“Oh Dear, How Sad, Never Mind” was the catchphrase of the actor Windsor Davies, best known for playing Battery Sergeant-Major Williams, the Welsh disciplinarian in the BBC Television sitcom ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’, aired from 1974 until 1981. In it, “Oh dear, how sad, never mind” was his sarcastic put-down response whenever one of them came to him with a gripe.
Asylum Seeker On Hunger Strike In Stockport
A story in the Communist Party of Britain’s daily newspaper on the 28 November caught our eye. The Morning Star’s report wasn’t particularly surprising, as stories like this are unfortunately now commonplace.
What makes this article all-the-more interesting is the name of the journalist reporting the story: Peter Lazenby. Any Nationalist in West Yorkshire who has been active for a good few year will know the name Lazenby. Lazenby used his position at the paper to attack Nationalist organisations and individuals at every opportunity.
The fact that a bourgeois newspaper allowed a notorious Marxist to lead an attack on political opponents, speaks volumes about who it regards as the real threat. And that comrade Lazenby, of Hebden Bridge, supposedly a sworn enemy of capitalism, was working for and in cahoots with this class-enemy, shows the depths of his political beliefs.
In the article, Lazenby revealed that Shay Babagar, a Pakistani who is claiming asylum in the UK, had spent a month on hunger strike to protest against the ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ of asylum seekers by the Home Office appointed contractor, Serco. He has said that it will end only if his demands for change are met. We’ll see.
Babagar is seeking political asylum after fleeing Pakistan where he was involved in political activity. In June he was joined by his wife and child and they have been housed in an hotel in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The hotel is one of 106 Serco runs on behalf of the Home Office.
He is being supported by a refugee support group based in Manchester, RAPAR (Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Participatory Action Research). Babagar says that residents (sic) of the hotel suffered poor hygiene, infections, lack of basic toiletries, inadequate food and abuse by staff.
Babagar said: “I am seeking to end, or at least reduce, the harm caused to my family by the inhuman and degrading treatment to which we and others have been subjected by Serco.”
“There is very inhumane behaviour by staff there. For each thing you are shouted at and put down as if you were not even human.” When the Home Office takes over an hotel, it sacks the staff and replaces them with its own, usually recruited from recent immigrants.
He was also allegedly hospitalised due to the effects of the hunger strike. Mysteriously, both he and his wife, who suffers Type 1 diabetes, were arrested in their hospital beds by Greater Manchester Police.
Serco “strenuously refuted” all the allegations.
Who Is Peter Lazenby?
Peter Lazenby, former Political Editor at the Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) newspaper, is now writing for the Morning Star, the Communist Party daily. He stepped down from working at the YEP, where he was the father of chapel for the National Union of Journalists, to join the Communist Party daily, the Morning Star.
During his time at the paper (YEP), he was recognised by the regional TUC for his work in campaigning against the British National Party, with a series of articles which led to him receiving threats on extreme right websites.
Peter also won two national Race and the Media awards from the Commission for Racial Equality for work investigating the far right.
Holdthefrontpage – 21 Aug 2012
The British Movement welcomes articles for possible inclusion on this site from members and supporters across the North of England. Please remember that we have to operate within the laws of this country – we will not include any content that is against the current laws of the United Kingdom. News reports should be topical and be relevant to the regions covered by this website.
