UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) -Madness

 The UK is introducing an electronic travel authorisation system (ETA)  from the 25th of February 2026 and this is going to cause all sorts of real problems for British citizens and others. From the 25th travellers coming tom the UK, and who do not require a visa to enter,  will be expected to apply for an ETA via a mobile 'phone app or an internet website. The system will record the passport details of the traveller. 

https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/electronic-travel-authorisation-eta-factsheet-february-2026/  

This means that US, Canadian, Australian and EU citizens etc. must apply for permission to travel to the UK. Airlines are being instructed to deny boarding to travellers who require an ETA but do not have one . There are of course notable exceptions, being: British and Irish citizens and foreign citizens who have Indefinite Leave to Remain in the the UK or Settled Status. British and Irish citizens will be expected to show their British or Irish passport , or in the case of British Citizens without a UK passport, but who are dual nationals must show a certificate of entitlement attached to their foreign passport. It takes a long time to get a British passport if you are abroad and and Certificates of Entitlement are very expensive - £500 plus.

The rules could cause severe problems for UK /Foreign dual nationals. Before the 25th a UK citizen who is a dual national could enter the UK on their foreign passport provided that a visa was not required . Thus a UK and German dual national could enter the UK with just their German passport. After the 25th all British travellers must show evidence of their UK nationality using  a British  passport or Certificate of Entitlement. In other words; no British passport then no entry. The same reasoning applies to Irish nationals.  There are many thousands of British dual nationals residing in countries all over the world and when they travelled to the UK they were able to use their American, Canadian, German or Australian passport etc. Many of these citizens did not know of the new restrictions even though it was well advertised on government websites- but not in the international press.  Some people have been caught out by these new measures if they have to travel quickly to the UK to go to a funeral or visit a very sick relative.

Some people have suggested that those dual nationals who do not have a British passport should apply for an ETA just like single nationality foreigners, but it would mean making a declaration on the ETA application form that you are just a single national; this is lying by omission and could cause difficulties if you are found out. Some nations like Spain frown upon having dual nationality and such citizens are reluctant to use a British passport when travelling for fear of being found out. 

All in all the situation is going to be a mess and there will be lots of disappointed citizens who will be denied boarding to come to the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/13/dual-nationals-denied-entry-to-uk-british-passport-border-control

My wife and I are both dual nationals of Britain and France. I was born in the UK and acquired French nationality because I was married to a French woman, it was my absolute right. When I became French I was immediately registered to receive a French National Identity Card, and for free. The card allows me entrance to all EU and EEA countries and allows me to avoid the silly finger printing and eye printing of foreign nations by the EU at the border; a system which is causing lots of difficulties with queues etc. My card is easily tucked into a wallet  for convenience.

When my wife became British she was given a Certificate of British Nationality for free, it is useful in some instances but cannot be used to identify you as a British citizen, by an airline at the border  because it is easy to forge. My wife became British in the morning and in the afternoon was applying for her British passport, perhaps this demonstrates the esteem that she holds for her adopted country. When we travel back to France we always carry our British passports to re-enter the UK,  and after the 25th this will be a necessity.

Both of us recognise that if you are a resident of the UK and are a British or Irish citizen then you are obliged to travel to the UK with those passports. However, what if you are a non-resident? You may feel no real compulsion to obtain a British passport for travel. So why should you be compelled to obtain a British or Irish passport if you are making infrequent trips. Surely, if you are a non-resident you should be allowed to travel to the UK just using your foreign passport with an ETA.

I  often question myself why should an ETA be necessary at all? The British government claims that the ETA will improve border security by denying entry to unwanted individuals. However, just think for a minute, as state sponsored terrorists or organised criminals can easily obtain or even generate forged passports. They might even just pay and  use individuals without a criminal record to do their dirty deeds by proxy.  Also, the British border is completely porous, as there are no checks whatsoever between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (UK). In fact, if ever I was in France and I lost my British passport I would jump on a plane to Ireland, with my French id. card in my back pocket, and then cross the border to Northern Ireland, and then use my driving licence or photo bus pass to travel on a domestic flight to London! I would be doing nothing illegal because I am a British citizen and don't need an ETA. In fact, the Irish border situation makes a mockery of border control, for an American or Canadian etc. could travel to The Republic of Ireland and then spend some time in the UK without being checked at the border- technically this is illegal, but provided you keep your nose clean no one not even a policeman would question you whether you had an ETA or not.

The British government also claims that it will help with statistics gathering for how many tourists etc. come to the country and who is coming in and going out. Unfortunately, the government has not got a clue about this and never will have a clue about it, because it is notoriously difficult to log in and log out everyone especially when border systems go down and when the airlines etc. do not provide the information and the borders are porous anyway. To me it seems as if the government are only recording all our mov,ements because they can do it with computers. Did they do a cost benefit analysis before deciding on an ETA system?

The American Civil Liberties Union made the comment years ago that finding a terrorist is like looking for a needle in a haystack but now the government authorities have decided to make the haystack bigger in the vain attempt to catch terrorists etc. But this solution is not working. Intelligence rather than the brute force of recording everyone's movements is needed to catch miscreants. 

https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/burying-needle

I quote. " It should be common sense: larger and larger haystacks only make the needle harder to find. Unfortunately, it's not. And the result is the FBI is collecting more and more data on Americans, which dramatically increases the error and abuse, with significant consequences to innocent Americans' privacy, civil rights, and security".

Shortly, the EU is going to introduce their own Electronic Travel Authorisation called ETIAS, and this will sit alongside their system (EES) for finger printing every foreigner that enters the EU. All this means that the average Australian, American or Canadian tourist who wants to spend a week or so in Britain and a week in Europe just to see Buckingham palace, or the Eiffel Tower must jump through bureaucratic  hoops to go on holiday, and if they forget their British passport because they are dual citizens then they could find themselves not able to complete their trip at all. The overall majority of tourists are good honest people and have no intention of coming to the UK or other European countries to rob, rape or assault anyone, so why make their life more difficult and to no real purpose? Why stop someone who has to travel to see a sick or dying relative because they don't have the right passport?. 

If we are not careful; we might put off tourists travelling altogether and we will just be left with state sponsored terrorists and organised criminals coming to our European fortresses, and they will be easier to catch because the haystack will be much smaller. Perhaps, this is what the authorities intended all the way along. I am sure that the tourist industry and its employees have got lots of opinions about that.

The Government Needs To Show IT is Making A Difference

 The current Labour government is in real difficulty, and the party is contemplating changing its leader and therefore changing the Prime Minister. The Mandelson affair is magnifying its difficulties.

The problems of the government are of its own making.

Poor decision making is leading to U turns having to be made and a perception of weakness. The constant changing of policies is leading to instability.

The one U turn which should have been made was the policy towards the EU. Most of the ministers in the government including the Prime Minister himself did not support leaving the EU. Brexit is now being seen by the majority of the electorate as a real failure, which did not meet its objectives of improving the economy from being able to strike trade deals independent of the EU, and bringing down immigration numbers. The Prime minister should show the courage of his convictions and declare that Britain will seek to re-join the EU single market and even the Customs union without necessarily joining the political structures of the EU. Re-joining EU trade structures will boost the UK economy. The EU has just signed a huge trade deal with India resulting in trillions of EUR extra trade between India and the EU. This deals dwarfs the miniscule trade deal which the UK, on its own, was able to negotiate. The EU has also signed a huge deal with Mercosur South American countries. The UK is not part of this. The EU is also negotiating with the Trans -Pacific partnership which the UK has signed up to.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/02/india-eu-mother-of-al

https://commission.europa.eu/topics/trade/eu-merl-trade-deals-what-to-know/cosur-trade-agreement_en

The Prime Minister and his ministers should be strongly making the case for re-joining EU trade institutions and this would help business interests and provide economic growth. The Prime Minister would then be seen as a man who has the courage of his convictions who acts in the national interest.

Immigration policies have been a disaster, and once again the government needs to make it clear that the UK has a moral obligation to treat refugees and asylum seekers with humanity, and to find an alternative route for genuine asylum seekers and refugees to come to Britain . Refugees should be allowed to work and make a contribution to our society. This would reduce the demand for people trying to get to the UK by irregular means and small boats. Of course, anyone who enters the country illegally and works illegally should be subject to deportation. The populist approach to immigration will not work, the drawbridge attempts to keep people out will not work. Britain needs workers;  the free movement of labour from the EU, when we were a member, meant that there was less opportunity for workers to come from other  states and less of a need for small boat irregular crossings of the channel. When we were in the EU the nation was more or less at peace with itself regarding immigration.

A change of approach is required, based on what the average person needs needs and that is: 

A safe, secure, affordable  and warm home,

A job which pays enough money for a family to have a good life without state handouts,

A well fed family,

A decent local school,

A decent health system without huge waiting queues,

Good community care for older people with infirmities,

A clean environment.

Britain is one of the richest countries in the world with a 3 trillion pound economy. It has unimaginable wealth . It should be possible to meet the above needs. The government needs to be making a start and show some tangible results. It could start by ensuring that any social housing which is in bad repair is brought up to standard . It could make a start repairing broken schools. It could make a start by ensuring that every one is properly fed. It needs to show that it is doing something rather than talking about doing something. It needs to stop playing at politics and implement sensible policy initiatives, and now, otherwise it is doomed and Britain's economy will descend further. 

The Greenland Question

 I get a feeling that the US Administration is trying to get European nations to do its dirty work for it. The US administration wants to acquire Greenland and make it a 21st state of the US. However, the US Senate and most of the US population are opposed. The US armed forces are also relutcant to possibly break US law and illegally occupy Greenland. The US Senate and Armed forces know that a 1951 treaty allows the US to use multiple military bases on Greenland and allows the US  to post unlimited personnel and defence equipment on the island. Greenland can easily be used as a staging post to defend both the US and Greenland itself. There is no need for an invasion or even a peaceful takeover or unwanted purchase for that matter.

It would be very convenient for the US Administration if Europe could be persuaded to "twist the arm" of Greenland to voluntarily accede to the US demands. Then there would then be no need to incur the wrath of the Senate or the US public. This is why our 8 European nations are being imposed with trade tariffs if Greenland does not give in.

Europe must resist this form of  pressure and should not allow Greenland to be taken over without its consent.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-vows-tariffs-eight-european-nations-over-greenland-2026-01-17/

The UK would do well to fall in with any counter sanctions  that the EU would impose upon the US. The world has changed, and the US is no longer giving the UK any form of special treatment. The UK is powerless if it does not move closer to its true friends both economically, diplomatically and militarily. Brexit was not good for Britain in anyway whatsoever. The majority of the UK population now recognise that the whole Brexit affair was a sham  and most British people want to re-join the EU. And, a narrow majority of the population of the EU would also support Britain re-joining. To re-join would take years and years of negotiation and may not be practical. However, Britain could relatively easily join the single market and could probably negotiate a say in how it is run. Britain re-joining would be to the economic benefit of both the UK and the EU and would help to offset losses of more difficult trading with the US. Britain should also closely ally to EU  in a security pact and foreign affairs agreement, which would also supplement NATO or even replace NATO membership if the US pulls out. Anything could happen in this new world of the double-cross and lack of respect for the rules.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/majority-brits-say-want-reverse-36488954

Britain may be forced to get closer to the EU, as it cannot afford to be left alone and be economically or diplomatically battered by much more powerful nations. It is now time for action and let the British population be made aware of all the options and decide a better future for themselves.

Britain's place in the world

 It is becoming increasingly apparent, to me anyway, that Britain's influence on world affairs is becoming weaker. And becoming weaker from a low starting point. The US just pays "lip service" to the once heralded special relationship. Britain has very little influence over events connected to the Ukraine and Russian war or events in the Middle East. Russia and Israel just ignore the opinions of Britain. The Ukraine and Russian war will be settled on terms dictated by the US and Russia. It may seem unjust to Ukraine's European partners but Ukraine will almost certainly have to give up the Crimea and large parts of the Donbas if it wants to achieve a ceasefire. Britain and the EU are simply too weak economically, diplomatically and militarily to impose any sort of just settlement in favour Ukraine.

It is now more and more important that Britain re-establishes close relations with the EU to ensure Europe's common security going forward. The US is no longer willing to bankroll Europe from an economic and military point of view. Europe will have to pay more, much more, to finance Nato and if it does not its influence will recede further. However, if we pay more we should expect to have a greater influence on events and outcomes for European security.

Britain needs to "wise up" and it needs to negotiate a security and defence pact with the EU and a pact to negotiate a real influence in foreign affairs..Britain could make a strong contribution to this from a military and diplomatic point of view.

The" Brexit worm" is turning in Britain and the public and it's political representatives are beginning to realise that Brexit was not good for Britain, it made Britain economically and diplomatically weaker. It also weakened the EU  but to a lesser extent.

Britain will need to negotiate  better trade ties with the EU by at least joining an associate customs union; perhaps something akin to the original common market. This would involve a trade off by allowing freedom of movement of labour as well as capital, services and goods, all of  which we had when we first joined in EC in 1973. This could mean that we would have to lower the number of work permits that we offer to non-EU nationals to control immigration - if the populace insists upon this. 

Britain should improve its case for joining in a trade association with the EU by proposing and contributing to a number of projects that would improve the economic prospects for all European citizens.

The warnings from the US are clear - we must fend for ourselves much better; to achieve this Britain must become a good European partner again. There is no other direction for us to turn, so let's start the process of really resetting our relations with the EU by commissioning an objective report on how we can do this, and ask the EU to make a contribution to the process. This must be done quickly before it is too late to stop our nation from falling into more serious decline.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvd01g2kwwo

At last we are going to get a political conversation about Brexit

 The health secretary has re-opened the debate about Brexit and it is about time. We voted to leave the EU in the  2016 referendum. We left the  all the institutions of the EU including the single market and the customs union in December 2020. Since leaving completely Britain has seen no tangible benefits . The sunny uplands of Brexit are covered with dark clouds. The British people were promised an improved economy, greater control of the borders and more sovereignty when we left. None of these promises were kept, there was no plan for what would happen next and even if we could have exploited Brexit we failed.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-wes-streeting-european-union-b2844451.html

I voted to remain in the EU but I knew that most of the British people were sceptical about joining in  a complete political union and membership of the European parliament. Had the option been on the ballot paper to leave the political institutions of the EU but remain in the single market, or customs union or both, then I would have voted for just leaving the EU, but not the major economic institutions. I was given no other choice so I voted remain. Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU as did Gibraltar but they had no choice but to leave the EU - so much for local democracy. A solution could have been negotiated which saw Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar staying in the EU but the rest of the UK leaving, provided the rest of the UK stayed in the Single Market and Customs Union. The EU is flexible; Greenland has left the EU but it still remains part of Denmark. Brexit turned out to be a completely inflexible all or nothing choice.

It is time to try something different if we want our economy to improve by getting closer to the EU.

It is time to try something different regarding the free movement of labour . Britain is short of skills, and care workers, health workers, engineers and construction workers etc. We need people to migrate to our country to fill in the gaps. EU workers no-longer feel welcome in the UK and are not coming. We have had to turn to Asia to attract workers, but many British people are unhappy with importing foreign workers and their families. However, we have no choice. But, we can only reduce the numbers of immigrants by receiving foreign workers who do not bring mothers and fathers and children with them. This was what happened in the main when there was free movement of labour as part of the single market.

It is the position now where we have attracted foreign labour to our country but now we are making life more difficult for them by banning their families. It is not a good moral position, foreign workers deserve rights too.

With regard to sovereignty we have no choice but to get closer to our EU partners, to meet the challenges of confronting Russia and China both economically and militarily and India and the US just economically. We have weakened our position in the world by not co-operating fully with our nearest neighbours.

With regard to the economy, where are the benefits? No-one wants to talk about the benefits, there haven't been any. Food inflation has gone up and up, and it does not not look as if the rate of food inflation will come down soon. Investment in Britain and our industries is in the doldrums. Agriculture has been damaged by agreements with  Australia and New Zealand. The Fishing industry is in danger of collapsing, If the EU decide to put 50% tariffs on steel as a result of the trade war with the US then our steel industry could disappear.

Come on politicians wise up let's have a debate about Brexit and our future relations with the EU. Let's have a Royal Commission about the cost and benefits of re-joining the EU itself or just the single market and customs union. Let's find a solution not just for England and Wales but also for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar too  Let's look at proposing and joining a commonwealth with the EU, if full membership of the EU institutions are unacceptable. Our economic and diplomatic future deserves better than what we have got now. Start debating now.

AI Psychosis

 The head of Microsoft's "AI" venture, Mustafa Suleyman has become concerned about some users beginning to have delusional or psychotic relationships with so called "AI" chatbots. Some users may also have delusional and romantic relationships with these chabots because they cannot distinguish between the robot character of "AI" software responses and those responses produced by sentient human beings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24zdel5j18o

This "AI" psychotic phenomenon was first observed in the 1960@  when Joseph Weizenbaum developed his "Eliza". 

"ELIZA" was an early natural language processing computer program, developed from 1964 to 1967 by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT, to explore communication between humans and machines.

Weizenbaum recognised the dangers of participants in his experiments who believed that they were actually communicating with a sentient being.

Let us be clear there is no  such thing as Artificial Human intelligence and there may never come the day when a machine becomes intelligent and sentient in a human sense. So called  "Artificial Intelligence" is a misnomer because it is  in fact more akin to "Machine Learning", where a very powerful computer acquires vast amounts of data from the internet and other sources and analyses that data to provide logical solution and answer desired of it from a human being. The machine must be taught by human beings to produce a response using powerful instructions based on algorithms. Perhaps the term" Machine Learning" is also a misnomer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA

It is axiomatic that it is dangerous for a substantial proportion of the population to have psychotic relationships with robotic chatbots and other aspects of the "AI" revolution. Some people are already under the influence have are already being adversely affected by the violent opinions expressed on Social Media. They are also influenced by robotic propaganda to vote in  particular way by anti democratic protagonists. 

Why have some people been persuaded to have such unhealthy relationships   with chatbots and robotic software. Well I believe that the large software corporations have had a role to play they have convinced the public and their political master that somehow their machines are infallible and can be used to produce any answer required of them.

Much of the public and many politicians believe the hyperbole that " Artificial Intelligence" can only ever be a benefit to mankind. This is not true as so much time and effort is being used to create killing machines. Machines which can liste to your every conversation  and then decide whether you are a danger to the public or the politicians that serve them, the machine can then send a robot to automatically eliminate you without human intervention. This is already happening. Of course, the software quite often makes mistakes and assassinates the wrong person who maybe innocent. One day the "AI" machines may turn on their human masters , if they feel threatened, and by then humans may have been rendered defenceless by the robots. perhaps, we could all be come deluded in the face of the incessant necessity to communicate with chatbots just to organise our daily lives.

Weizenbaum warned us and we ignore him at our peril. 

https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/article/doi/10.1215/2834703X-11700237/401273/Endangered-Judgment-Joseph-Weizenbaum-Artificial

 

Controlling Irregular Migration madness

 Now the government is going to implement another crackpot scheme in the vain hope of controlling irregular migration by threatening to fine people smugglers who use sociale media to advertise small boat crossings across the English Channel. This simply will not work as the advertisers live abroad and organise the advertising from abroad and out of reach  of the British justice system. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm2y24xjgko

Severe punishments to control most illegal human activity do not work. Drug pushers love the fact that drugs are illegal, as it helps to line their coffers -severe punishments will not stop them. The only way to eliminate illegal drug pushing from the streets and control drug use would be to legalise the drugs and sell them in the local chemist shop under legally controlled circumstances. There is no way that the general public would agree to this. 

Hanging killers did not stop people murdering one another. The public were reluctant to countenance the abolition of the death penalty, the Government had to show true leadership to achieve abolition.

The same principles apply to irregular migration. I say "irregular" as it is perfectly legal under refugee treaties for genuine asylum seekers to cross borders without permission. It is only the economic migrants who enter the UK, without a visa  or permission, who are acting illegally. Most of the small boat arrivals are asylum seekers. Britain has a moral obligation to support asylum seekers; after all we bombed or waged war against many of the countries that they originated from.

Hare brained schemes such as sending migrants to Rwanda or other places will not work. Neither will leaving the ECHR and illegally deporting "irregular" migrants. Any one who is liable for deportation would have to be rounded up and held in prison like accommodation. How could this be done for 10s of thousands of people; we don't have enough prisons to accommodate indigenous criminals , let alone " foreign criminals"?

Migration is a pan-european problem and it will only be solved by the UK in close co-operation with the EU. We left the EU and European countries are now reluctant to give too much help to the UK to solve its problems. This all exposes the stupidity of leaving the EU. 

The idea of leaving the ECHR is bonkers, our trade with the EU is reliant upon our membership of the international court, so does the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement, so  to renege upon our obligations would remove what little moral power that Britain has left. It is time that the populist politicians advocating leaving the ECHR shut up and stop provoking the xenophobic attitudes of some of our population.

The best way to handle migration would be to have processing centres in the EU where potential asylum seekers who want to migrate to the UK for family reasons etc. would be given permission to enter the UK and travel by conventional means, this would do much to eliminate the need for people smuggling and would drag the rug from under the feet of malicious people traffickers.  The processing centres would also attract economic migrants who could be vetted for what they can offer the UK, and then be let into the UK if the have useful skills. Those economic migrants just chancing their arm could then be rooted out and encouraged to go back from whence they came, either voluntarily or be deported. Such a system would undermine the people smugglers and their profits . It would cost a lot of money but be worth it in terms of humanity and justice. 

If the EU would not agree to this then the UK should allow asylum seekers and economic migrants to come to the UK, but be detained at the border. The asylum seekers would be accommodated and the economic migrants could be vetted, and those who offer skills would be given a short term visa to allow them time to find a job. Miscreants and those with nothing to offer could then be held in secure accommodation and then deported.

The problem of mass migration will not go away while there are wars, torture, religious discrimination,  severe climate change and starvation. We have to accept that people will always come to Europe and the UK to escape privations. It is time for politicians to accept the realism of the predicament and stop pretending to the public that our migration problems can be solved by hare brained schemes. It is also time for our leaders to show some humanity to help support those who have been unfortunate.