Spare a Thought for the People Who Show the Best of Britain
by David Palethorpe
In all the noise about migration — the headlines about “boat people,” the outrage over costs, and the soundbites from ReformUK Ltd — something essential has been lost: our humanity.
Much of the rhetoric that dominates the debate, in my view, is not about policy or practicality but about prejudice.
It is racism directed against men, women, and children fleeing persecution and danger, people who come here because they still believe Britain is a country of fairness, tolerance, and kindness.
After some time on these shores, and after hearing the daily tide of vitriol, they might be forgiven for wondering whether that reputation is still deserved.
But there is another side to Britain — one that still embodies those values we like to think define us.
The first people these refugees meet when they reach our coast are not politicians or pundits, but the volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
These are ordinary men and women who, without pay and often at great personal risk, head out into one of the world’s busiest sea lanes — the English Channel — to rescue those whose flimsy boats are failing beneath them.
Funded by public donations, RNLI crews save lives every year.
And when they cannot save everyone, they perform the harrowing duty of recovering the bodies of those who never make it.
For all the talk of “young men of fighting age,” let’s remember who else is on those boats.
There are women.
There are children.
There are orphans who arrive here alone after losing their parents somewhere on the journey — children who have already seen more horror than most of us could imagine.
When these survivors finally reach dry land, it is again volunteers — hundreds of them — who meet them with compassion.
They offer hot food, dry clothes, blankets, and a safe place to rest.
For many, it is the first warm meal, the first dry bed, and the first night of safety they’ve had in months, even years.
These volunteers are not looking for attention or applause.
They act out of simple decency — a belief that no one should be left to drown or freeze because of where they were born.
They are the best of Britain.
Yet they, too, feel the chill of our political climate.
Many of them are frightened to speak publicly about what they witness — intimidated by the divisive and hateful rhetoric that has seeped into our politics and our press.
Figures like Nigel Farage and his entourage have made compassion something to sneer at, and kindness something to question.
But the truth is this: every time a RNLI crew launches into rough seas to save a life, every time a volunteer hands a child a blanket, they are living proof that Britain’s conscience is not yet lost.
So, when we talk about asylum seekers — people exercising their legal right to seek refuge under the very Human Rights principles that Britain helped to draft — let us also talk about the people who greet them with care rather than contempt.
They show the country we could still be humane, generous, and proud of our capacity for compassion.
Because if there is any hope for what it means to be British, it lies not in those who shout the loudest about “taking back control,” but in those who, quietly and without fuss, refuse to turn their backs on another human being in need
“So when you hear a member of Reform UK Ltd, or others of their ilk, talk about people suffering from ‘compassion overload’ — their latest attempt to mask prejudice and racism — spare a thought for those who truly represent the best of Britain.”
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