UK Illegal Migration: Partial Win in FOI Battle Over Home Office Migrant Hotel Contractors

Between 2021 and 2024, the UK Government paid private companies millions — possibly billions — of taxpayer money to house illegal migrants and asylum seekers in hotels across the country.

I submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking simple questions

Who got the contracts?

How much were they paid?

At first, the Home Office refused to release any information. But after challenging them with an internal review, they’ve now partially backed down and confirmed the names of five key contractors profiting from the asylum hotel scheme:

Clearsprings Ready Homes

Mears Group

Serco

Corporate Travel Management

Calder Conferences

However, they’re still refusing to disclose how much money each company received, citing "commercial interests" — even though the contracts are completed and funded by public money. *

I’ve now escalated the case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), demanding full financial transparency from the Home Office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZlzW6e5G7A

*commercial interests = profiting from human trafficking

Ireland: She Went Out for a Jog… She Never Saw It Coming

An Irish woman was attacked while out jogging in Dublin this morning, sparking renewed concern over public safety in Ireland. Gardaí have arrested a suspect, and investigations are ongoing. This footage sheds light on a disturbing trend that has left many asking: are our streets still safe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sqrx1cbw4k

>>23389127

Gunshot detection - ShotSpotter

>>23388987

>>23388999

The portrait label reads as follows:

Barack Obama born 1961

Forty-fourth president, 2009–2017

Barack Obama made history in 2009 by becoming the first African American president. The former Illinois state senator’s election signaled a feeling of hope for the future even as the U.S. was undergoing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. While working to improve the economy, Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act, extending health benefits to millions of previously uninsured Americans. Overseas, he oversaw the drawdown of American troops in the Middle East—a force reduction that was controversially replaced with an expansion of drone and aviation strikes. Though his mission to kill al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was successful, his pledge to close the Guantanamo prison went unrealized.

Artist Kehinde Wiley is known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans posing as famous figures from the history of Western art. This portrait does not include an underlying art historical reference, but some of the flowers in the background carry special meaning for Obama. The chrysanthe­mums, for example, reference the official flower of Chicago. The jasmine evokes Hawaii, where he spent the majority of his childhood, and the African blue lilies stand in for his late Kenyan father.

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977)

Oil on canvas, 2018

https://npg.si.edu/learn/access-programs/verbal-description-tours/barack-obama