An RAF plane was drafted in to carry out surveillance missions over the Channel today as the Government steps up efforts to prevent migrants crossing into the UK from France. The A400M Atlas flew from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to provide surveillance for the Border Force and Coastguard who can intercept boats. The Ministry of Defence said the aircraft, which flew from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, is an “initial offer of assistance” to the Home Office.
Category Archives: immigration
The Dutch Burghers in Sri Lanka Today
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The Eastern Regions of Sri Lanka in British Times
Michael Roberts
My D. Phil dissertation at Oxford in the early 1960s centred on British agrarian policy in the mid-nineteenth century and therefore included the British efforts to revive the tank irrigation systems of the Sinhala past. Several British colonial personnel as well as visiting dignitaries were captivated by the ruins of the Anuradhapura/Polonnaruwa periods which they observed during adventure trips. A few saw it as a challenge for their imperial capacity. Some British governors, notably Ward, Gregory and Gordon, took up the prospect.
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Dunkirk Different! Migrants penetrate England by Small Boat
Sophia Sleigh & April Roach in Evening Standrard 10 August 2020, where the title is RAF plane patrols English Channel after nearly 700 migrants cross”
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A Voyage into the National Archives via Experienced Hands Speaking on You Tube
ABSORB THIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz6zMy9Hf1U&t=924s
ජාතික ලේඛනාගාරයේ විකාශය හා වටිනාකම 22 June 2020
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The Agars of De La Salle College hit the Headlines
Michael Roberts
In early February 2020 Wes Agar of the Adelaide Strikers and the South Australian Sheffield Shield side was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year at the Annual Australian Cricket Awards. About ten days later, on 21 February 2020, his elder brother Ashton Agar produced a hat-trick in a five-for haul that led to the demolition of the South African side in a T20 match at Johannesburg.
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“White Christmas” was fashioned by Irving Berlin, A Jewish Immigrant in USA
Rich Tenorio, an essay penned on 24 December 2019 and entitled “How Jewish-American immigrant Irving Berlin started a Christmas revolution”
The best version of White Christmas was done by Elvis. Berlin was highly critical of him for “desecrating” his song. How ironic: A god-fearing Protestant criticised by a Jew for the way he sang a Christmas song. But like a lot of the older brigade, Sinatra included, Berlin felt left behind by rock n’ roll. Yet Jews like Dylan and Paul Simon, dug Elvis.
Irving Berlin, at the piano, and friends celebrate the 25th year since he wrote ‘Alexander’s Rag Time Band’ at a banquet in his honor in Hollywood, California, January 20, 1936. Standing behind Berlin, at right, is Joseph Schenck, film producer. In front row singing together are two of the Marx Brothers, Chico and Harpo. (AP Photo) Continue reading →
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The Sri Lankan Army in Its First Decade, 1949-59
Jayantha Somasundaram, in Island, 10 October 2019, with this title “Sri Lanka Army At Seventy: Recalling The First Decade”
Under the terms of the Defence Agreement, signed in November 1947, between London and Colombo, a British officer, the Earl of Caithness was seconded, in 1948, as military advisor to the Government of Ceylon. During World War II, Brigadier James Roderick Sinclair, 19th Earl of Caithness CBE DSO, had led his regiment the Gordon Highlanders, through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and into Germany.
Brigadier Caithness proposed to the Ceylon Government, that the soon-to-be formed Army consist of an infantry battalion, an artillery regiment, signal, supply, ordnance, electrical and mechanical, and medical units; a works services engineering detachment to maintain buildings, a military police section and a training depot. Such a modest military establishment would only require one per cent of total government expenditure, and its personnel would, initially be drawn from the Ceylon Defence Force (CDF), the volunteer Army that had existed since 1910.
A Testing Issue: The Nadesalingam Murugappan Asylum Claim
ONE = Simon Benson & Rosie Lewis, in The Australian, 4 September 2019, where the title runs “Tamil asylum case sets path for 6000 others”
Scott Morrison has vowed to send home more than 6000 illegal immigrants who have had their refugee claims rejected, as he brushed off Labor attempts to drag his religious faith into the debate over the deportation of a Sri Lankan family. The Australian revealed on Wednesday that those 6000 asylum-seekers are engaged in similar legal appeals to that of the Tamil family who will learn today whether their eleventh-hour Federal Court bid to prevent their deportation has succeeded.
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Nadesalingam Family in Heated Asylum-Seeker Controversy
Tracey Ferrier, in AAP News Item, 3 September 2019, entitled “Peter Dutton lashes out at Tamil parents for “dragging” kids through court appeals”
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Australia takes Tough Line on Asylum Seeking Boat People
Asiri Fernando, in Sunday Times, 28 July 2019, where the title is
Five Sri Lankan men who attempted to reach Australian shores by boat were repatriated to Colombo this week. Several attempts by Sri Lankans to sail illegally into Australia the past three months have raised questions if human smugglers are probing Canberra’s resolve to stop such incursions following the federal election in May.
Three such attempts were intercepted by the Australian and Sri Lankan authorities since then, resulting in 66 Sri Lankans being repatriated, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Home Affairs said. Police said all those sent back were adult males. Australian authorities notified their Sri Lankan law enforcement counterparts via the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra prior to deporting the asylum-seekers by air.
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