Gloom service
THE Left has preached for years about how mass migration benefits the cultural and economic vitality of our nation.
But it seems the main people it enriches are human rights lawyers, hotel owners, criminal gangs and the French authorities.
Official figures lay bare the eye-watering cost of Britain’s broken borders, funded directly from the wage packets of hard-working taxpayers.
French police, given £480million of your cash to stop people-traffickers, stand and watch as more and more people climb aboard small boats to cross the Channel.
More than 32,000 asylum-seekers — nearly 3,000 more than at the very end of the Tories’ time in office — are currently housed in 210 hotels at a cost of £4.7million a day.
And that isn’t even anywhere near the extent of the burden on taxpayers, as there are even more migrants being put up in non-hotel accommodation.
There’s little chance of the illegals among them being booted out any time soon, either.
Lawyers claiming £1million a week in taxpayer-funded legal aid to mount endless appeals will see to that.
Labour won power after pledging to “smash the gangs” and “end asylum hotels”. Yet illegal migrant numbers — and the bill — keep on soaring.
Patience is wearing thin. Sir Keir Starmer must stop the boats, or lose the votes of millions who supported him only last year.
An easy call
PARENTS are finding it increasingly difficult to protect their children from risks posed by smartphones.
One in four kids spends more than four hours a day online and many secretly use social media during lessons and in bed.
So it is a welcome step for ministers to consider a daily two-hour limit for under-16s and a 10pm watershed. But what are they waiting for?
They can start in schools by giving teachers clear guidance — and power — to ban phones in classrooms.
And they can send a clear message to tech giants that if they fail to bring in safeguards soon, tough legal restrictions will be imposed on them.
Not much cop
POLICE appear to have won their battle against the Chancellor’s plans to squeeze their funding in this week’s spending review — but they were warned yesterday they must “do their bit” to cut waste.
They could save millions if they stopped sending officers to arrest law-abiding citizens who post “hurty” comments on social media.
It might even provide extra cash to tackle proper crimes like burglary, shop theft and street violence.
