THE programme Beyond Belief: Faith versus fear (Radio 4, 23 September) began a new series by focusing on migration. Or was that the Moral Maze? It wasn’t simply that the topic is prime Maze territory, but, with one Maze panellist, Canon Giles Fraser, presenting the programme, and another, Tim Stanley, appearing as a guest, you can see why listeners might get confused.
The question asked was: How do Christian values intersect with immigration policy? A recent poll revealed that Christians were more hostile to migrants than atheists or followers of other faiths. It was helpful (I would say, reassuring) to have the Theos researcher George Lapshynov explain that this was not true of regular churchgoers, but applied, rather, to those who might identify as “cultural Christians”.
The former immigration minister Ann Widdecombe — who does go to church — argued, with help from 1 Timothy, that your first responsibility was to your family. Thereafter, as a Good Samaritan, you had to make difficult choices about whom you could care for and whom you could not. And, as a politician, you had to set the rules and find out who was telling the truth about the situations that they had left, and who wasn’t. In Ms Widdecombe’s view, a great many people are lying.
The human-rights advocate Yasmin Halima said that Home Office investigations of asylum claims started from the assumption that people were not telling the truth. The system was inefficient and bureaucratic, and the rules were sometimes impossible to follow: for example, someone fleeing persecution on account of their sexuality must provide tangible evidence of being in a same-sex relationship. “We need to think about how we process and who we blame.”
In File on 4 Investigates (Radio 4, 23 September), Sue Mitchell, the queen of investigative reporting, takes listeners “inside the migrant hotel”. “It’s clean and comfortable. You’d be pleased if you were here for a few nights.” But the windows are locked to prevent people from throwing themselves out. Curtis, a security guard, says that some migrants have unrealistic expectations. They want to change rooms and insist on taxis for appointments.
There are many babies around: their parents believe that they are less likely to be deported if their children are born in the UK. Kadir has a new daughter; but he and his family have already been here for nine years, and their application to remain has been rejected twice. “Once we get settled in a place, they move us,” 12-year-old Shayan says. “We want a better future. We’ve spent thousands of pounds just to get into England, and then what?”
The family’s immediate prospects are not good. The Government has decided to separate them, sending Kadir and the baby six hours away from his wife and two other children. This deeply uncomfortable programme does not set out to offer any conclusions, and the listener is left struggling to try to reach some.
Gerry Lynch is away.