After America withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, abandoning it to the Taliban, all nerves were strained to get Afghans loyal to Britain to safety.
At great risk to British military personnel working in Kabul and at great expense, some 11,600 people and their families were rescued and brought here.
Naively, perhaps, we might have expected a little gratitude for offering them refuge.
Not even a little. Fast forward to 2023 and we learn that 40 rescued Afghan families, including some 150 children, are outraged.
Why? Because after spending 18 months in a four-star hotel in Kensington, a stone’s throw from the Victoria & Albert Museum in one of London’s most upscale areas, the Home Office is now telling them to move to Yorkshire.
On the website of their London hotel, single rooms are advertised at £217 per night.
At great risk to British military personnel working in Kabul and at great expense, some 11,600 people and their families have been rescued
Wetherby is beautiful. A safe place to raise children, with cycle routes, good schools and one of the lowest crime rates in England
The cost to British taxpayers housing families at this hotel alone surely runs into the millions – even before we consider the cost of free healthcare, their children’s education and other benefits.
Some Afghans say that after 18 months their children’s mental health could be damaged if they were forced to move to the pretty historic market town of Wetherby. I know him well, having spent many years in Yorkshire.
Wetherby is beautiful. A safe place to raise children, with cycle routes, good schools and one of the lowest crime rates in England. The average salary is £30,501.
Yet that is not enough for these Afghan refugees, many of whom say they will refuse to leave.
The addiction culture is growing fast, isn’t it?
If these guests find the idea of moving to another free hotel so oppressive, perhaps they could reminisce about the hellish Taliban regime they left behind.
Half of their country is starving. His women are brutally oppressed. Anyone at home would swap places with them in a heartbeat.
What a mockery these people make of our hospitality.
In every town in the UK we come across homeless men, many of whom are military veterans who have served this country. They lack a clean and safe bed. But these ungrateful refugees are all sleeping soundly, paid for by us.
A survey reveals that we have become so isolated that three in ten of us do not know the names of our neighbors, let alone talk to them. Not true around me. I know where they all live because Amazon keeps delivering their packages to me.
Delilah is a Gee-whiz
The furor surrounding Welsh Rugby banning the Delilah team anthem, supposedly because it condones violence against women, reminds me of my encounter with the lyricist, Barry Mason.
I asked him ‘why, why why’ it was such a hit.
He told me, deaf as I am, to sing the chorus, “My, my, my Delilah,” then said that even my terrible performance was proof of the secret to his enduring success.
It is set in the key of G, so anyone can sing it.
Ted’s words of comfort for Larry
My dear moggie Ted is devastated to hear that his Downing Street counterpart, Larry, has been treated for cysts.
Cat number 10, Larry, is undergoing treatment for cysts. Ted hopes Larry doesn’t suffer from the same aching pains that left his once-straight ears comically drooping
Ted hopes Larry doesn’t suffer from the same aching pains that comically left his once erect ears drooping.
But, as Ted reassuringly adds to Larry, his sad ears make him even more lovable.
Hunted for decades, ex-soldier David Jonathan Holden is found guilty of the 1988 manslaughter of a man he believed to be an IRA member.
Meanwhile, the families of victims of the Real IRA’s 1998 Omagh bombings – which killed 29 people – have yet to see a single person brought to justice. These skewed priorities should trouble us all.
What about the men in big suits that movie critics love so much? Brendan Fraser received rave reviews for playing a morbidly obese man in The Whale and was nominated for an Oscar, while Gary Oldman ridiculously won Best Actor for playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
But Gwyneth Paltrow, who played a female “whale” in Shallow Hal, never took a look.
Trepidation for tomorrow’s Happy Valley final. Women of a certain age have invested heavily in 55-year-old grandmother – and no-nonsense cop – Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire).
What a joy to see a middle-aged, plus-size Yorkshire girl become the heroine of a TV hit.
If the BBC kills her, me and millions of women will cancel our TV licenses.
Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, 55, reveals every ‘wild adventure’ twist of her life in her memoir and Netflix show.
She was abused as a child, handed out like a tray of cocaine to the men in the Playboy mansion and endured disastrous marriages – but she survived.
This reminds us of the recent biopic, Blonde, about Marilyn Monroe. Two platinum bombs that unfortunately both ended up alone.
Westminster Wars
As Rishi Sunak tumbles in the polls, American scientists are investing millions to bring back the dodo. Is there any chance they can clone some real curators while they’re at it?
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said fuel taxes may have to rise as he cannot promise to keep the current 5p cut.
And now they are considering immediate £300 fines for people using wood-burning stoves. If they can’t tax it, they fine you.
Rishi is right to stand firm and deny the strikers anti-inflationary wage increases.
We have no money and neither should an economy in recession be blackmailed by Labor activists bent on bringing down the Conservative government.
Humble and boastful TV presenter Fearne Cotton has hit out at online trolls who say she looks “too thin” in the carefully posed selfies she likes to post on Instagram.
“This kind of attention is never given to men!” She cries.
The difference is that the photos of famous men are mostly taken by strangers – these are not Fearne’s self-promotional photos.
That’s not true, Fearne: check out all the comments after Jeremy Clarkson was photographed on the beach.
The difference is that photos of famous men are mostly taken by strangers – they’re not your self-promotional photos.
Family doctors are threatening to strike, saying they don’t earn enough to see patients in person and describing a pay offer as “insulting” and a “slap in the face”.
Given that their average – taxpayer-funded – salary is around £110,000, surely their delusion and greed is a slap in the face for us?
Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid storms the set, shouting angrily at her underpaid colleagues who made mistakes on her autocue.
As the most overpaid woman on TV, earning £1.1m, Susanna has been adrift on this show since Piers Morgan left, exposing her for the fragile self-cute she really is.
As the most overpaid woman on television, earning £1.1m, you’d have thought the self-styled professional Reid might know how to improvise.
The sad truth is that Diva Susanna has been adrift on this show ever since Piers Morgan left, which exposed her for the fragile cute self that she truly is.
This dress or that one?
While promoting her new single, You Only Love Me, in New York, singer Rita Ora wore ten outfits in 24 hours
To promote her new single, You Only Love Me, in New York, singer Rita Ora wore ten outfits in 24 hours, including a barely there black bondage number and a skin-tight red Lycra dress.
Well, at least the clothes provided a welcome distraction from her voice.
