How to legally demonise immigration

The Sun, for those outside the UK who may not realise, is the most widely-read tabloid newspaper in the UK. Its politics are decidedly right of centre, as you might guess from the fact that it's owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Today it's reported on Phil Woolas, a Labour MP who's had his election victory in May overturned.

A COURT has ordered a re-run of a general election campaign after ruling that Labour's Phil Woolas stirred up racial tensions in a desperate bid to retain his constituency seat.

The specially convened court said Mr Woolas had knowingly made false statements about a Lib Dem rival in the Oldham East and Saddleworth elections.As a result the outspoken MP's election victory has been declared void. The former immigration chief's campaign team was said to have set out to "make white folk angry" by suggesting he was the victim of a Muslim campaign to kick him out.

It just won't do stirring up racial tensions by publishing inflammatory material about religious extremists.

Unless, of course, you're a national newspaper.

HE was a friendly, fun-loving London lad who worked at Boots and loved footie.
Now Mohammed Shamsudeen is an extremist zombie called Abu Saalihah, screeching hatred for Britain in support of a similarly deranged woman who tried to murder a democratically-elected MP.
What changed? Well, like wannabe martyr Roshonara Choudhry, Shamsudeen was brainwashed by the perverted rantings of fascist madmen like Anwar al-Akwali.

No brief for Muslim extremists here of course. But the Sun's agenda goes way beyond attacking the extremes, and goes for the jugular by demonising anyone who wants to move to Britain.

One in four new babies in Britain now has a mum who was born in a foreign country.

The ONS said "international migration" means there are now 200,000 more women in the key childbearing ages of 15 to 44-years-old than in 2001.

Immigrant women also have higher birth rates than Brits.

The usual language - "huge influx", "population is rocketing", "startling". I'm just surprised they didn't say "swamped".

The BBC reports that

Mr Woolas was accused of stirring up racial tensions in his campaign leaflets by suggesting Mr Watkins had pandered to Muslim militants, and had refused to condemn death threats Mr Woolas said he had received from such groups.

Mr Woolas ran a "risky" campaign, the court was told, designed to "galvanise the white Sun vote" because he feared he faced defeat on polling day.

The Sun omits this quote, oddly enough.

Things have moved on from the "Arab pigs" days, but the Sun's viciously right-wing propaganda is still there.