Video: Britain's New Prison Ships

Hey all!

Here's my latest video: Britain's New Prison Ships.

Whether you're based in the UK or elsewhere in the world, my hope is that this will provide a bit of insight into a terrifying development in the UK in which our ailing Conservative government has decided to experiment with placing asylum seekers on austere, dangerous barges.

A couple of behind-the-scenes notes:

Some of you may have noticed that this marks the first time in a very, very long time I've released two videos in a single month! One of my goals over the next 12 months is to try and increase the rate at which we release videos (whilst keeping quality high) so I'm pretty proud of this. Keeping a slightly higher cadence of release will hopefully allow us to be a bit more topical with some of the stuff we put out.

Also, we've tried something a little new with the production style on this one. I'm sure that means it hasn't all come-off perfectly but it's been really rewarding to try and break out of old habits and experiment with how we make videos. Let me know what you think.

I hope you all enjoy the video. As ever, there's a bibliography below if you'd like to do any further reading.

And thanks as ever for your generous support. Videos like this are always a big risk performance-wise so support through Patreon really helps to make them possible.

Thanks all!

Tom

Bibliography

Addley, Esther. ‘Thursday Briefing: Is the Bibby Stockholm Asylum Barge a Disaster Waiting to Happen?’ The Guardian, 3 August 2023, sec. News. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/03/first-edition-bibby-stockholm-asylum-barge.

Armstrong, Paul. ‘Huge Barge to House Asylum Seekers Arrives in Falmouth Docks for Inspection’. Falmouth Packet, 9 May 2023, sec. News. https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/23508766.bibby-stockholm-asylum-seeker-barge-falmouth-cornwall/.

Askew, Joshua. ‘The Chequered Past of Europe’s “Floating Prison”’. euronews, 7 August 2023. https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/07/bibby-stockholm-the-chequered-past-of-europes-floating-prison.

‘Asylum and Migration: Albania’. House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 12 June 2023. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40291/documents/197027/default/.

Baker, Carl. ‘NHS Key Statistics: England, July 2023’. NHS Key Statistics. House of Commons Library, 19 July 2023. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7281/CBP-7281.pdf.

Baker, Tim. ‘Bibby Stockholm: Asylum Seekers Face Withdrawal of Government Support If They Don’t Board Barge’. Sky News, 8 August 2023. https://news.sky.com/story/bibby-stockholm-asylum-seekers-face-withdrawal-of-government-support-if-they-dont-board-barge-12935725.

Bank of England. ‘Why Have Interest Rates in the UK Gone Up?’, 3 August 2023. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/why-are-interest-rates-in-the-uk-going-up.

BBC News. ‘Asylum Seekers: Scabies and Abuse at Stockport Hotel, Council Claims’. 11 November 2022, sec. Manchester. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-63598305.

BBC News. ‘Channel Tunnel: “2,000 Migrants” Tried to Enter’. 28 July 2015, sec. Europe. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33689473.

BBC News. ‘Energy Price Cap: What Is It and Will Bills Continue to Go Down?’ 6 August 2021, sec. Business. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58090533.

BBC News. ‘Strike Dates: Who Is Striking and What Pay Do They Want?’ 15 July 2022, sec. Business. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62134314.

Bibby Marine Limited. ‘Bibby Stockholm’. Bibby Marine Limited, 2023. https://www.bibbymarine.com/bibby-stockholm/.

Blackall, Molly. ‘Allowing Asylum Seekers to Work in UK Would Add over £1bn to Economy as Cross-Party MPs Back Change’. I, 25 June 2023, sec. News. https://inews.co.uk/news/allowing-asylum-seekers-work-uk-economy-cross-party-mp-change-2198216.

Booth, Robert. ‘David Cameron Is New Prime Minister’. The Guardian, 11 May 2010, sec. Politics. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/11/david-cameron-uk-prime-minister.

Braverman, Suella. ‘Home Secretary Statement on the Illegal Immigration Bill’. GOV.UK, 7 March 2023. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-statement-on-the-illegal-immigration-bill.

British Red Cross. ‘Six Things You Need to Know about Refugees and Asylum Seekers’, 9 May 2023. https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/migration-and-displacement/refugees-and-asylum-seekers/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-refugees-and-asylum-seekers.

Brown, Faye. ‘Rishi Sunak Says Two More Barges Will Be Used to House about 1,000 Asylum Seekers’. Sky News, 5 June 2023, sec. Politics. https://news.sky.com/story/rishi-sunak-says-two-more-barges-will-be-used-to-house-about-a-thousand-asylum-seekers-12896778.

Brown, Shannon. ‘Huge Emergency Response to Newquay Asylum Seeker Hotel Explained’. CornwallLive, 19 November 2022, sec. News. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/huge-emergency-response-newquay-asylum-7843003.

Bucks, Jonathan. ‘Dozens of Migrants Are Living in a Plush Hotel Close to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges’ Home in Kensington Palace - with 55 Asylum Seekers Put up for as Long as Nine Months’. Mail Online, 1 August 2021, sec. News. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9848203/Dozens-migrants-living-hotel-55-asylum-seekers-long-nine-months.html.

Bulman, May. ‘“Dehumanising”: Asylum Seekers in Hotels Left without Shoes and given “Inadequate” Food, Report Finds’. The Independent, 5 May 2021, sec. UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asylum-seekers-hotels-refugee-council-home-office-b1835832.html.

Clair, Amy. ‘Bibby Stockholm: Legionella Is Not the Only Health Threat on the Asylum Barge’. The Conversation, 17 August 2023. http://theconversation.com/bibby-stockholm-legionella-is-not-the-only-health-threat-on-the-asylum-barge-211641.

Clare, Horatio. ‘A Boat to Stop the Boats? Bibby Stockholm and the Battle over Asylum’. Financial Times, 22 July 2023, sec. Life & Arts. https://www.ft.com/content/ed6d313c-81f0-418e-89bd-c15c8c87761d.

Cole, Harry, Rob Pattinson, Natasha Clark, and Ryan Sabey. ‘FIVE-STAR MIGRANTS: Thousands of Migrants Living at Luxury Hotels with Brits Forking out £6.8m a Day to House Them’. The Sun, 2 November 2022, sec. UK News. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/20305829/migrants-five-star-hotels-housing/.

Cumiskey, Lucas. ‘Missiles Hurled and Police van Damaged during Protest over Refugees’. The Independent, 10 February 2023, sec. News. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/protesters-merseyside-police-merseyside-labour-b2280176.html.

David, Nicola, and Tigs Louis-Puttick. ‘The Bibby Stockholm - at What Cost?’ Briefing. Reclaim the Sea, 11 July 2023. https://www.reclaimthesea.org.uk/_files/ugd/4e7ff9_b86b690af5b941fd9a01acb127497cba.pdf.

Dearden, Lizzie. ‘Asylum Seekers to Have Less Space than a Car Parking Bay on “Quasi-Prison” Barge’. The Independent, 8 April 2023, sec. UK News. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migrant-barge-dorset-conditions-space-b2315571.html.

———. ‘Bibby Stockholm: What Life Aboard “Quasi-Prison” Will Look like for Asylum Seekers’. The Independent, 7 August 2023, sec. UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bibby-stockholm-barge-inside-portland-migrant-b2388754.html.

———. ‘Bibby Stockholm Workers “Driven Stir-Crazy” on Cramped Barge “Not Designed for Living On”’. The Independent, 9 August 2023, sec. News. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bibby-stockholm-barge-conditions-resident-experience-b2390135.html.

Donaldson, Kitty. ‘Sunak Eyes November 2024 as Preferred General Election Timing’. Bloomberg, 20 July 2023, sec. Politics. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-20/sunak-eyes-november-2024-as-preferred-general-election-timing.

Dresch, Matthew. ‘Exclusive: Family Firm “profiteering from Misery” by Providing Migrant Barges Donated £70k to UKIP’. The Mirror, 29 July 2023, sec. Politics. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/family-firm-profiteering-misery-providing-30584405.

DW. ‘UK Home Secretary Complains of Migrant “Invasion”’. 31 October 2022, sec. Politics. https://www.dw.com/en/uk-home-secretary-complains-of-migrant-invasion/a-63610715.

Emsley, Clive, Tim Hitchcock, and Robert Shoemaker. ‘Punishment Sentences at the Old Bailey’. Old Bailey Proceedings Online. Accessed 28 August 2023. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Punishment.jsp.

Geraghty, Liam. ‘Rents in the UK Are Rising at the Highest Rate for Decades. Will They Keep Going Up?’ The Big Issue, 17 August 2023. https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/rents-in-the-uk-are-rising-at-the-highest-rate-for-14-years-will-they-keep-going-up/.

GMB Witnesses a Small Migrant Boat Making the Treacherous Channel Crossing | Good Morning Britain. Online Video. YouTube, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCMxcEVOI1Q.

Goldsmith, Paul. ‘Why “Take Back Control” Trumped “Project Fear”’. UK in a Changing Europe, 23 November 2017. https://ukandeu.ac.uk/why-take-back-control-trumped-project-fear/.

Gower, Melanie. ‘Asylum Accommodation: Hotels, Vessels and Large-Scale Sites’. Research Briefing. London: House of Commons Library, 7 July 2023. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9831/CBP-9831.pdf.

Gross, Jenny. ‘3 Tomatoes at a Time: Why U.K. Supermarkets Are Limiting Vegetables’. The New York Times, 1 March 2023, sec. Business. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/business/uk-fruits-vegetables-shortage.html.

Herefordshire Council. ‘Asylum Seekers Hotel Accommodation - Public Statement’, 4 August 2023. https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/council/asylum-seekers-hotel-accommodation-public-statement.

Home Office. ‘Factsheet: Asylum Accommodation on a Vessel in Portland Port’. GOV.UK, 25 August 2023. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-accommodation-factsheets/factsheet-asylum-accommodation-on-a-vessel-in-portland-port.

Home Office, and Robert Jenrick. ‘Vessel to Accommodate Migrants’. GOV.UK, 5 April 2023. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vessel-to-accommodate-migrants.

Institute of Race Relations. ‘Asylum Statistics’, 2020. https://irr.org.uk/research/statistics/asylum/.

ITV News Politics. .‘.@RishiSunak Is Unable to Confirm Whether He Will Be Able to “stop by the Boats” by the next General Election “I Want It to Be Done as Soon as Possible but I Also Want to Be Honest with People That It Is a Complex Problem,” He Says’. X (Formerly Twitter)(blog), 21 August 2023. https://twitter.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1693564902634352833.

James, Jeff. ‘Prison Hulks’. The National Archives, 24 February 2012. https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/prison-hulks/.

Jenkins, Simon. ‘Here’s the Best Way for Britain to Solve the Migrant Crisis: Give Them Work Visas’. The Guardian, 3 November 2022, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/03/solve-immigrant-crisis-work-visas-populist-politics.

Kessler, Jack. ‘“Small Boats Week” Suggests Tories Have Settled on a Core Vote Strategy’. Evening Standard, 7 August 2023, sec. Comment. https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/bibby-stockholm-barge-asylum-immigration-rishi-sunak-suella-braverman-b1099151.html.

King, Jasper. ‘Footage Shows inside the Bibby Stockholm That Has Been Compared to “Alcatraz”’. Metro, 9 August 2023, sec. News. https://metro.co.uk/2023/08/09/bibby-stockholm-life-is-like-alcatraz-onboard-vessel-19303492/.

Labour: ‘No Choice’ but to Continue Housing Asylum Seekers on Barges. Online Video. YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLn1zOBNyYw.

Lacroix, Thomas. ‘French Policies Have Caused Migrants to Seek a Way through the Channel Tunnel’. The Conversation, 10 August 2015. http://theconversation.com/french-policies-have-caused-migrants-to-seek-a-way-through-the-channel-tunnel-45797.

Lawrence, Tom. ‘Barge “More Expensive than Hotels” for Asylum Seekers’. Dorset Echo, 21 July 2023, sec. News. https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/23651735.portland-barge-more-expensive-hotels-asylum-seekers/.

———. ‘Bibby Stockholm: Explainer as First Asylum Seekers on Barge’. Dorset Echo, 7 August 2023, sec. News. https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/23706357.bibby-stockholm-explainer-first-asylum-seekers-barge/.

Mason, Rowena. ‘Tory “Ideological War” on Civil Servants Sees Morale Plumb New Depths’. The Guardian, 28 April 2023, sec. UK Politics. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/28/whitehall-civil-servants-morale-dominic-raab.

Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish. ‘The Rise and Fall of Penal Transportation’. In The Oxford Handbook of the History of Crime and Criminal Justice, edited by Paul Knepper and Anja Johansen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199352333.013.33.

McCaskill, Nolan D. ‘Trump Promises Wall and Massive Deportation Program’. Politico, 31 August 2016. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-arizona-227612.

McKay, Anna. ‘A Day in the Life: Convicts on Board Prison Hulks’. Carceral Archipelago(blog), 10 October 2017. https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/carchipelago/2017/10/10/a-day-in-the-life-convicts-on-board-prison-hulks/.

McRae, Isabella. ‘“Is This a Hotel or a Prison?”: Life as an Asylum Seeker in Home Office Accommodation’. The Big Issue, 26 May 2023. https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/hotel-prison-asylum-seeker-home-office-accommodation/.

Naz Hassan, Beril. ‘What Is Bibby Stockholm? First Asylum Seekers Board the Housing Barge’. Evening Standard, 7 August 2023, sec. News. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/what-bibby-stockholm-asylum-seekers-housing-barge-b1099198.html.

Pascual, Julia. ‘Calais, the French Bunker Border City Pushing Migrants into the English Channel’. Le Monde, 8 March 2023, sec. Europe. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/europe/article/2023/03/08/calais-the-french-bunker-border-city-pushing-migrants-into-the-english-channel_6018589_143.html.

Perrigo, Billy. ‘“Get Brexit Done.” The Slogan That Won Britain’s Election’. Time, 13 December 2019. https://time.com/5749478/get-brexit-done-slogan-uk-election/.

Plimmer, Gill, Ella Hollowood, and Lucy Rodgers. ‘The UK Is at Risk of Running Low on Water. Why?’ Financial Times, 4 September 2023, sec. The Big Read. https://www.ft.com/content/19caeb90-b5c9-46b2-9118-8d69d4c48d53.

Politico. ‘Poll of Polls: United Kingdom’, 15 February 2022. https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/.

Portland Port. ‘Portland Port Update - Setting out the Facts’. Portland Port, 23 May 2023. https://www.portland-port.co.uk/news/101/Portland+Port+Update+-+Setting+out+the+Facts.

Private Eye. ‘Number Crunching: Issue 1604’. 11 August 2023. https://www.private-eye.co.uk//issue-1604/number-crunching.

Raymond, Adam K. ‘“Build the Wall and Crime Will Fall”: Trump’s New Rhyming Slogan Is Not True’. Intelligencer, 23 January 2019. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/build-the-wall-and-crime-will-fall-trumps-dumb-new-slogan.html.

Refugee Council. ‘The Truth about Asylum’, n.d. https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/refugee-asylum-facts/the-truth-about-asylum/.

Sandford, Daniel. ‘What Does Rishi Sunak’s Promise to Stop the Boats Mean?’ BBC News, 4 January 2023, sec. UK. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64164339.

Sasse, Tom, Rhys Clyne, and Sachin Savur. ‘Asylum Backlog’. Institute for Government, 24 February 2023. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/asylum-backlog.

Schofield, Kevin. ‘Analysis: How Rishi Sunak’s “Small Boats Week” Was Blown Off Course’. HuffPost UK, 8 August 2023, sec. Politics. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/analysis-how-the-bibby-stockholm-threw-rishi-sunaks-small-boats-week-off-course_uk_64d223cae4b03c1d7390837d.

Shelter. ‘Accommodation for Asylum Seekers’. Accessed 31 August 2023. https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/housing_options/asylum_seekers_accommodation_options/accommodation_for_asylum_seekers.

Shelter. ‘People Seeking Asylum: Housing and Support’, 3 August 2023. https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/people_seeking_asylum_housing_and_support/how_to_apply_for_asylum_support.

Stewart, Heather, and Rowena Mason. ‘Nigel Farage’s Anti-Migrant Poster Reported to Police’. The Guardian, 16 June 2016, sec. Politics. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants.

Syal, Rajeev, and Diane Taylor. ‘Bibby Stockholm Asylum Barge Is “Potential Deathtrap”, Say Firefighters’. The Guardian, 1 August 2023, sec. UK news. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/01/bibby-stockholm-asylum-barge-is-potential-deathtrap-say-firefighters.

The Statutes Project. ‘1776: 16 George 3 c.43: Hulks Act’, 26 June 2022. https://statutes.org.uk/site/the-statutes/eighteenth-century/1776-16-george-3-c-43-hulks-act/.

Thompson, Flora. ‘Migrant Barge Not a Floating Prison, Home Office Says’. The Independent, 10 August 2023, sec. UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-office-portland-people-gardening-dorset-police-b2379737.html.

Tidman, Zoe. ‘Most Students Have Lived Somewhere That Could Be “Unfit for Habitation”, Poll Finds’. The Independent, 4 October 2021, sec. Education. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/uk-students-university-accommodation-unfit-b1928996.html.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2021’. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 16 June 2022. https://www.unrefugees.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Global-Trends-2021.pdf.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. ‘The 1951 Refugee Convention’. Accessed 29 August 2023. https://www.unhcr.org/uk/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention.

United Nations Treaty Collection. ‘5. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees’, 31 August 2023. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=V-5&chapter=5.

United Nations Treaty Convention. ‘2. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees’, 31 August 2023. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V-2&chapter=5.

Walsh, Peter William. ‘Asylum and Refugee Resettlement in the UK’. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, 19 August 2022. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/.

Walsh, Peter William, and Mihnea V. Cuibus. ‘People Crossing the English Channel in Small Boats’. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, 21 July 2023. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/people-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/.

Walsh, Peter William, and Kotaro Oriishi. ‘Albanian Asylum Seekers in the UK and EU: A Look at Recent Data’. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, 27 April 2023. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/albanian-asylum-seekers-in-the-uk-and-eu-a-look-at-recent-data/.

Wearmouth, Rachel. ‘Keir Starmer Is Refusing to Play Rishi Sunak’s Game’. New Statesman, 16 August 2023. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/08/keir-starmer-refusing-play-rishi-sunaks-game.

Wells, Ione, and Joe Nimmo. ‘Bibby Stockholm Barge Migrants Moved after Legionella Bacteria Found’. BBC News, 11 August 2023, sec. Dorset. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-66476538.

Weston, Katie. ‘Diphtheria Cases Confirmed among “small Number” of Asylum Seekers at UK Hotel’. The Mirror, 22 December 2022, sec. Politics. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/diphtheria-cases-confirmed-among-asylum-28796287.

Williams, Brendon. ‘Egg Shortages: Warning Shortfall Could Last Another Year’. BBC News, 16 May 2023, sec. Wales. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65615890.

Williamson, David. ‘More than 200 Asylum Seekers to Move into Luxury Spa Hotel in UK’. Express, 10 June 2023, sec. Politics. https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1779464/asylum-seekers-luxury-spa-hotel.

Woods, Hannah Rose. ‘Why Does Nothing Work in the UK Anymore?’ New Statesman, 29 December 2022. https://www.newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022/12/nothing-work-uk-anymore-inflation-strikes-nhs.

Wright, Robert. ‘UK Ministers’ Attacks on Civil Servants Risk “Worse Policy”, Warns Union Chief’. Financial Times, 16 March 2023, sec. UK. https://www.ft.com/content/163087d1-9d0d-4bf4-b4e5-70e39e349197.

YouGov. ‘Which Political Party Would Be the Best at Handling Asylum and Immigration?’ Accessed 10 September 2023. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/which-political-party-would-be-the-best-at-handling-asylum-and-immigration.