Month: October 2026

For years, the experts insisted that the laws of supply and demand do not apply, uniquely, to immigration.

Now that the taboo has lifted, the evidence is arriving thick and fast. Three studies published in the past week alone should settle the argument.

The first, from Cambridge Circus Research, uses previously unpublished HMRC payroll data to measure migration’s effect on pay. Outside London, the typical British worker reportedly earns around £1,060 a year less than they would have if migrant employment had been frozen at its 2015 level, and the loss hits hardest at the lower end of the pay scale. Little wonder that millions of Labour voters have given up on their party and turned to Reform.

The second, from the Centre for Social Justice, finds that four in five of the new payroll jobs added since 2014 have gone to foreign nationals, while millions of Britons have been parked on out-of-work benefits and, in effect, written off.

When an employer can fill a vacancy with cheap migrant labour, there is no reason to pay good wages, train a school-leaver, or buy the machinery that makes each worker more productive. Cheap labour has displaced capital and investment.

The third, from the Centre for Policy Studies, confirms what anyone trying to buy a first home already knows. Had net migration been held to the tens of thousands since 2020, the average house in England would reportedly be £15,270 cheaper today; had it been zero, the saving would be £19,370. Renters have paid too. Separate modelling by Onward puts the cost of a quarter-century of net migration at £132 a month on the average English rent, nearly £1,600 a year.

Put the studies together and, for the first time, we can place a price on the betrayal. The average British worker renting outside London is at least £2,000 worse off this year because of a decade of mass migration: £1,060 in lost pay and £940 in higher rent. And that is before we count the social and cultural costs.

Only Reform UK can be trusted to deliver the change this demands. Nigel Farage will ensure more people leave these shores than arrive on them, wean the economy off cheap imported labour and put British-born workers first for jobs and new social housing. The evidence now says plainly that this is the route to lower unemployment, cheaper rents and faster growth.

The experts spent 20 years telling us that mass migration was making Britain richer. We can now see what it cost – and who paid.

reformparty

An offensive Irish ad that warned loving grandparents to seek consent from their grandchildren before hugging them has now been removed following massive public backlash. 

The taxpayer-funded video ad which was supported by the Irish government and produced by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre depicted an adoring grandmother and grandfather embracing a young grandchild who was delighted to see them only to then face resistance from a second, older grandchild.

“Not everyone wants a hug, even from the people who love them,” states the narrator. “Awkward? Maybe. Important? Absolutely. We-Consent.ie is here to help.”

🇮🇪 The Irish state has published an advert discouraging grandparents from hugging their grandchildren, as part of a campaign designed to promote "consent". pic.twitter.com/mQKRn8Dvu3

— Europa.com (@europa) October 21, 2026

The ad was short-lived.  

“The Irish State has SUSPENDED their SINISTER ad which campaigned for grandparents to seek CONSENT before showing affection to their own grandchildren,” noted Catholic news site, Catholic Arena.   

“Under the current government, elder abuse has EXPLODED,” noted the outlet. 

🚨 The Irish State has SUSPENDED their SINISTER ad which campaigned for grandparents to seek CONSENT before showing affection to their own grandchildren

Under the current government, elder abuse has EXPLODED pic.twitter.com/aJR8CBz9uX

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) October 22, 2026

“Once again the world is laughing at us and the woke bolloxology we promote,” said podcaster Niall Boylan.  

“What next? New laws to lock up mothers and fathers who don’t ask their babies for consent before hugging or kissing them?” he wondered. 

“The government need to answer for this. It’s bonkers,” said Aontu leader and TD for Meath West, Peadar Tóibín, according to the Irish Mirror.

“The video produced by the DRCC involving grandparents does not represent the views of the Government,” insisted Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan. 

“It was both inappropriate and demeaning to grandparents and has been removed by DRCC following my official engagement with them,” said O’Callaghan. “It goes without saying that having loving grandparents in a child’s life is an incredibly positive thing to be cherished and not something to be campaigned against.”

“While it is vital to ensure that people understand the concept of consent when it comes to sexual relationships, this video did not advance that aim and in many ways was counterproductive,” he added.

“This is actually both the saddest and most enraging thing I have seen for a long time. I mean WTAF? One of the most precious relationships is grandparents and grandchildren. HOW did this get signed off?” asked an X user.

This isn’t the first time that progressive forces have attempted to untether grandchildren from grandparents who love them.  

For years, leftists have conveyed alarming messages – rooted in the Marxist quest to destroy the family unit – warning that every hug or kiss or snuggle from a grandparent might be a sign of sinister intent.

The infelicitous ad follows troubling news that the Irish government has been waging a quiet war on traditional wives and mothers.

lifesitenews

On the night of October 17-18, 2026, France saw some of its worst urban violence in years. What began as largely peaceful demonstrations over the cost of living, high fuel prices, and the state of public services—especially schools—descended into widespread rioting, arson, and looting across multiple cities. The most established media outlets acknowledge “scenes of war.” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez put the number of participants at roughly 550,000 nationwide (the communist union CGT claimed closer to 800,000), with about 110,000 in Paris. Police made approximately 1,800 arrests, including a record of more than 1,200 in the capital. More than 900 police officers were injured.

France’s “mostly peaceful protests”

The physical damage is extensive. In Paris, shopfronts were smashed (luxury retailers but also many modest shops and private properties), cars and bicycles were torched, barricades of garbage dumpsters and bicycles were burned, and restaurants were gutted by fire. Whole streets were described by officials as “devastated.” In Limoges, the 19th-century town hall was destroyed by arson; in Lyon the tourist office was set alight; city halls and public buildings were attacked or defaced, notably in Marseille, the second-largest city in France. Looting targeted hundreds of shops in Paris, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux, Nice, and Strasbourg.

Authorities attributed the worst violence to “far-left” or “ultra-left” elements joined by opportunistic delinquents. Groups in black, masked and wearing balaclavas, clashed with police who deployed tear gas and water cannons. Yet, everywhere, the instructions and rules of engagement for law enforcement remained clear: above all, no violence. This means that the rioters will prevail over the security forces, who are mainly reduced to mere spectators. Such is the cowardice of the Macron regime. More than 3,000 businesses were damaged, with losses estimated at more than a billion euros. A synagogue on Rue Burnouf in Paris’s 19th arrondissement was found vandalized and ransacked, with religious items scattered; reports differed on whether it was deliberate vandalism linked to the riots or an attempted robbery (Torah scrolls were reportedly left untouched.)

The causes

These events did not arise in a vacuum. France has long refused to confront three interlocking realities that its political class treats as taboos: mass uncontrolled immigration, the growing presence and separatism of Islam, and the unaffordable costs of the EU’s “energy transition.”

Immigrants and their descendants are disproportionately concentrated in certain banlieues and cities where public services are most strained and where earlier waves of unrest (including 2005) already originated. France’s welfare system, housing, education, and security budgets have been under continuous pressure from high inflows, low assimilation rates in segments of the population, and the existence of areas where republican authority is contested. Crime statistics, the dynamics of France’s 751 no-go zones, and repeated episodes of youth violence have been documented for years; the October looting and organized attacks proceeded according to established patterns.

The most recent riots are by no means an exception; they are rather another episode in a long series of events, with many more undoubtedly on the way.

What gives these riots their strength is the role played by La France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party, which has for years indulged in toxic pro-Islamist tirades with openly antisemitic undertones.

The party seems to know that it will never come to power. It has therefore decided to fully embrace the politics of revolution and disorder, relying on and openly aligning itself with the most extreme elements of France’s Muslim population. In many respects, LFI is an openly Islamist party. In the 2022 presidential election, according to polling institutes’ estimates, 69% of Muslim voters cast a ballot for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round.

Official statistics and surveys place the French Muslim population at roughly 9–10 percent of the total (around 6–7 million people), up from roughly 1 percent in the 1960s. The Institut national d’études démographiques (INSEE) data show Muslims as the second-largest declared religious group among younger adults, with far higher rates of practice and intergenerational transmission than Catholicism: 91 percent of second-generation immigrants raised in Muslim families retain the faith as adults, versus much lower retention among those from Christian backgrounds. Strong religiosity is markedly higher among Muslims.

Not all Muslims, of course, are Islamist. Approximately 60% of young French Muslims, however, believe that Sharia law takes precedence over the laws of the French Republic, according to data from a 2020 official survey, with similar findings reported in subsequent surveys conducted in late 2025.

In France, antisemitic incidents have risen sharply in recent years, often linked to Islamist networks or radicalized youths; synagogue incidents occur against that backdrop. Islamist influence in neighborhoods, schools, and associations has been repeatedly flagged by security services and interior ministry reports. The political left, particularly La France Insoumise (LFI), has cultivated alliances with Islamist-adjacent or “pro-Palestinian” currents and is regularly accused of legitimizing or instrumentalizing disorder.

Nicolas Sarkozy, in a private remark reported in September 2025, put it bluntly: “The Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen wants power and will obtain it; LFI does not want power—what it wants is disorder, anarchy, and violence.” These riots, and the driving role played by LFI, appear to prove him right. Sustained chaos seems to serve its revolutionary orientation better than ordinary governance.

Immigration, Islam, and LFI are not the only factors involved. Insane energy costs compound the social and fiscal pressure. Fuel prices are high enough to revive Yellow Vest-style anger. The government has responded with releases from strategic diesel reserves, price caps, and targeted aid — not the needed structural reform. France’s nuclear fleet remains a comparative advantage, yet years of green-transition policies, taxes, regulatory costs, and underinvestment have contributed to elevated prices and public resentment. Protesters explicitly cited fuel prices alongside school conditions.

Consequences

The plausible consequences of these riots are straightforward and already visible. Macron will not resign. He is in the final months of his second disastrous term ahead of the 2027 presidential elections next spring. His approval rate is low, but the institutional calendar and political incentives do not favor an early exit. The immediate fiscal outlook continues to worsen. France’s public deficit is projected around 5.4 percent of GDP for 2026 (among the eurozone’s highest), with debt near 120 percent of GDP. Prime minister Lecornu’s 2027 budget aims for roughly 5 percent via some €54 billion in savings and freezes, yet the National Assembly remains fragmented after the 2024 snap elections. The reality is that the French state appears less capable than ever of putting its disastrous finances in order; there is a looming risk of a snowball effect regarding interest on the debt.

Previous budgets have required the 49.3 constitutional tool to bypass a vote (Article 49.3 of the French Constitution is a powerful mechanism that allows the prime minister to force the passage of a bill through the National Assembly without a vote). Markets have pushed French yields much higher. Further unrest and political paralysis make credible consolidation harder, not easier. Interest costs are again rising. France has not run a budget surplus since 1974; the structural drivers — high spending, demographic pressures, and refusal to prioritize growth-oriented reforms — remain intact.

Sarkozy’s observation on LFI is being confirmed in real time. The party and its allies benefit from the perception of systemic failure while avoiding the responsibilities of office. Having spent years courting Muslims and engaging in antisemitic tropes with total impunity — often with the complicity of the Left — LFI (La France Insoumise) escalates its behavior further with each passing day.

Meanwhile, France remains locked into its taboos. The demented “energy transition” continues despite the visible cost-of-living backlash. Serious discussion of migration selection, remigration, assimilation requirements, or the cultural and security implications of Islam is still heavily constrained by elite consensus and legal or media norms. Marine Le Pen — a probable, though not certain, winner of the presidential election — has just declared that “Islam is compatible with the Republic.” She reportedly intends to lower the retirement age to 62—in a country with an increasingly aging population where, it should be remembered, the state pays out pensions.

The truth is that if France fails to confront its taboos, the October riots will, in retrospect, look like a practice run.

gatestoneinstitute

An Eritrean rapist is back behind bars after he made a bizarre excuse for breaching the conditions of his sentence.

Mebrahtom Abrha, of Grace Road, Ellesmere Port, was jailed for 10 years in 2016, with an additional five-year licence period, after he was convicted of rape in Toxteth, Merseyside.

As part of the sentence, the 36-year-old was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life, with the requirement that he must notify the police of any bank accounts he had access to or was registered for.

However, shortly after his release, police specialists found he had already breached the terms of his sex offenders’ register order, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Abrha, who sought asylum in the UK after absconding from his native Eritrea in East Africa after being conscripted into the army, was visited by officers from the Sex Offenders Management Unit (SOMU) in April.

During the visit, officers examined Abrha’s devices and found two online banking apps on his mobile phone; in a subsequent search, they also found two bank cards on his person, which he had failed to disclose.

When asked about this, Abrha claimed he did not understand the order because English was his second language.

However, he had previously spoken fluent English with probation officers and signed the order document to confirm he understood what was required of him under his release conditions.

He also said he thought he needed to register bank accounts with officers once he had set them up, deposited money into them, and received a bank card, claiming he would have registered them if given the chance.

Constable Jones, of the Sex Offender’s Management Unit at Cheshire Police: “Abrha told police that, despite being handed court order that was to remain active for the remainder of his life, he had not actually read the terms and did not understand what was required of him to keep him out prison.

“He also attempted to justify his actions by claiming he did not know that his banking accounts were active until he had deposited any money into them and was sent a physical card.

“It was this clear breach, paired with the fact that he had only just begun the licence period of his sentence, that resulted in him being promptly arrested and returned to police custody and later charged.

“Sex Offenders Orders are put in place to keep members of the public safe from dangerous offenders, and we treat any breaches with the utmost seriousness and will always take immediate action.”

Abrha was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on Monday, October 19, after being found guilty of two counts of failing to comply with the requirements of a Sex Offenders Order following a four-day trial at Chester Crown Court.

At his initial sentencing hearing in 2016, Liverpool Crown Court heard how Abrha pursued a woman and then violently raped her in the street in the early hours of July 19, 2015.

The court heard how the woman had been clubbing and was heading to her boyfriend’s house in Toxteth. Unable to find a taxi, she decided to walk the mile-and-a-half route in the rain but did not realise Abrha was following her.

After throwing her to the ground, he raped her twice before “chillingly and casually” walking away and fleeing Liverpool.

Police watched CCTV and, spotting the rapist, traced his movements back to 4am, when he was thrown out of the Modo bar in Concert Square.

He was seen drinking on his own in two bars on Slater Street, then urinating against a wall on Wood Street, before following the woman.

In a victim statement, the woman said: “I felt ashamed, dirty, disgusting and unclean. I felt horrible in myself and always felt exposed, even when I was covered up.

“I love Liverpool but after this I want to get away from Liverpool. I felt after this incident it was now tarnished for me and isn’t the city I first fell in love with.”

Abrha was handed an extended sentence of 15 years after being branded a danger to the public.

He tried to challenge his sentence at the Court of Appeal, in London, arguing it was “excessive”.

But three of the country’s most senior judges rejected his appeal, saying the sentence was justified given his “shocking” crimes.

gbnews

President Donald Trump scored a big win Wednesday evening after Politico agreed to correct a story about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles following a 48-hour ultimatum.

Politico corrected a story that claimed Wiles was responsible for coordinating an interview between Fox News host Sean Hannity and then-White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, Mediaite reported.

“CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report, including its headline, mischaracterized the role White House chief of staff Susie Wiles played in then-press secretary Katie Zacharia’s interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News,” the update read.

“POLITICO’s follow-up reporting indicates she did not play a direct role in setting up the interview.”

Zacharia’s interview with Hannity was widely seen as the last nail in the coffin that ended her historically short run behind the press podium.

Trump’s counsel, William Scharf, sent a letter to Politico’s Global Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger on Monday, highlighting inaccuracies in the outlet’s reporting.

“Between October 14-17, Politico published a series of demonstrably false and defamatory articles in an apparent effort to manufacture a narrative of dysfunction and infighting in the White House. These publications reflect far more than sloppy reporting or an unfortunate, inadvertent reliance on unreliable sources,” he wrote.

“They instead reveal a disturbing pattern of the publication of sensational falsehoods despite direct, on-the-record refutations from senior White House officials and even the President of the United States himself, as well as documentary evidence provided to Politico, all of which established clearly that claims central to Politico’s planned reporting were false,” Scharf continued.

“Put simply, your publication was told the truth and presented with corroborating evidence, and yet chose to publish fanciful fiction regardless.”

He went on to write that this “raises serious questions” about the outlet’s “adherence to the most basic standards of ethics, journalistic integrity, and the standards of professionalism expected of serious news publications.”

The White House counsel accused Politico of knowingly disregarding the truth and hiding “behind anonymous sources when confronted.”

“I therefore demand that Politico retract these defamatory articles and issue corrections promptly, or face the consequences,” he declared. “Freedom of the press is not a professional exemption from accountability.”

He ended the letter by demanding that “Politico immediately correct or retract these publications, issue a prominent and public apology to the President of the United States and to Ms. Wiles, and remove the false reporting from your digital archives.”

“Failure to do so or otherwise respond justifying Politico’s publications within 48 hours will prompt an immediate review of Politico’s relationship with the White House, and, of course, consideration of all other appropriate and available legal remedies,” Scharf added.

The Trump administration’s relationship with Politico has been turbulent as of late, to say the least.

Earlier this year, Politico was banned from the White House, along with CNN and MS NOW, but the outlets were granted temporary relief from a federal judge as the case makes its way through the courts.

This also isn’t the first time Trump has scored a major victory against the mainstream media.

Last year, the president reached a settlement with CBS parent company Paramount for $16 million after the outlet’s deceptive editing of a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes” during the 2024 election cycle.

He received a $15 million payout from ABC News after suing the network and host George Stephanopoulos in 2024, after the anchor repeatedly stated that Trump had been found “liable for rape.”

Additionally, in January 2025, the commander in chief reached a settlement with Meta for roughly $25 million due to the suspension of his social media accounts.

Most of the money from these cases will go to fund Trump’s future presidential library, with the remainder being used to cover legal fees.

 The Western Journal

“People have claimed we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is totally false.”

While his country burns at the hands of the unholy Red-Green Alliance peopled by violent revolutionaries and Islamic supremacists, emasculated French President Emmanual Macron had the nerve to stand before the media and claim that immigration had nothing to do with it, and that videos and images being circulated on social media are AI-generated fake news.

So claims the fake leader of a nation collapsing from within.

🇫🇷Macron claims people saying French riots are caused by an invasion of “migrants and Islamists” are spreading fake news and using AI.

“People have claimed that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is totally false.” pic.twitter.com/mkrP3Yq2vl

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) October 21, 2026

frontpagemag

by Olivia Murray

The original story is actually a bit old, from the beginning of this year, but I definitely missed it at the time, which means a lot of other people probably did too. And it really wasn’t anything groundbreaking—one more pedophilic predator hurting children—but what the BBC chose to do in its reporting of said news is the real story.

In January 2026, the BBC ran an article on Ashley Boyd, a male hospital worked who had been employed at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital for five years, but was let go after it came to light he had been giving “unnecessary exams” to children. Specifically, testicular examinations, even after he’d been told he was not permitted to do such a thing. According to the report, Boyd “was not a qualified children’s nurse,” but had put in a request “ to work in the paediatric area of the emergency department.” When confronted, Boyd admitted he did in fact touch little boys’ private parts even though he knew these “exams” were unnecessary, though he swears it wasn’t for sexual gratification! The BBC notes that an investigation into Boyd’s conduct concluded he even continued to justify it, determining there was no real sense of “reflection” or “remediation” for his violations.

Oh, and during the time that Boyd was fondling children, he was also a top official for the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s “LGBTQ+ network.”

Aaaand there it is, surprise, surprise.

Now, here’s the even bigger story, which went viral on X yesterday:

Why did the BBC crop the photo?

Ah. I see…. pic.twitter.com/O0dV49wznJ

— Sick of it….🇬🇧 (@MediaSOI) October 21, 2026

As you can see, the BBC cropped out the “Pride” flag buttons he’s got on his scrubs, in what would have been a dead giveaway—at least to anyone who’s intellectually honest and willing to recognize that most child predators are homosexuals—because they’d rather protect pedophiles than accept reality that the gays are deviants, and something is wrong. To anyone reading the title of the article, “Nurse carried out unnecessary exams on children,” and looking at the accompanying picture, you’d probably assume the offender was a straight man. But he was a gay man—like pedophiles usually are.

Now, it’s almost Halloween, which means my youngest is getting all excited for trick-or-treating—but there’s one house on our street he knows that we absolutely don’t visit. In fact, he’s not allowed anywhere near that house when he’s out riding his scooter, or taking his Great Dane on a walk, because it’s obvious that perverts live there: they’ve got a giant red flag hanging in one of the windows…in the form of a “Pride” flag.

Not to add, at one point, these residents had a yard “decoration” of a little baby doll straddled atop a chicken-looking figure, or a cock. I hate to have my mind in the gutter, but in context of who lives there, I can’t help but think it’s subliminal messaging. What kind of grown adult men put things like this in their yard? Perverted ones, that’s who.

When these people first bought the house, it was actually just before Halloween a few years back, so we did end up trick-or-treating there, because nothing was yet amiss. A young boy answered the door; he looked to be 15 or 16, so I assumed it was a family. Not so—the residents of the home are that young boy, however old he is, and an old man. (I’ve seen them out of the house once, walking and holding hands, and told my son that if he ever sees them, he needs to come inside immediately and tell me.)

Why can’t we all be united in protecting children from predators? Why is this only a crusade on the right? I would really love to know.

americanthinker

Europe has overtaken every other region of the world as a destination for international migrants, hosting 94 million foreign-born residents in 2024, according to the United Nations International Migrant Stock dataset compiled by its Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Northern America came second, with 61 million.

The continent accounted for close to a third of the 304 million international migrants counted worldwide, a global figure that has roughly doubled since 1990 while still amounting to 3.7 per cent of the world’s population.

The European total has risen by 43 million since 1990, the largest increase of any region over that period. Migrants accounted for 12.6 per cent of the continent’s population in 2024, against 7.1 per cent in 1990.

The two leading destinations have been moving in opposite directions. Northern America has added 34 million migrants since 1990, though its growth has slowed to below 1 per cent a year since 2020, down from 3.8 per cent a year in the 1990s and 2.3 per cent in the following decade.

Europe’s intake accelerated over the same years. The UN attributed part of that to refugee flows caused by the Ukraine war.

The growth is heavily concentrated in a handful of countries. Germany hosted 16.8 million foreign-born residents, more than any country other than the United States, followed by the United Kingdom with 11.8 million, France with 9.2 million, Spain with 8.9 million and Italy with 6.6 million.

Spain has changed fastest. Its foreign-born population stood at 814,000 in 1990 and 6.3 million in 2010, and the increase recorded since 2000, of roughly 6.8 million people, is the largest of any current EU member state.

Measured against population size, the ranking shifts. Foreign-born residents made up 51.2 per cent of the population in Luxembourg, 37 per cent in Malta, 25.5 per cent in Austria, 23.1 per cent in Ireland and 21.4 per cent in Sweden, against 4.5 per cent in Poland and 3.4 per cent in Romania.

The split runs between west and east rather than between large and small member states. The foreign-born share reached 19.8 per cent in Germany and 18.5 per cent in Spain, roughly four times the Polish figure and close to six times the Romanian one.

Only Oceania recorded a higher regional share than Europe, at 21 per cent of residents. Asia hosted 92.2 million migrants, almost as many as Europe in absolute terms, but they amounted to 1.9 per cent of its population.

Much of the movement is internal to the continent. The UN found that 74 per cent of European-born migrants living abroad were in another European country, a pattern it did not record anywhere else at that scale.

The largest flow into Europe from outside came from Northern Africa and Western Asia, at 13 million people, followed by Central and Southern Asia at 10 million.

Poland shows how fast the picture can turn. It hosted 1.13 million foreign-born residents in 1990 and 650,000 in 2010, before climbing to 1.74 million in 2024. Women made up 59.5 per cent of that population, the highest proportion in any EU member state and a direct result of the arrivals from Ukraine, which itself still hosted 5.1 million foreign-born residents, or 13.4 per cent of its population.

Women and girls accounted for 48 per cent of international migrants worldwide, though they were in the majority in France, Spain, Italy and Sweden.

The dataset also shows how much of the recent increase is involuntary. One in six international migrants worldwide had been forcibly displaced across a border, the highest share since the 1950s, when the global refugee series begins. The UN counted 51.7 million refugees, asylum seekers and others in need of international protection by mid-2024, with 18 million of them added since 2010.

The data cover the years before the European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum took effect on June 12 and before member states gave final approval to the returns regulation on October 1. Both were presented in Brussels as the instruments that would finally give the bloc control of its external borders.

Seven weeks after the pact entered into application, more than 70,000 people crossed from Morocco during the invasion of the Spanish city of Ceuta on July 30 and 31, the largest such crossing on record. The European Commission said afterwards that the system had held, because almost all those who entered were returned and none reached the mainland.

The pressure has not eased since. Illegal immigration into Spain has continued to climb this year even as the rest of the European Union records sharp falls, leaving the member state with the largest migrant intake of the century also carrying much of the bloc’s current border burden.

brusselssignal

Member of the European Parliament for the Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom), Zsuzsanna Borvendég has called Péter Magyar’s decision to invite the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “shame” and “humiliation”. 

When asked about Péter Magyar’s decision to invite the Commission President to the 70th anniversary celebrations of the 1956 uprising during an interview, the Hungarian politician called it “absolutely staggering, unacceptable, and outrageous—after all, we are talking about a national holiday. Even looking at it from that perspective alone, there is simply no place for this; we do not need foreign politicians—politicians from outside our nation—to deliver speeches on our national holiday”, said Ms. Borvendég.

She continued by saying that “the Hungarian people—the Hungarian nation—rose up against an imperial occupation. It is therefore unacceptable that the current Hungarian rump regime would invite a representative of a different imperial power, a different colonial master. For that is all she truly is—let that be clear.

They are inviting a colonial master to deliver a commemorative speech on the anniversary of our fight for freedom—the 70th anniversary—thereby humiliating not only the dignity of the national holiday but the entire Hungarian nation.”

“Incidentally, it is also an immense disgrace what happened on the 50th anniversary—as we know, Ferenc Gyurcsány (former socialist PM, ed. note) ruined that occasion. And now, the 70th anniversary—even compared to that—is an absolute scandal. It is truly an all-time low”, warned the Our Homeland MEP.

“It is, therefore, unacceptable and outrageous. One could analyze at length what 1956 was truly about, …demonstrating that the Hungarian nation had no desire for the West, either. It was not merely a resistance against Soviet occupation and communist oppression; there was also a rejection of the West—though, in truth, the West did not exactly offer itself either. In 1956, the West abandoned the Hungarian nation. It had encouraged and led the Hungarians to believe that help was on the way—that the American military and NATO would arrive. Yet, it provided no assistance whatsoever; it left the Hungarian nation to its fate.

And now, Ursula von der Leyen arrives as a representative of an empire that, back in 1956, effectively stood by while the Hungarian nation was left to drown in its own blood,”

Zsuzsanna Borvendég said.

In her opinion, Von der Leyen’s visit “threatens to completely obscure the narrative of ’56—a narrative that is crucial to emphasize—in which the Hungarian nation essentially declared: “No, thank you—I want no part of any ‘isms.’ I am Hungarian, and a Hungarian is neither right-wing nor left-wing; simply national and Hungarian. At that time, Hungary proclaimed neutrality; it did not wish to join NATO or any other imperial alliance system, but rather sought to pursue a neutral and independent path. With the arrival of Ursula von der Leyen, this particular narrative of ’56 is effectively set to be completely buried, closed her words Zsuzsanna Borvendég.

Apart from the president, many high-level European politicians will attend the commemorations, almost all of them from the liberal, euro-federalist spectrum. Among them is

• the President of the European Council, António Costa (Socialist Party).
• Maia Sandu, the ultra-liberal President of the Republic of Moldova (Party of Action and Solidarity)
• Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Macut (unaffiliated).
• Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Norwegian Labour Party), currently serves as Minister of Finance.
• The President of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil (Civic Democratic Party).
• Federal Minister of Transport Steffen Bilger (CDU), Peter Tschentscher (SPD), the Mayor of Hamburg.
• Austria’s Christine Schwarz-Fuchs (ÖVP), and former Chancellor, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP)
• Estonia’s liberal politician Liisa Pakosta (Estonia 200), Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs.
• Ireland’s Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European Affairs (Fianna Fáil  – Renew Europe, ALDE).
• Vincent Van Peteghem (Christian Democratic and Flemish, EPP), Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium,
• Zoran Stevanović, among the few right-wingers, from the Slovenian Resnica.

hungarytoday

In this clip from his longer interview, host Rafe Heydel-Mankoo is joined by one of the world’s most famous heterodox economists, Prof. Steve Keen, Honorary Professor at University College London and one of the few economists to have correctly predicted the global financial crisis of 2008.

He warns that the world is teetering on the edge of a once in a lifetime global crash. It could be brought on in a matter of weeks due to energy crisis brought about by lack of supplies through the Straits of Hormuz combined with one of the strongest El Ninos on record. Added to this is the risk of an epic financial meltdown when the US AI bubble bursts.