Ben Whitham
@drbenwhitham.bsky.social
Senior Policy and Research Officer at Refugee Action | Research Associate at SOAS | Assistant Instructor at Tiger Crane Kung Fu, London | Trade unionist, martial artist, antifascist. Views my own.
https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/ben-whitham
https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/ben-whitham
"Her story justifies the crackdown. It moralises the crackdown. And it silences criticism of the crackdown. Sold as an origin story from within an immigrant and racialised experience, the purpose is to imbue her politics with sacred authenticity"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik
‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straight, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:10 AM
"Her story justifies the crackdown. It moralises the crackdown. And it silences criticism of the crackdown. Sold as an origin story from within an immigrant and racialised experience, the purpose is to imbue her politics with sacred authenticity"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Um, so there are now French Police Nationale wandering about in Dover carrying firearms.
November 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Um, so there are now French Police Nationale wandering about in Dover carrying firearms.
Reposted by Ben Whitham
Shabana Mahmood's proposal to stop being told to "go back home" is to send people "home". Her proposal to stop black and brown people from feeling like they don't belong, is to bake in to the immigration system that they will never belong.
November 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Shabana Mahmood's proposal to stop being told to "go back home" is to send people "home". Her proposal to stop black and brown people from feeling like they don't belong, is to bake in to the immigration system that they will never belong.
Reposted by Ben Whitham
One particularly depraved aspect of Labour’s proposed jewellery seizure policy is that, after months of stating their goal was to crack down on ‘smuggling gangs’, they’ve proudly settled on a policy tantamount to saying, “Whatever these smugglers don’t exploit from you, we’ll have instead.”
November 18, 2025 at 10:56 PM
One particularly depraved aspect of Labour’s proposed jewellery seizure policy is that, after months of stating their goal was to crack down on ‘smuggling gangs’, they’ve proudly settled on a policy tantamount to saying, “Whatever these smugglers don’t exploit from you, we’ll have instead.”
The Labour government has successfully triangulated itself to somewhere to the right of the Tories, Reform, and "Tommy Robinson" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Shabana Mahmood tells Nigel Farage to ‘sod off’ after invitation to join Reform
It came after Nigel Farage said the home secretary sounds like a Reform supporter following her controversial proposals to overhaul the asylum system
www.independent.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The Labour government has successfully triangulated itself to somewhere to the right of the Tories, Reform, and "Tommy Robinson" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
One of the most striking features of our political age is that utter moral cowardice and punching down is routinely presented as "toughness". Continuing the long, racist tradition of blaming and punishing refugees and other marginalised groups for problems you caused is the opposite of "tough".
November 18, 2025 at 8:53 AM
One of the most striking features of our political age is that utter moral cowardice and punching down is routinely presented as "toughness". Continuing the long, racist tradition of blaming and punishing refugees and other marginalised groups for problems you caused is the opposite of "tough".
We are quoted alongside other organisations that work with refugees here. The Home Secretary's plans for UK asylum policy, to be formally announced later this afternoon, will make this a dark day for people seeking safety in the UK, for our wider communities, and for human rights more broadly.
November 17, 2025 at 12:37 PM
We are quoted alongside other organisations that work with refugees here. The Home Secretary's plans for UK asylum policy, to be formally announced later this afternoon, will make this a dark day for people seeking safety in the UK, for our wider communities, and for human rights more broadly.
Reposted by Ben Whitham
The call is coming from inside the house
November 17, 2025 at 6:50 AM
The call is coming from inside the house
"The BBC exhibits symptoms of the West’s wider moral breakdown over Gaza – the failure even to name genocide, let alone stop it, when a Western ally is the perpetrator"
New: for @equatormag.bsky.social I spent months talking to BBC journalists, from front-line reporters to the former head of the World Service, about how the corporation came unstuck over Gaza. But as I was working on the story, it collided with something... bigger... www.equator.org/articles/ins...
Inside the BBC’s Gaza Fiasco • Articles • EQUATOR
How the world’s most trusted media organisation fell apart
www.equator.org
November 14, 2025 at 7:40 AM
"The BBC exhibits symptoms of the West’s wider moral breakdown over Gaza – the failure even to name genocide, let alone stop it, when a Western ally is the perpetrator"
Just in time for panto season:
HE'S BEHIND YOU!
HE'S BEHIND YOU!
November 13, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Just in time for panto season:
HE'S BEHIND YOU!
HE'S BEHIND YOU!
Reposted by Ben Whitham
I wrote for the Big Issue about Sudan and how the UK's foreign policy choices cause forced displacement while the UK then denies responsibility for refugees and refuses safe routes to seek asylum.
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
Sudan war exposes hypocrisy of UK government's treatment of asylum seekers
Ben Whitham, senior policy and research officer at Refugee Action, writes that the Sudan war exposes 'racial injustice' in the asylum system.
www.bigissue.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:43 AM
I wrote for the Big Issue about Sudan and how the UK's foreign policy choices cause forced displacement while the UK then denies responsibility for refugees and refuses safe routes to seek asylum.
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
spending a billion pounds of public money to make thousands of members of the public unemployed - just after new figures showed general unemployment rising - while threatening tax hikes because there's not enough public money to spend? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
NHS gets go-ahead to make thousands of redundancies
The compromise deal would allow the NHS to overspend this year.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:33 AM
spending a billion pounds of public money to make thousands of members of the public unemployed - just after new figures showed general unemployment rising - while threatening tax hikes because there's not enough public money to spend? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I wrote for the Big Issue about Sudan and how the UK's foreign policy choices cause forced displacement while the UK then denies responsibility for refugees and refuses safe routes to seek asylum.
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
Sudan war exposes hypocrisy of UK government's treatment of asylum seekers
Ben Whitham, senior policy and research officer at Refugee Action, writes that the Sudan war exposes 'racial injustice' in the asylum system.
www.bigissue.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:43 AM
I wrote for the Big Issue about Sudan and how the UK's foreign policy choices cause forced displacement while the UK then denies responsibility for refugees and refuses safe routes to seek asylum.
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...
Reposted by Ben Whitham
Killing people to “balance the books”
NEW: UK confirms 15% cut to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria for its next funding round, a decision aid agenices say will result in hundreds of thousands of otherwise avoidable deaths.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
UK cuts contribution to Aids, tuberculosis and malaria fund by £150m
Campaigners say 15% cut, which is smaller than had been feared, is serious setback in efforts to combat the diseases
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Killing people to “balance the books”
Reposted by Ben Whitham
Of course, because this is precisely why they were put up and what they’re for.
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
NHS staff who care for patients in their own homes fear some areas have become “no-go zones” for them because of the presence of St George’s flags, health leaders have said.
Black and Asian staff have been left feeling “deliberately intimidated” as a result of the flags that were put up in many parts of England during the summer, according to the chief executive of one NHS trust in England, who asked to remain anonymous. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Of course, because this is precisely why they were put up and what they’re for.
The BBC happily calls anyone from swastika-waving, streetfighting American neo-Nazis to broadly liberal, one-nation Tory peers "conservative" but simply cannot arrive at a "clear definition" when it comes to democratic socialism?
November 5, 2025 at 10:13 AM
The BBC happily calls anyone from swastika-waving, streetfighting American neo-Nazis to broadly liberal, one-nation Tory peers "conservative" but simply cannot arrive at a "clear definition" when it comes to democratic socialism?
Reposted by Ben Whitham
Mamdani responded to the smears by putting out an ad in Arabic and speaking Arabic in his victory speech. The lesson is to never apologize for who you are and never cede to your opponents the idea that their voters are somehow more legitimate than your own voters.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Mamdani responded to the smears by putting out an ad in Arabic and speaking Arabic in his victory speech. The lesson is to never apologize for who you are and never cede to your opponents the idea that their voters are somehow more legitimate than your own voters.
Reposted by Ben Whitham
when people tell you who they are, several times, from a loudspeaker with closed captions, consider believing them
Genuinely interesting how quickly so many pro Israel influencers on Twitter pivoted to also being pro RSF
November 4, 2025 at 4:51 PM
when people tell you who they are, several times, from a loudspeaker with closed captions, consider believing them
Reposted by Ben Whitham
Also genuine recognition that there are different types of voters/constituencies who have a valuable voice in elections. UK politics speaks only to perceived voters and ignores everyone else. Large part of why we are in the position we are in today.
Zohran is stone cold man. Putting out an ad in Arabic after all the Islamophobic shit that’s been thrown his way? Pure swag.
Dems don’t need to copy his politics or even necessarily his campaign strategy, they need to learn how to grow a fucking spine.
Dems don’t need to copy his politics or even necessarily his campaign strategy, they need to learn how to grow a fucking spine.
أنا اسمي زهران ممدان وعم رشّح حالي لأكون العمدة الجديد في مدينة نيويورك
November 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Also genuine recognition that there are different types of voters/constituencies who have a valuable voice in elections. UK politics speaks only to perceived voters and ignores everyone else. Large part of why we are in the position we are in today.
The Greek edition of Global Politics (with a slightly longer title than the English one) is out now!
November 4, 2025 at 2:33 PM
The Greek edition of Global Politics (with a slightly longer title than the English one) is out now!
Raising higher and additional rates is one thing but surely even this so-far nightmarish Labour government wouldn't seriously think the answer to 14 years of Tory austerity, an ongoing cost of living crisis, and deep, deadly poverty is to pile a basic rate income tax hike top of their welfare cuts?
November 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Raising higher and additional rates is one thing but surely even this so-far nightmarish Labour government wouldn't seriously think the answer to 14 years of Tory austerity, an ongoing cost of living crisis, and deep, deadly poverty is to pile a basic rate income tax hike top of their welfare cuts?
This statement in defence of the ECHR on its 75th anniversary has achieved huge support from organisations across the migration and asylum, human rights, racial justice, and other sectors. Attacks on the rights of migrants harm everyone.
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/almost...
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/almost...
Almost 300 organisations express support for ECHR on 75th anniversary - Liberty
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk
November 4, 2025 at 12:16 PM
This statement in defence of the ECHR on its 75th anniversary has achieved huge support from organisations across the migration and asylum, human rights, racial justice, and other sectors. Attacks on the rights of migrants harm everyone.
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/almost...
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/almost...
Well we know the colour of his skin and country of his birth because that was the information police deemed it most important to share yesterday, immediately upon announcing his arrest. Which is a terrifying indictment of how far the British state has capitulated to far-right political movements.
November 3, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Well we know the colour of his skin and country of his birth because that was the information police deemed it most important to share yesterday, immediately upon announcing his arrest. Which is a terrifying indictment of how far the British state has capitulated to far-right political movements.
Matthew Goodwin, who is still welcomed by the BBC and other mainstream media outlets, now explicitly promotes a white supremacism identical to Enoch Powell's ("the West Indian or Indian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman ... in fact he is a West Indian or an Asian still")
November 3, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Matthew Goodwin, who is still welcomed by the BBC and other mainstream media outlets, now explicitly promotes a white supremacism identical to Enoch Powell's ("the West Indian or Indian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman ... in fact he is a West Indian or an Asian still")
Confected national "migration crisis" vs. real socio-economic one: "only 26% of people said immigration and asylum was one of the three most important issues facing their community... half the 52% who said it was one of the biggest problems facing the country as a whole" news.sky.com/story/manufa...
'Manufactured panic': Immigration not near top of most people's concerns, poll suggests
The cost of living, health, crime, and housing are much higher on people's lists of personal worries, a YouGov survey has suggested.
news.sky.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Confected national "migration crisis" vs. real socio-economic one: "only 26% of people said immigration and asylum was one of the three most important issues facing their community... half the 52% who said it was one of the biggest problems facing the country as a whole" news.sky.com/story/manufa...