BritCits

Today's links

People’s Assembly launched in the Guardian.

http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2013/02/peoples-assembly-against-austerity-launched-in-the-guardian/

The assembly will provide a national forum for anti-austerity views which, while increasingly popular, are barely represented in parliament. A People’s Assembly can play a key role in ensuring that this uncaring government faces a movement of opposition broad enough and powerful enough to generate successful co-ordinated action, including strike action. The assembly will be ready to support co-ordinated industrial action and national demonstrations against austerity, if possible synchronising with mobilisations across Europe. The People’s Assembly Against Austerity will meet at Central Hall, Westminster, on 22 June.

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84 tweets :
All the People's Assembly suggested so far: unite all opponents of austerity; have local groups everywhere; meet in London on 22nd June

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The UK Backlogs Agency?

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/ukba_backlog_24_years-28852

For example, if we look at the Committee's report for the previous quarter, we see that the number of cases in the Agency's backlog actually increased. We could speculate that even 24 years could be a conservative estimate for the amount of time it might take for the backlog to be cleared.

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https://twitter.com/tntmagazine tweets :

More sad examples of the big #UKBAballsup RT @SalCardiff: @tntmagazine please RT families torn apart by UKBA http://britcits.weebly.com

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Japanese husband of UK businesswoman may miss child's birth due to visa rules.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/japanese-husband-of-uk-businesswoman-may-miss-childs-birth-due-to-visa-rules-8551359.html

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Clerical error blamed for St Asaph-born husband's nationality mix-up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-21877747

A photographer has described how he was wrongly told by officials he was not a British citizen, and his Canadian wife could not stay in the UK.

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Richard III's distant relatives threaten legal challenge over burial.

Relations say king should be buried in York and government's failure to consult them is in breach of human right to family life.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/26/richard-iii-relatives-legal-challenge

"Richard III is believed to have no living descendants. Any distant relations are therefore descended from his siblings. Statistically speaking, many tens of thousands of individuals alive today are descended in this way. There is no obligation to consult living relatives where remains are older than 100 years."

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We are all related.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040930122428.htm

"No matter the languages we speak or the color of our skin, we share ancestors who planted rice on the banks of the Yangtze, who first domesticated horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forests of North and South America, and who labored to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu."

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After decades of apparently successful multiculturalism, many expect the government to keep Them away from Us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/26/theresa-may-borders-agency-boundary-dispute

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The UK Border Agency: after four years, a car crash in slow motion finally comes to a stop

The agency that's caused so much misery and cruelty is to be restructured, but without proper resources its successor won't be able to avoid the same mistakes.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/03/uk-border-agency-car-crash-slow-motion-finally-comes-stop

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A Member of the Scottish Parliament has attacked the UK Border Agency treatment of gay asylum seekers as 'Kafkaesque', demanding too high a level of proof of their sexual identity or else be returned to countries where they face persecution.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/culture-of-disbelief.20612984

Assessment changes by UK Border Agency has led immigrants fleeing persecution to even show film of themselves having sex.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/03/gay-asylum-seekers-pressure-prove-sexuality

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