Nicholas Winton
On the same day that the Conservative-led coalition announced that it would not support search-and-rescue missions aimed at preventing migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, Sir Nicholas Winton was honoured at a ceremony in Prague. As a young man, Sir Nicholas had arranged for hundreds of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to escape Nazi terror and find safety with foster families in the UK.
It is both shameful and a depressing reflection on the level of debate surrounding immigration that Government Ministers can claim that it is wrong to save the lives of people fleeing from war-torn countries in North Africa because doing so would “simply encourage more people to attempt the dangerous sea crossing”. These people are desperate and will continue to risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean. How can deliberately letting people drown be considered the morally right thing to do?
Whilst the story of Sir Nicholas is inspiring and fills me with pride, I am ashamed that the British Government have taken such an immoral and inhumane decision.