Have you dared look outside lately?
You can’t fail to have noticed either rain, wind, snow or a combination of all three. And despite that, several dozen migrants still tried to beat off Mother Nature by taking to the high seas in rubber dinghies. Many had to turn back, many were rescued and suffered the effects of the freezing conditions.
But 32 made it across the Channel to the UK this week. The first group of 2026.
It’s a well-known fact that many illegal migrants throw their mobile phones into the sea so that their identities remain secret or they can lie about their age.
But the UK Government has decided that a key plank of ‘gang-smashing’ is to seize phones when migrants arrive in Dover.
Forgive my scepticism when I question that initiative. But if you know Border Force officers might seize your phone, why would you not get rid of it before you arrive?
On a more positive note for the Government and law enforcement officials, what they have described as a “number one target”, was jailed for supplying thousands of boats and engines to Channel people smugglers.
Turkish national Adem Savas was sentenced to 11 years in prison, following a joint operation involving the National Crime Agency and Belgian authorities.
Tom Fredericks has shed light on the plethora of issues facing Sir Keir Starmer
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Savas had been detained at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam in November 2024, before being extradited to Belgium to face charges.
Those of you who are eagle-eyed may have spotted that Savas, a “number one target”, and part of a bigger gang, was picked up not in 2025 but in 2024.
So even my maths computes that well over 41,000 illegal migrants still managed to make the crossing without his boats or his engines.
Again, I don’t want to appear sceptical, but if he was such an important player in the small boats supply chain, then how did tens of thousands of migrants make it over?
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told GB News it is a ‘miracle’ that they have stayed away from mass migration | REUTERS
Could it be that we are dealing with a multi-headed hydra? Almost certainly yes. And when Sir Keir Starmer talks about “smashing the gangs”, there is more than a hint of Greek mythology about where the Government might be headed on that bold claim.
Remember ‘Stop the Boats’? None of this plays well with the idea that some of the young men making it over have criminal intentions.
In fact, at the end of the week GB News reported that a 36-year-old Yemeni man currently living at Wethersfield Immigration Centre in Essex had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a medical worker and committing an act of public indecency.
He entered the UK in September last year. Residents living around the Wethersfield military base, where the centre is located, have regularly voiced concerns about the risks of having young immigrant men free to move around the area without any particular restraint.
It’s not the first allegation or proven case of sex offending or other criminality against illegal migrants and creates more angst for a Government that doesn’t seem to be able to control the influx over the Channel.
On land borders, one country that seems to have managed to stem the flow is Hungary.
A GB News team was invited to see the 100-mile-long security fence built on the border between Hungary and Serbia.
Speaking to GB News’ Charlie Peters and Miriam Cates who travelled to the Eastern European country, a senior Hungarian official told them Britain’s small boats ‘mistake’ is a warning for Europe.
The Hungarian set-up has been very successful, reducing the number of attempted crossings from over 100,000 in 2022 to just 12,000 last year.
Most of the attempts are foiled by the police, the those who do make it through are rounded up and sent straight back.
Illegal immigration in Hungary is effectively zero. Food for thought and evidence that some countries see the UK’s ‘mistakes’ as their opportunities.
In Greek mythology, the supreme god Zeus used his opportunities pretty robustly. On the other hand, Sisyphus was known for his punishment in the underworld.
His eternal task was to roll a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down before he could reach the top.
Sir Keir Starmer may well be wondering if he possesses the mighty qualities of Zeus or faces the tragic fate of Sisyphus.