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Asylum Seekers And Terrorists: Business As Usual
I suppose stories about asylum seekers and terrorists extracting the urine from the Great British taxpayer represent a return to normalcy. Today's papers take a breather from the financial markets to report on news that the surviving member of the terror gang which occupied the Iranian Embassy in London 28 years ago will soon be freed to enjoy a life on benefits courtesy of the British government.
Fowzi Badavi Nejad, now 50, escaped the fate of his comrades, who were killed when the SAS stormed the Embassy on the sixth day of the siege. However, he and his lawyers claim he would meet a similar fate were he to be deported to Iran, where he claims - not unreasonably - that the authorities there would string him up for the murder of two hostages who died during the gang's occupation of the Embassy.
Britain's observance of the Human Rights Act, which forbids the extradition of those who face the death penalty, means that he must stay in Britain.
Also in the headlines is the very fortunate Toorpakai Saiedi. This Afghani mother of seven lives in a large west London house paid for to the tune of £170,000 a year by the taxpayer.
Ealing Council has a duty to house Mrs Saiedi and her family, who claim to have been rich farmers in their native country before Taliban threats drove them to Britain. However, at over £12,000 a month, the rent for their house is five times the going rate for the area: Richard Littlejohn writes that this is the price Ealing Council settled with the landlord of the property.
The family claim that getting the home was like "winning the lottery."
Ealing has since sacked the three housing officers responsible for the decision, though it is more than likely that these three stooges will find their way back on the public paybook before long, as it is next to impossible to sack public sector workers no matter how monumental their idiocy. However, as Littlejohn adds, there are wider issues at stake. First, it is staggering that an Ealing house is on the rental market for 2500 a month, never mind the mind-altering 12500 the Council was paying the delighted landlord. How many young families can afford that sum per month, even ignoring the distortion caused to the market by Council payments?
"I sometimes think there are two Britains - one where most of us live and another which the government runs.
"In this parallel public sector universe, the party never ends. I'm sure the benefit office didn't think twice about doling out £12,500 a month to house the Saiedis.
"After all, it's not their money. And there's never been any indication that the tap is going to be turned off. The public sector is awash with money.
"Gordon Brown has hosed them down with our hard-earned cash. Government spending has more than doubled in the past ten years.
"And when it looked as if the money was going to run out, Gordon just went on a borrowing spree - which is one of the reasons the International Monetary Fund says Britain is uniquely ill-equipped to cope with the credit crunch."
