs, what a laugh - the influx of 'free movement' workers has taken care of that! What's the long-term plan, I'm sure we'd all like to know! "

"Very sad story, but this country had its own problems, 50,000 children on the at risk register in Britain today. So before the lefty tree huggers invite every refugee into the UK, I would suggest we fix our own mess first."

  

For pity's sake, we must shut the borders: DANIEL HANNAN says the only way to control who comes here is to leave the EU

Daily Mail

What, then, is the solution? First, Schengen needs to go. The Euro-fanatics have done enough damage in their pursuit of political integration. 

The restoration of sovereign borders would mean the authorities of each country no longer had an incentive to wave migrants through, knowing they would become someone else’s responsibility.

Second, we need to follow Australia’s example. Faced with a surge of seaborne migration, it towed ships to an island and processed claims offshore. 

Since then, there has not been a single death through drowning and far fewer people attempt the journey.

To emulate Australia, though, we would have to stop interpreting the 1951 Refugee Convention in a way that obliges us to allow every asylum-seeker to remain in the EU while their claim is assessed.

That charter was designed in a very different age. Its authors were understandably haunted by the memory of the Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in the 1930s who had been turned away from safe countries. 

They could not have dreamed of an era of cheap travel, when perhaps two billion people could theoretically claim to be victims of oppression.

To do what the Australians have done, the EU would have to abandon a great many accords, starting with its Charter of Fundamental Rights.

That, though, is unlikely to happen. So if Britain wants to control its borders, it will have to do so unilaterally, by leaving the EU.

Ministers are tying themselves in knots trying to avoid this conclusion. 

But all the schemes they propose – tightening benefits, requiring evidence of a job – fail to address the huge, clunking fact that, as long as we are in the EU, we cannot control who settles here or in what numbers.

Eventually, our hand may be forced. With no let-up in the numbers reaching Italy across the Mediterranean, there will come a point when the Rome government, tired of carrying the burden for other EU states, gives identity documents to all those migrants who want to move on and settle in Germany or Britain or Sweden.

The only question is whether this moment comes before or after Britain’s referendum.

If it comes before, no force on Earth will persuade people to remain in. 

If it comes after we’ve voted to stay, it will be too late to change our minds."