Kate
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katesheill.bsky.social
Kate
@katesheill.bsky.social
630 followers 720 following 180 posts
Human rights and migration, gender, sexuality. She/her. London / Bangkok.
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Reposted by Kate
ldobsonhughes.bsky.social
UK now at the point where the former Chair of the Racial Equalities Commission is calling for campaigns of terror against people of colour on the streets of the UK
jdportes.bsky.social Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d
Trevor Philips in the Times, calling for a Trump/Miller-style of random deportations based on skin colour.

archive.ph/RlXPj
Second, we need to enforce the policy with a vigour that has reduced flows at America’s southern borders by 90 per cent, and in Denmark by 95 per cent. Crucial to the Trump programme is an aggressive policy of removals, including snatching suspected illegals off the street. One friend tells me Latino parents are now so afraid to be seen out and about that the other parents have a rota to walk the Latino children to and from school.
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Kate
alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social
So predictably, far from satisfying anyone, Mahmood’s proposals have opened up space even further to the right for people to indulge their most deranged anti-immigration obsessions. Where does she go from here? Seek to match them in a gruesome auction of cruelty she can never win?
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d
Trevor Phillips proposes banning "remittances" (ie: imposing currency/exchange controls on international cash transfers by foreign nationals from Britain). He says this would disincentivise immigration, in a Times piece saying the Home Secretary needs to go [much] further

archive.ph/RlXPj
November 24, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Kate
bettinastruff.bsky.social
"The issue is not simply that the proposals are harsh, unethical or likely to be ineffective. They represent a deeper shift: redefining protection as a discretionary favour rather than a legal obligation."

Great article from @nandosigona.bsky.social

theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...
Asylum is not illegal migration – why the UK government shouldn’t conflate the two
The new proposals transform settlement into something that must be continually earned. The path has become longer, more conditional and far more easily disrupted.
theconversation.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Kate
danielsohege.bsky.social
Home Office: How dare people say we are acting like the far-right?

Also the Home Office: These far-right graphics look great, let's copy them.
Home Office post with a black background and the words Access to benefits restricted to British (with a union flag as the texture for the word "British") Citizens in all caps bold font
November 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Kate
tanjabueltmann.net
Tried to get this published but no luck, so might as well ‘publish’ it here so it’s not a complete waste!

➡️ Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow

#asylum #Mahmood #history #humanrights
Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow   When I was 13, I visited a Nazi concentration camp for the first time, confronting my country’s dark history always—and rightly—a bedrock in my growing up.    One image from that visit has stayed with me ever since: a display of prisoners’ personal possessions.    It revealed a world in which those imprisoned were stripped not only of their freedom but of the last tangible traces of their humanity. That systematic erasure was the most important precondition for murdering millions.   Now, as a historian, I know that history does not flow into the present in a straight line, and direct comparisons are rarely appropriate. They certainly are not here.   But history is the one compass humanity has. Too often we choose to ignore it.    The Home Secretary’s proposals for changes to the UK’s asylum system represent such a moment of failure.    Yet the most troubling aspect of Labour’s frantic efforts to appear tough on immigration is not even the historical echoes that taking refugees’ possessions invokes. It is that cost recovery is not the real purpose of the rationale behind it.    The true aim is to appeal to a particular audience—those who take satisfaction in seeing people seeking refuge deprived of what little they have. It is hard to imagine a more troubling approach to policymaking, and that becomes even clearer when we consider the Home Secretary’s proposals in context.   As of June 2025, there were 42.5 million refugees globally. Over 70% are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. The UK hosts 548,000 refugees; that is 0.78% of the UK population. Around 110,000 people are in receipt of asylum support; that is 0.15% of the UK population.   It is unconscionable that such a small and vulnerable population can be targeted with deliberate cruelty and weaponised for assumed political gain.   And that is all this will ever be. The core miscalculation is believing that adopting these positions will neutralise Reform.    Both historical knowledge and current research show the opposite. Mainstreaming extremist policies legitimises them further and aids only the original. Each step towards Reform’s territory simply gives Reform more power.   But our political discourse has been so degraded over the last decade that many no longer even recognise policies—or the language that frames them—as extreme.    That is how the Home Secretary can speak so casually of desperate people seeking sanctuary as recipients of a ‘golden ticket’ as though the context is Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory rather than countries torn apart by war and starved by famine. Speak of her ‘moral mission’ to withdraw support, alleging that ‘illegal migration is tearing our country apart.’ And warn of ‘dark forces stirring up anger,’ oblivious to her own role: from the use of blurry, dehumanising images of refugees to spread falsehoods about their impact on communities, to the equally false description of refugee movements as illegal migration.    I suggest the Home Secretary find a mirror if she is keen to understand who is helping turn anger into hate.   Because it is the mainstreaming of far-right talking points that the Home Secretary’s proposals represent that is really tearing our country apart.   For when a policy looks like the far right, speaks to the far right and is hailed by the far right as being far right, it is far right. There is a reason Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is jubilant and speaks of ‘the Overton window having been obliterated.’   This makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s recent comments on the urgent need to tackle racism. But it also raises alarming questions about the impact this will have on communities around the country, many of which are already deeply divided.    The proposed policies will do nothing for these struggling communities, because their problems simply do not stem from people seeking sanctuary with us. In fact: for as long as politicians focus on immigrants and refugees as the cause of our problems, they will fail to deliver for the British people.   But it is important to grasp the impact of the Home Secretary’s proposals as they carry broader consequences for all of us. Suggestions for changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights is applied are particularly concerning. Requiring judges to prioritise ‘public safety’—falsely implying refugees pose a threat—would qualify human rights for a specific group.   And once one accepts that human rights can be qualified for one group, one creates tools that can be used against anyone.   So what these proposals really mean goes far beyond asylum policy. This is about the kind of country we will have in the future. If human rights are no longer universal, they become a means for exclusion and control.    That is why stripping rights from refugees today can only enable a system that endangers all our rights tomorrow.    And that is why our historical compass matters and why we have to use it now. Because that compass tells us without doubt that when first they come for one group that is never where it ends. 
November 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Kate
crookedfootball.bsky.social
Me at the LRB blog on the atrocious refugee policy of Mahmood and Starmer
Christopher Bertram | ‘Core Protection’
Refugeehood is not supposed to be like this. The ideal envisaged by the Refugee Convention is that refugee status should...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Kate
sundersays.bsky.social
Net migration on 27th November will go considerably below the 2016 level (and keep falling). The interesting question as to whether or when net migration falling by two-thirds and more from its peak will or won't change the politics
migobs.bsky.social Migration Observatory @migobs.bsky.social · 7d
Revised estimates from the ONS suggest that net migration reached a peak of 944,000 in 2023 (rather than 906,000) and fell faster in 2024, to 345,000 (not 431,000).

Here's all you need to know, in three posts...
November 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Kate
mckelvie.bsky.social
People are probably calling Labour racist because Labour keep being racist. If they want to stop being called racist they should stop doing racist things.
November 17, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Kate
drjennings.bsky.social
This is very much the majority/median position in the Labour Party, among Labour voters and the general public.
simonforstroud.bsky.social Simon Opher @simonforstroud.bsky.social · 8d
We should stop the boats because it's dangerous, and we should stop the scapegoating of immigrants because it's wrong and cruel.

Controlled migration is good for the country, helps build our economy and diversity strengthens our communities. (1/6) 🧵
November 17, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Kate
nameshiv.bsky.social
theres a whole bunch of cultures that don't do rings to mark marriage but do do necklaces for the purpose, so do only Christians get to keep wedding jewelry or
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 8d
Ministers now appear to be confirming in broadcast interviews that they would audit and could confiscate assets (including jewellery) excepting wedding rings from the jewellery that they could confiscate.
November 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Kate
gabyhinsliff.bsky.social
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Kate
yatesyman.bsky.social
"As another row on immigration and refugees awaits parliament, it is clear the problem is not immigrants, but politicians themselves."
Great piece, great closing line from @stellacreasy.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
ICE-style raids on Britain's streets: that's all Labour's brutal asylum reforms will achieve | Stella Creasy
If we want to ‘stop the boats’, we need to stop the BS when it comes to what creates refugees, and how to respond to them, says Labour MP Stella Creasy
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Kate
ilpaimmigration.bsky.social
⚡Powerful report from @ramfel.bsky.social published this week showing the reality of life in the UK's asylum hotels.

Read more 👇👇
ramfel.bsky.social RAMFEL 🧡 @ramfel.bsky.social · 14d
🚨🚨🚨
Our new report on hotel accommodation drops today.
These hotels are not 5*. Here's the proof.
Relying on testimony from clients, photos & medical evidence, you can now see the awful reality of hotel life.
More updates throughout the day so watch this space.
www.ramfel.org.uk/asylum-hotel...
Asylum Hotels Report
Our new report, Profiting from People: Inside the UK’s Asylum Hotels , exposes the true horrors that refugees face whilst housed for years on end in asylum hotels. We’ve long known this, and now...
www.ramfel.org.uk
November 13, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Kate
trillingual.bsky.social
Wrote about 'Resistance', Steve McQueen's exhibition on 20th century protest. Some wonderful photographs, and some difficult questions about how to tell this story in our current moment. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Daniel Trilling · At Modern Two: Protest Photography
Although the events depicted in Resistance are familiar territory for an exhibition concerned with social history –...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM
katesheill.bsky.social
Ouch. Also, yes.
dorianlynskey.bsky.social Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 12d
All PMs are flawed but I think if you have no coherent vision, no ability to make decisions quickly, no humour or charisma when addressing the public, no strong roots in your party, no talent for charming MPs and no control over your own office, then you are unlikely to be able to turn it around
November 13, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Kate
okwonga.bsky.social
“There were no political or religious motivations. They were rich people who went there for fun and personal satisfaction. We are talking about people who love guns who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safari in Africa.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into Italians who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb army for trips to Sarajevo so that they could kill citizens during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s. More than 10,000 people were killed in Sarajevo by constant shelling and sniper fire between 1992 and 1996 in what was the longest siege in modern history, after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia.
November 12, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by Kate
wanderinggaia.bsky.social
WHAT? There very much IS scientific consensus!
meghanclare.bsky.social Meghan @meghanclare.bsky.social · 15d
Yesterday during NPR’s reporting on the climate summit, someone said it’s harder now bc 1) there used to be scientific consensus and now there isn’t and 2) there used to be political urgency around climate change and now there isn’t

Mind blowing
November 11, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Kate
sallyhayd.bsky.social
This is tomorrow! Do join us.
sallyhayd.bsky.social Sally Hayden @sallyhayd.bsky.social · 22d
I'm speaking as part of this online event on November 12 organised by the NYU Migration Network, focused on global questions around migration, detention & deportation. Anyone can join & here is the link to register: nyu.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @nyukevo.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by Kate
profjmcadam.bsky.social
New issue of Forced Migration Review out now on climate change and displacement: 'responses to climate displacement must be proactive, rights-based, and human-centered, moving beyond reactive measures' www.fmreview.org/climate-choi...
FMR 76 - Climate change: Choices for displaced people - Forced Migration Review
www.fmreview.org
November 9, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Kate
madlinsudn.bsky.social
Calling all small charities!

The Boring Fund is now open for applications.

It offers small (£200) grants to UK non-profits, charities and voluntary groups to cover boring running costs like web hosting, admin, insurance etc

Apply by 30 Nov

#Funding
Boring Fund | Christina Poulton
Applications now open! £200 grants available for small charities, CICs and voluntary groups towards some of those boring but hard-to-fund costs.
www.christinapoultoncreative.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Kate
joenoonan.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/world/africa... @sallyhayd.bsky.social
‘You belong to Walid’: Trial begins for man accused of running notorious human trafficking network
Victims describe starvation, torture and ransom demands as Dutch prosecutors pursue justice against alleged trafficking boss
www.irishtimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Kate
marklemley.bsky.social
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Kate
paulisci.bsky.social
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women

🧵
November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Kate
bordercrim.bsky.social
The increasing reliance on mobile data extraction in the EU asylum system is putting people at risk. Dr. Sanjeewani challenges the ethical and legal implications of this practice ⤵️

blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...
November 7, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Kate
agawande.bsky.social
Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online.

It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM