Mr Olly Smith

Great memories start with bad ideas

[Steven Edginton @StevenEdginton]

Exclusive: Whistleblower exposes Home Office's asylum system:

"I work in the Home Office deciding whether to grant people asylum, and I am terrified that one day one of my cases will end up on the news.

There has been no internal communication about the recent acid attack case. Nothing. Not even an email telling us that they are looking into how it could have been allowed to happen.

Instead we are bombarded with emails that celebrate things like “World Hijab Day’’ at the same time as I deal with cases of women claiming they cannot go back to Iran otherwise they will be forced into wearing these items.

Asylum seekers will be coached, often by legal representatives or through friends and family (some of whom may have been granted asylum in the past), to concoct a reason they might be persecuted in their home country. They “convert” to Christianity, often coming with evidence of recent baptisms, or say they are gay and take pictures in gay nightclubs to prove it (some of these photos look as though they are very uncomfortable being there).

In one instance a male claimed that he was gay, only to drop the assertion halfway through his asylum interview because he felt so disgusted by the idea.

In one interview the claimant insisted that he was being persecuted in his home country due to his political beliefs. I asked him to name the leader of his nation’s opposition party and he couldn’t answer. He asked for a break and came back ten minutes later knowing everything about the political situation.

The Home Office is hostile to those who speak up internally, unless their complaint is about diversity or discrimination or some other civil service obsession.

Home Office directives and pressure to clear the backlog of asylum cases has caused caseworkers to cut corners. The default is now to err on the side of accepting people. For example, we have been told to cut down the time it takes to conduct asylum interviews, which has led to confusion and a lack of clarity over some cases.

Even as someone who is sceptical of many applications, internal targets and incentives mean that I feel under huge pressure to accept people. It takes less than half an hour to accept a case, while it takes around a day to write up a report to reject someone (this is because you have to lay out the evidence as to why you rejected it for legal reasons, which is a timely process).

The top brass have told us to be on the lookout for applications (even citing a string of recent cases), that use the same wording, or similar stories, and are often submitted by people using the same immigration lawyer. We know that many law firms tell applicants to submit the same hokum that has been proven to work previously but we have not been told to stop granting asylum in these cases."

[Emily Hewertson 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @emilyhewertson]

Any comment, @EdwardJDavey ?

[Rhiannon Ellen @rhiannonellen]

When you remember that you forgot to book the Monday off work #Glastonbury #eltonJohn #Elton #glastonbury2023

[Martin Dryden @martdryden]

@MayorofLondon You are the biggest crook going 🤣 #stopulez

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

Surface area in the Sahara desert 🏜 required to power the world with solar energy (Concentrated solar power plant with 2,500 kWh/m² a year).

[LADbible @ladbible]

When your mate says he can’t come out for the football next week because it’s a 5pm KO:

[LADbible @ladbible]

Me whenever there’s a slight inconvenience in my life... 😂🔊

[Mr Olly Smith @hitchsmith]

@JoeLawrence1991

[Nigel Farage MP @Nigel_Farage]

Congratulations Prime Minister and your experts, you have caused the first evacuation of London since 1939.

[Ashley Johnson @MrAshleyJohnson]

As you can imagine this is just not good enough! Please can someone get in touch with me to advise on what my next steps are. Your automated service is shocking! Thank you

[Conor McGregor @TheNotoriousMMA]

Every health official knows physical and mental health are key to staying well. Working out in gyms isn’t a luxury, gym owners have safety precautions in place.
Gyms are an essential service. #OpenTheGyms

[Mahyar Tousi @MahyarTousi]

Are you joking, Sadiq?!

You’re the one who’s been asking for a full lockdown and then tier 2, which you now have achieved. Don’t blame it on the central government when you asked them to do it.

This is one of the most disgustingly dishonest tweets by the mayor.

[Sarah Vine @WestminsterWAG]

Dear @SadiqKhan please can you explain why every single main artery in London is in gridlock and why you still haven’t done anything about reopening any of the three bridges that are closed? Our city is dying and you are nowhere. As per.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

So not the migrants, who know the risks of such a perilous journey?
Not the traffickers, who encourage and facilitate this risk-taking, for huge fees from vulnerable people?
But the British Home Secretary?!

[Martin Daubney 🇬🇧 @MartinDaubney]

Funny how all the outraged Lefties on
#IStandWithJeremyAndLaura saying "how dare you doorstep Jeremy Corbyn?! LEAVE. HIM. ALONE!" had absolutely no problem with the media constantly doorstepping Dominic Cummings for weeks on end 🤷‍♂️

[Mahyar Tousi @MahyarTousi]

The BBC has cancelled Andrew Neil. Which means the organisation is now fully dominated primarily by left wing pro Remain establishment elitists. Time to remove the TV Tax.

[Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 @TiceRichard]

So @SadiqKhan @metpoliceuk how is this keeping our London streets safe? Once again police retreating once again the mob winning....a summer of riotous discontent ahead of us unless you get a grip NOW

[Mahyar Tousi @MahyarTousi]

Why is the mainstream media not scrutinising Sadiq Khan’s dangerous decision to cut the police in London?!

If the media won’t do their job, we will.

Londoners must rise up and vote against him next year.

[Ashley Johnson @MrAshleyJohnson]

Suicide figures are up 200% since lockdown. Could 2 friends please copy and re-post this tweet? We’re trying to demonstrate that someone is always listening.

Call 116 123 (Samaritans UK)

Just two. Any two. Copy, not retweet
#SuicideAwareness