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Showing posts from June, 2017

Safety first to prevent another Grenfell

Grenfell Tower after blaze (Image: BBC) For those reading from abroad and unfamiliar with the UK's housing policy, the country is enduring a 'crisis'. To be honest, this has been branded about by media commentators, politicians and property experts for decades. Those living abroad may have been oblivious to this in the past, they were surely given a taster to the problem UK's housing industry is facing after the events surrounding Grenfell Tower. On Wednesday 14th June, Grenfell Tower, located in north Kensington, west London became the central focus in the global news agenda after the block of apartments was set ablaze. It happened very early in the day - shortly before 1am, when many of the residents were asleep. But the time between the fires starting on the fourth floor to its spread to the top of the building was too quick for people to react and escape. This tragedy, as I write this, hasn't a final death toll but regardless of its number, it's b

Cutting net EU migration comes with patience

UK Border Control (Image: fullfact.org) The Conservative Party's pledge that net migration will be reduced to tens of thousands is soon becoming a reality - well, sort of. This may sound like a bold statement, but think of this as a prediction for what is to come in the next 5-7 years for European Union (EU) citizens in particular. Yet, this will not be thanks to the Tories vision, neither would it really be down to the reported increased levels of 'hate crimes' aimed at Eastern Europeans over the past year. The reason I'm arguing here is purely economic. This aspect of the immigration debate is rarely discussed. Immigration is a highly emotive topic in which both sides of the argument will often agree to disagree. You'll often hear someone state there are 'too many' immigrants coming to the UK while another would counter that by stating that they're a total asset, performing employment duties no Brit would want to do. Both sides of the debat