WINDRUSH - TOO MUCH POLITICAL HYPE.

The furore that's been stirred up over the so-called 'Windrush Generation' strikes me as being nothing but an opportunistic political manoeuvre.

Undoubtedly, those who arrived in Britain from various Commonwealth countries in the period from the late 1940s to early 1960s were invited and had expectations of remaining here for the rest of their lives. That some now appear to have been threatened with deportation due to an inability to 'prove' that they have a right to be here is wrong but appears to be more a result of lack of foresight and a degree of incompetence than anything else. Claims by some that the destruction of landing cards in 2010 is to blame are ludicrous.

Ship's passenger lists and other associated records have been routinely destroyed for many decades and the destruction of these particular records is irrelevant. If there was an error, it was in not transferring the information to some other form such as a simple list of names, dates of birth and places of origin. Equally, it seems to me that the immigrants themselves might have taken steps to adopt British nationality or, at least, to obtain some other form of evidence of their origin and status. Being able to demonstrate continuous residence in the UK, a tax or national insurance record, school or college records, and much more, could certainly have been useful and an inability to produce such records must raise questions whoever was involved.

It is apparent that some civil service officials have been somewhat over-zealous in their approach to a few of the people caught up in this messy situation but for there now to be an attempt to stir up a political wind storm is ridiculous. No one did anything deliberately to create this problem and the government has now acted to reassure those affected by it. Yes, there have been difficulties for some but the extent of the issue shouldn't be blown out of proportion for political purposes.

One wonders if there'd have been the same fuss made if the immigrants in question had been from predominantly white Commonwealth countries and been more difficult to make political capital of.