Since late July, calm seas and hot weather have combined to increase the numbers of people crossing the English Channel. The risks are still considerable, with flimsy dinghies being used as the means of transit. Although only a few hundred people have made the journey, right-wing politicians and elements of the press have seized on the crossings to whip up anti-immigrant fervour.
This has included the use of phrases such as “invading migrants” as well as government condemnation of the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream media team for starting a social media thread arguing that “the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture”. It continued “People cannot be illegal. And it is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention that crossing a border ‘illegally’ should not impact your asylum claim.”
In response, the Conservative minister James Cleverly attacked the company, tweeting: “Can I have a large scoop of a statistically inaccurate virtue signalling with my grossly overpriced ice-cream, please?”
