Should the BBC be doing this?

Looks like it's been a good thing for this speech to be replayed. It's led to lots of good discussions and informed criticism.

Calm discussions on this are long overdue

I have a faint recollection of hearing this speech live back in 1968. We had just returned from Singapore, and were staying with my parents.
We heard it on the radio and were all horrified - even my Dad who was slightly rightwing. We thought Powell was mentally deranged.
Reading his biography on Wiki, he certainly had several other very eccentric opinions.

You would only have heard excerpts on the radio in 1968 - the full speech was never recorded. Heath sacked him almost at once and 4 shadow cabinet members threatened to resign if he didn’t. A lot of people were shocked

The really frightening thought is that had he, as a Minister, made that speech today he probably would only have been sacked after a public outcry...

I don't think any politician would make that speech today!!

Maybe in not quite such extreme terms but there are elements of it which have been used today. Like the pressure on hospitals and schools, non-integration, and the swamping of our 'native' culture. Add to that the current Home Office hard line on long term immigrants and it makes one wonder...

The treatment by the Home Office of many people who have lived in the UK for most of their lives, working, paying taxes and contributing to our society in many ways is utterly disgraceful.

A growing number of people who were born in the Caribbean and came to the UK as children during the 1950s and 60s have been experiencing severe problems with their immigration status because they have never formally naturalised or applied for a British passport. They are the children of the Windrush generation, who were invited to move to the UK by the British government to help with postwar rebuilding. All are here legally, but with the introduction of tighter immigration rules, they are being asked to prove their status, despite having lived in the UK for about 50 years. For some, the consequences have been catastrophic.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/15/why-the-children-of-windrush-demand-an-immigration-amnesty

If you look at their photos you might just notice that they tend to be black. No doubt Enoch Powell would have approved.

About the Windrush generation - a good read is Small Island by Andrea Levy. The writer is of mixed race, black and jewish. It was made into a TV play not long ago, but the book is better.

We should not be afraid of controversy. Whilst people might not agree with what he said but, it was an opinion that he had every right to make.

I'd second the recommendation of 'Small Island'

If you look at their photos you might just notice that they tend to be black. No doubt Enoch Powell would have approved.
The same thing has happened with Zimbabweans, South Africans, people born in India - many of whom are white as well as black varian.
For some, the consequences have been catastrophic.
I agree, it is tragic.

I have long been concerned about the abandonment of our ties with our Commonwealth family in favour of Europe.

Yes, an excellent book and I think that the tv adaptation was good too.

My father-in-law was born in Calcutta and was brought to Scotland when he was five. He has lived here ever since. His legitimacy as a British citizen was challenged every time he renewed his passport because of where he was born.

He's not black.

As Amber Rudd has critically said, the Home Office has got hung up on procedure and rules instead of treating people like individuals. She is sorting it out.

My husband arrived aged 2, in 1946- to escape Apartheid in South Africa. Unlike Trevor Noah who was 'born a crime' (do read the book) - my husband became one, aged 2. His grand-father was British and he is white, despite very mixed heritage (hence the 'crime') - he only discovered by chance, in 1971- that he was not British according to Somerset house, but still SA as his father had not registered him properly- assuming he would just be British, due to parentage and early age.

My mother was born in Jamaica. Her father was in the British army and her mother was Jamaican born (mixed parentage). She had a bit of extra paperwork to find the first time she applied for a passport in the 1960s but she didn't have to pay £2,000 and give proof in minute detail of permanent residence in the UK. Nor did she have any problem with subsequent renewals.

It's like living in a different universe now...

Amber Rudd has held up her hands and said that the Home Office has behaved appalingly, starting from a rule change six years ago when Theresa May was Home Secretary.

Amber Rudd sorting it out now? Hahaha.This issue has been reported on for weeks in the Guardian, she knew all about it and was hoping to get away with it by relying on the institutional racism in our society. She now has her back against the wall and will still try to wiggle out of dealing with it properly - there are people who have lost jobs, lost homes - lost health care lost benefits - and she’s going to sort it out? Hahahaha

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/16/windrush-u-turn-welcome-but-theresa-may-policy-cruel

How long this has been known about and TM’s humanitarian attitude towards the man refused cancer treatment.

MaizieD, it's good to know your mother had no problems with getting her passport and subsequent renewals. You are so right, it is like living in a different universe now.

The Windrush Children was debated ain Parliament yesterday .

hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-04-16/debates/7234878F-ACEE-48DD-A94C-9013B38FA465/WindrushChildren(ImmigrationStatus)#contribution-716EF3BC-7445-4AAE-B747-B54A43DB149D

Prior to the above she said this-

" I am deeply concerned about the recent experiences of people from the Windrush generation in terms of the appeal for their documentation and any confusion that has caused. This is a unique cohort of people who have automatic leave under our legislation and therefore are entitled to reside here lawfully. The vast majority will already have documentation that proves their right to be here. For those who do not, I am today announcing a new dedicated team to help them evidence their right to be in this country and access services.

The team will be tasked with helping applicants to demonstrate that they are entitled to live in the UK, and with resolving cases within two weeks of the evidence being provided. The team will work across Government to help applicants to prove they have been living or working in the UK. Of course, no one should be left out of pocket as they go through this process. Given the uniqueness of the situation in which the group find themselves, I therefore intend to ensure that they will not pay for this documentation.

We have already set up a webpage and dedicated contact point for people with concerns, and I have been engaging with charities, community groups and high commissioners to reassure people. The Prime Minister will meet Heads of Government tomorrow, and I will be meeting high commissioners later this week.
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There is no question of going after any soft targets or of our trying to single out a particular cohort—and, yes, we do go after the illegal cohort. It is because we do that that some of these people have been caught up in the process. As I referenced earlier, it was the Labour party that put in place the labour market tests in 2008, meaning that people had to evidence their right to work here, but because the Windrush cohort has been caught up in this, I am making that sure we put in place particular arrangements to support them."
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I think both sides of the house accepted the way the 'Windrush Children' have been treated in some cases has been disgraceful and I hope Amber Rudd having taken full responsibility gets this right.

As I referenced earlier, it was the Labour party that put in place the labour market tests in 2008, meaning that people had to evidence their right to work here,

Rudd is being disingenuous here. It was May, as Home Secretary, who put in place requirements to prove an applicant's right to be here for opening bank accounts, renting property and getting NHS treatment. This was done in 2014 by statutory instrument and so was not debated in parliament. Nor, I imagine, was it fully understood, or even noticed, by the Windrush generation, and others in a similar situation, who were granted Indefinite Right to Remain way back in the 1970s I believe. I wonder if Home Office civil servants were alive to the implications of this instrument? Or, if they were but May overruled their objections?

Caroline Nokes' admission that people may have been deported as a result of this, and Rudd's admission that they don't actually have a clue if people have been unlawfully deported or not and how many it might have affected, speak of more incompetence at the Home Office.

I hope Amber Rudd having taken full responsibility gets this right.

Many years ago, when there was a vestige of honour left among government ministers, this would have been a matter for resignation.

Well given all the unfulfilled promises made after Grenfell ..... if only these things happened to nice white middle class people

So today David Lammy was informed that an adult child of a Windrush pensioner was being deported tomorrow - of course it’s now being stopped because of him but c.early AR has done nothing since yesterday to halt all deportations until this unholy mess is sorted - at the moment every deportation should be going across her desk for her personal signature but that would mean giving a damn wouldn’t it and taking responsibility - as if.

It is shameful.