The sleepy seaside town of Gosport could soon become an asylum “capital” if the Government pushes on with plans for immigration sites in the area, residents and local politicians fear.
Anti-migrant activists have descended on the run-down harbour town in recent weeks as the spotlight turns on small boat crossings along Hampshire’s South Coast, in the face of increasingly dangerous western routes undertaken by migrants in overloaded dinghies.
The Home Office has quietly started recruiting for seven staff to reopen Gosport’s Haslar Immigration Removal Centre next year, with initial plans to hold 130 migrants before they are deported.
Actor Noel Clarke in court over sexual offence allegations
Actor Noel Clarke is expected to appear in court today charged with sexual offences against five women.
What has he been accused of?
Clarke, who has appeared in and is accused of two counts of sexual assault, three of voyeurism and one of exposure between 2007 and 2016.
The offences are alleged to have taken place in London and Dorset. Clarke has previously denied any allegations of inappropriate behaviour or sexual misconduct.
What do police say?
Bethan David, deputy chief Crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to do so.”
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Drinking tea may be good for your heart
Tea drinking is good for your heart, and drinking it regularly reduces the risk of vascular disease by 11 per cent, research has found.
What did the study find?
A study in China published in the Journal of Internal Medicine looked at the risk of vascular disease in 485,934 people.
- Those who drank about six to eight cups per day were found to be at the lowest risk of vascular disease among weekly tea drinkers.
- Vascular disease can include heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary heart disease and peripheral artery disease.
- Tea consumption combined with not smoking and exercising was associated with the lowest risk.
The expert view
This doesn’t prove that a daily cuppa protects your heart. This was an observational study and other differences in people’s diets and lifestyles could help explain the findings… We need further evidence before assuming the findings apply in the same way to people in the UK.
Dell Stanford, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation
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Judi Dench: Cats film was a waste of talent
Actor Dame Judi Dench has described the 2019 film , the adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, as a “waste” of “goodwill and talent”.
She starred as the wise moggy Old Deuteronomy and has so far declined to watch the movie.
What she said
Oh God, I can’t bear it, and [Lloyd Webber] had waited so long for it to be made. What a waste of all that goodwill and talent. I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film. I never saw the final cut so I can’t judge. All I’ll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film. You do your best… and hope that people will get on board and join the party.
Details revealed in new memoir
In her forthcoming memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, Dench said she felt “ill at ease from the beginning – I just didn’t feel right in the role”, reports.
She said young dancers were ignored at the end of each take. However, she said she enjoyed meeting co-star Taylor Swift and receiving 50 everlasting roses, spraypainted gold, from Jason Derulo, another co-star.
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Why was the film panned?
The director, Tom Hooper, has been criticised for how he adapted the musical, including error-prone use of CGI. He has not made a film since.
Lloyd Webber has said “the whole thing was ridiculous”, “off-the-scale wrong” and that it caused him to become a dog owner.
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Two UK cities develop joint investment plan – what it means
Cambridge and Manchester are developing a plan to pitch themselves as one location for foreign direct investment, built around the two cities’ strengths.
How will it work?
The two cities will create a joint investment case in order to help companies based there to raise capital from abroad. The aim will be to boost local growth in both areas.
Local politicians, industry leaders and universities have backed the scheme which they say will be crucial in building “global impact” and “creating opportunities” in these cities.
Innovation and industry
“Cambridge is the second most innovation-intensive in the world and our collective aim is to use this incredible region of innovators and citizens to drive local and national growth. Our partnership with Manchester will be crucial in unlocking the potential of our economy and our local growth “
Paul Bristow, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority
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How multiple social activities can keep the mind sharp
A new study has shown that participating in a wide range of activities with other people keeps the brain active in old age.
What did the study show?
Researchers found people aged between 57 and 73 scored better on a cognitive performance test if they engaged in at least three social activities over six years.
The study tested 57,793 people from across the world including England, the US, Mexico and China. They found the effects of multiple social activities were most pronounced in women, those over 60 and those with higher levels of education.
Which activities are best?
- Volunteering and joining a sports club lowered the risk of decline.
- Training courses and looking after children improved cognitive scores.
- Political, church or religious groups did not have a consistent effect.
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Everything we know about Liz Truss’s new book
Former prime minister Liz Truss will release a book next week to offer an “explosive insider account” of her 2022 mini-Budget, which plunged the British economy into chaos.
What will the book cover?
Truss, who served as prime minister for just 44 days, will be releasing her book next Monday, just two days ahead of John Healey’s Budget on Wednesday. Truss resigned four years ago today, three weeks after the mini budget which sent the bond markets into turmoil.
According to the blurb, in the book Truss “revisits the extraordinary events of 2022 from inside Downing Street, challenging the establishment narrative surrounding the mini-budget”.
Book reveals ‘struggle about who really controls Britain’
Truss exposes the immense influence wielded by unelected institutions, from the Bank of England and the Treasury to the Office for Budget Responsibility, and reveals how the forces which brought down her government went far beyond economics.
promotional material from bank job
Residents and local councillors are outraged over the Home Office’s plans to grow this site to 600 beds, including a new, three-storey accommodation block. The Government still has to overcome a planning inquiry next month to complete the expansion.
Separately, the Home Office is considering using Fort Blockhouse in Gosport – a former Navy sea fort first built in the 15th century, less than a mile away from Haslar – as a landing site to bring ashore small boat arrivals in the region, The i Paper understands.
But no decision has yet been made, with local politicians accusing the Government of “secrecy” over its plans.
Zoe Huggins, Conservative leader of Gosport Borough Council, has said it is “outrageous” that the Home Office had not confirmed what its plans are for Fort Blockhouse. Dame Caroline Dinenage, Tory MP for Gosport, accused the department of “arrogance and secrecy”.
George Madgwick, Reform UK’s group leader at Hampshire County Council, said it would be would be “unpalatable” to make Gosport a regular landing point for Border Force operations in the Hampshire area.
“We don’t want to encourage people smugglers and say, ‘Here’s another place to cross to’,” Madgwick told The i Paper. “We’d like more tourism in Gosport. But if it becomes a new home, a new capital for asylum seekers as a landing site, then of course it’ll put people off.”
Haslar removal centre, which was shut in 2015, is set to reopen in 2027 with an initial 130 beds.
Home Office recruitment ads for seven detention engagement officers, which are no longer live, said they “will work directly with detained individuals” and “make a meaningful difference during a challenging period in their lives”.
Residents in Gosport – home to 70,000 people – are upset about plans to expand the site to 600 migrants. Almost 500 objections to the expansion have been sent to the Planning Inspectorate ahead of its inquiry, which starts next month.
Cameron Goad, 61, lives 800 yards from the Haslar removal site. He fears a bigger complex would add to traffic, noise and disruption.
“It’s devastating,” Goad told The i Paper. “I feel for the people living right next to it, because it’ll affect their house prices.”
One resident who submitted an objection said a three-storey block overlooking nearby homes would “spoil our beautiful town”. Another said house prices would fall “because of this monstrosity”.
Fort Blockhouse as possible landing site
There are also fears about how the Home Office might use Fort Blockhouse, which is also close to Gosport’s busy marina resort, where ferries bring visitors over from Portsmouth.
An aborted attempt to use Fort Blockhouse to land 50 small boat migrants sparked protests at the end of September. Far-right activists descended on the town, but the vessel was taken along the coast to dock in Kent instead.
Then, on 4 October, 149 small boat migrants were brought ashore at Fort Blockhouse before being taken on coaches to a processing site in Kent. Flares were set off as anti-migrant protesters again clashed with police.
A source close to Home Office discussions told The i Paper that Fort Blockhouse is still under consideration as a possible Border Force disembarkation site to bring small boats safely ashore.
Migrants could then be taken on coaches to other facilities like Western Jet Foil or Manston in Kent to have their asylum claims processed.
It comes amid increased concerns about “gaps” in the monitoring of small boats along the Hampshire coast, as people-smugglers try to land further west from the traditional Calais to Dover route.
Fears over tourism and ‘easy target’ for protest
Huggins told The i Paper that the idea of migrants being brought ashore at Fort Blockhouse was “causing huge local tension, concern and disruption”.
Limited access routes and pressure on emergency services would make it “totally unsuitable”, said Huggins. She made clear that the council was not aware of any plans for a new processing centre at the fort – but even an organised landing point would be unwelcome.
She worries that it would create “an easy target for protesters to blockade coaches” – which has happened before in Eastney, Portsmouth – since there is only one main road in and out.
There is also the threat to regeneration plans. Gosport is the most deprived local authority area in Hampshire, according to figures cited on the borough council’s website. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Huggins said the area in and around Fort Blockhouse has “significant potential for heritage, tourism, marine, leisure and economic uses” to boost the town.
Goad, who lives close to the old fort, is worried that the area’s push to get more tourists would be ruined if Gosport became a regular small boat landing site.
“We do get visitors, and the council has been trying to regenerate the marina area,” Goad said. “More illegal migrant arrivals will put people off and affect local businesses.”
“We don’t want it here,” he added. “I’m not in the minority – people are very upset.”
Cost of policing protests over £800,000
There are plans to hold a further, anti-migrant protest in Gosport on 25 October, The i Paper understands.
Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner Donna Jones has said the cost of policing recent protests around both Gosport and Eastney had already gone over £800,000.
Dinenage, the Gosport MP, said the Home Office has been “incredibly slow” to provide any information on whether Fort Blockhouse could be used as a landing point for further boat crossings. She said she had asked for meetings with ministers to no avail, adding: “The levels of arrogance and secrecy to date have been breathtaking.”
The Home Office declined to comment.