PLATELL’S PEOPLE: After life under the Taliban, I reckon Afghan heroes can cope with Yorkshire
Rehousing Afghan refugees rescued from the hideous Taliban regime here in the UK is expected to cost us taxpayers a staggering £2.5 billion.
In the past seven years, we have welcomed thousands of Afghans to this country, and most have made decent new lives for themselves after generous grants to help them integrate, get jobs and educate their children. And good for them.
Of course, it’s not perfect. After the country fell back into the brutal hands of the Taliban in 2021, our hasty evacuation left many behind — people who had served alongside our troops as translators were cruelly abandoned.
But that should not detract from what we have already accomplished in improving the lives of Afghans in need — and we should be proud of the fact.
Not least because the Mail’s Betrayal Of The Brave campaign has since brought over many more.
There are 8,000 Afghans still living in the hotels the Government put them up in temporarily, which is stopping them from integrating into communities, getting work and contributing to society (pictured: migrants outside The Grand Hotel on Skegness Seafront)
Yet in recent weeks, some of those we have rescued have tested our generosity.
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There are 8,000 Afghans still living in the hotels the Government put them up in temporarily, which is stopping them from integrating into communities, getting work and contributing to society.
Since it’s costing £1 million a day to accommodate them, the Government understandably wants to move them on.
But outrageously, a number are refusing to go — even though there is an additional £35 million to help re-home them.
One woman said she was happily settled in her Kensington hotel in London, as she’d made ‘a friendship group here’ and would not move.
There have been protests from young Afghan refugees over plans to rehouse them from London to Yorkshire, with threats of legal action and demands their education must not be disturbed.
Truth is there would be almost no education in their own country where children die every day of starvation.
And where women and girls are prohibited from schooling or jobs.
The decent Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer has had enough, and decreed Afghan refugees must accept accommodation offered to them around the country or face eviction.
And that is as it should be. Being welcomed into Britain is not a meal-ticket for life.
They cannot expect free homes in London when hard-working Brits, many of them Forces veterans, have been languishing on the housing list for decades.
At a banquet in Berlin, Queen Camilla was bedecked in the priceless jewels of the Queen Mother’s tiara, the late Queen’s necklace and — dare I say — drop earrings that looked like the ones I got from Zara for £19.99.
Blooming pointless
Ukraine’s brave leader Volodymyr Zelensky has met with presidents and prime ministers.
His latest photo-opp was with the actor Orlando Bloom who played the elf archer Legolas in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and had one significant line in the director’s cut of around 12 hours: ‘You have my bow.’
Ukrainians may refer to the invading Rusian soldiers as orcs — but I’m not sure a bow will do much against them.
Bald truth about the Spare’s hair
Prince Harry’s appearance in London this week shows he isn’t just the Spare heir, he’s also got no hair — from behind, anyway.
And he’s the one who used to poke fun at dome-headed brother William. A joke that, like his thatch, has now worn thin.
In the first official portrait of King Charles he’s wearing a bracelet given to him by an indigenous Amazon leader to symbolise his advocacy on climate change.
So why did our eco-friendly King have his State Bentley transported to Germany for his visit. That’s a Godzilla-sized carbon footprint.
Much cringing over Brooklyn Beckham’s video showing him cooking a spag bol with a wine cork in the pot.
It reminded me of what Aussies do at parties — place a cork in the loo as men always aim at it rather than splash all over the floor.
Easy on the tan, Jen
How gorgeous did Jennifer Aniston, 54, look at the premiere of her new movie Murder Mystery 2 in a sliver of a silver sheath dress.
Sadly, she rather overcooked the fake tan, which while drawing attention to her stupendously long legs, unkindly gave her wrinkly knees she doesn’t have and what looked like feet that hadn’t been washed in a week.
How gorgeous did Jennifer Aniston, 54, look at the premiere of her new movie Murder Mystery 2 in a sliver of a silver sheath dress
A dog of a day when millions of us fans learned pooch-loving Paul O’Grady had died aged just 67.
And shockingly disingenuous of the BBC to praise him as a ‘brilliant broadcaster’ and ‘incredible comedian’ after they’d forced him out of his beloved Radio 2 show just six months ago.
Shame on Beeb bosses, who bent over backwards to support Prince of Woke Gary Lineker while hanging a national treasure like Paul out to dry.
Claudia’s Traitors’ Island
Claudia Winkleman scoops the pool at the Royal Television Awards, winning Best Entertainment Performance and Best Entertainment show for her surprise hit The Traitors.
We all adore Claudia, though it’s a bit sad that the most popular show on TV is about a bunch of celebrity-seeking misfits plotting to destroy each other.
Surely that tired, old formula peaked with Love Island.
Claudia Winkleman scoops the pool at the Royal Television Awards, winning Best Entertainment Performance and Best Entertainment show for her surprise hit The Traitors
++ Westminster wars ++
What an empty gesture for Labour to kick out Hamas and IRA sympathiser Jeremy Corbyn.
Not least because Keir Starmer campaigned for him as Labour leader in two elections and said in 2019: ‘I’m 100 per cent behind Corbyn to win the next election.’
Ahead of the local elections, Starmer vows he will freeze council taxes while deputy Angela Rayner reveals Labour will hit the middle classes hard with taxes on savings, pensions and basically everything they own.
I am assuming that won’t include a tax on hairdressers, or how would half-woman, half-hairdo Rayner afford her extensions?
In his crackdown on crime, Rishi Sunak gives new powers to police to move on rough sleepers who kip in doorways.
Given they’re homeless, and often former soldiers or drug addicts, it’s not a good look from a PM who owns four mansions worth £14.7 million.
A stroke of genius from Ted
Animal behaviour expert Dr Lauren Finka gives advice on how to stroke a cat: don’t rub its fur backwards or touch its tummy.
To which my moggie Ted asked, do you get a doctorate in stating the bleedin’ obvious? Ted’s advice is simple.
Start with the head, cheeks, chin, around the whiskers. We’ll let you know if we don’t like it, he says — we’ll bite.
Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell now wears a corset to support his back after nearly being paralysed in a bike accident in 2020.
Good luck with the recovery, Simon, and well done for losing 3st to aid your recuperation — but don’t you now need a bra for those man boobs?
Just asking.
Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell now wears a corset to support his back after nearly being paralysed in a bike accident in 2020
Scientists claim tomato plants emit noises like the sound of popping bubble wrap when they are thirsty or when they are cut, and may feel pain.
So to avoid this suffering can we never eat a tomato again? And don’t even think of cutting the grass!
After her victory in court against a man who claimed she had crashed into him on a ski slope and caused him lasting mental and physical damage, Gwyneth Paltrow explained why she fought him saying: ‘I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity.’
This from a woman who enriches her Goop empire selling £80 vibrators!
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