CALAIS MIGRANT CRISIS.

The recent good weather has had a dramatic effect on the numbers of migrants willing to risk their lives travelling across the Channel in small dinghies to get to this country.

Just recently there are approximately 400 a day coming or being picked up halfway by British Coast Guard ships, although there have been suggestions that those found not in British waters should be picked up and taken back to France.

We are a very small country and are pretty full up at the moment without any more people swelling the numbers, everywhere I go I see nothing but new houses being built and I know I’m being a NIMBY but it’s too crowded already.

I believe the British Government has given the French 62 million euros to stem the tide and to find the traffickers although at this rate I think we should ask for our money back under the Terms of Goods Act as the French Police are not fit for purpose.

With 400 people coming over every day, how hard can it be to trace people who are bulk buying dinghies, or to find where they are storing them prior to departure, or to stop and search lorries who may be carrying the dinghies in the back, or even to stop the occasional dodgy looking individual towing a dinghy on a trailer.

All of this seems to me to be basic Police work for the average Plod, it doesn’t require the services of the famous French detective Jules Amedée François Maigret, commonly know in the UK as Inspector Maigret.

Apparently the French have refused to use drones which would seem to be the most obvious thing to use as with night vision cameras fitted they would be able to scan vast areas of the coast and catch the traffickers red handed long before the migrants have left the beach but unfortunately they consider them an invasion of their privacy so will not use them.

Call me a sceptical old bugger if you like but I can’t help thinking the French are not taking this seriously and I’m even tempted to think they are actually quite glad to see the backs of the migrants whilst pocketing our money to buy le grande quantites de vin rouge pour le piss up dans le Police station.

As usual I shall finish with a suitable image and today is no exception for I have managed to find a photograph of President Macron together with French Policemen at the moment they received the cheque from Great Britain for 50 million pounds.

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) meets with French army chief of staff General Francois Lecointre (L), French President's personal Chief of Military Staff, Admiral Bernard Rogel (R) and other military officials before the official launch of the new French nuclear submarine "Suffren" built by Naval Group at the French naval …

About The Diary of a Country Bumpkin

I am a retired actor, although to be honest I only retired because I wasn't getting any work and the option of becoming an unemployed actor/waiter at my age was ludicrous, especially as my waiting skills are non-existent. Having said I’m retired, I don’t think there really is such a thing as a retired actor for I am still available for work, I just don’t have an agent or any connections with regards to obtaining any worthwhile work. I have over the years done student films when there is nothing else available, always low paid (if at all) the only incentive was always the promised copy of the finished film for your show reel which nine times out of ten always failed to materialise. I spent many years looking after my aged mother who had dementia, hence the lack of acting work but shortly after her death I was lucky enough to run into an ex-girlfriend of many years ago and our romance blossomed once again, resulting in us getting married in 2013. My move to the countryside inspired me to write The Diary of a Country Bumpkin which tells of my continuing dilemmas in dealing with the rigors of the countryside from the unexpectedly large number of pollens, fungal moulds and hay products waiting to attack the unsuspecting townie. I enjoy writing, see my play Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori on The Wireless Theatre Company, The Plays Wot I Wrote and The Battle of Barking Creek both available on Amazon.co.uk and am very fond of classic cars so my ideal occupation would be acting in a film I had written set in the 1930s/40s, we live in hopes. I am delighted to say that since venturing to the countryside where space is not quite the premium it is in town, I have due to the availability of two double garages acquired more classic cars to form a small collection the pride of which are a 1947 Bentley Mk VI and a 2000 Bentley Arnage. My various blogs and websites are continually evolving and I’m sure that by following the appropriate links you will find something which will edify or amuse.

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