A motorcycle rider out on a shopping trip was arrested and detained for a month as part of a high-profile government crackdown on undocumented migrants working for food delivery apps. Fernando Fontoura, 33, who moved from Portugal to the UK when he was 12, was arrested by immigration enforcement officers after he parked his motorbike near a grocery store in south-east London on 22 July. He was taken to a detention centre near Gatwick airport where he was held for 29 days. I’ve been here [in the UK] for 21 years. It is completely unfair,” he said. “[The Home Office] says I have no lawful basis to be in the UK. But my family is here. My fiancee is here. I’ve been paying taxes here for over 10 years. I studied here. I did my GCSEs and NVQs here. I received my insurance number at the age of 16.” Fontoura’s parents moved to London in 2004. His father worked in construction and his mother worked as a cleaner. “I made my life here,” Fontoura said. “I grew up in England. I picked up the language, the culture and everything else. I integrated into the community and I’ve been here ever since, apart from a few years travelling.” The Home Office has stepped up sweeps of workplaces looking for undocumented migrant workers since Labour came to power. Immigration enforcement raids targeting migrant workers and arrests for “illegal working” increased by about 50% in the first 10 months of the Labour government compared with the same period the year before, under the Conservatives. The policy, which has been criticised by refugee charities, is a key part of the government’s faltering strategy to hold back the advance of Reform UK. The prime minister posted twice on X in August about arrests of hundreds of delivery drivers “cheating our system” and “working illegally”.

continue reading

War Crimes in a Punitive Age

Spoiler warning.

My most recent video 1080p60 on youtube.

This video was harder to create due to the fact that I could barely find stages that fit with the episode Ruby and Sapphire were introduced in. But in the end I feel my choices worked well enough. In this video I tried to follow their story so to speak, with the Red Garnet being shown first, then Steven from when they later met him separately, and then finally purple garnet from when they refused and in doing so (I believe) re-synced themselves so both of their attributes displayed evenly. If you pay close enough attention you can see that the final stage slowly turns from the red circles and blue squares to purple, fully changed once Garnet appears. 

These two are inspiring to me. They are genderless sentient space rocks, but the fact that they are portrayed as female in both how they chose to look and be referred to, it gives me a bit of a confidence boost in my own sexuality regardless of how my family views it. I find it amazing how Steven Universe is so well made that it’s possible to fall in love with the characters in about eleven minutes, and that said characters are easy to relate to.

I have yet to post this on DA so the DA link will be a link to my profile instead. The youtube link, however will be a link to the video.

DA: http://nokomismoondreamer.deviantart.com/

YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3s9kr4AzlE

Credits

Models: Sapphire and Ruby - Allena-Frost-Walker http://www.deviantart.com/art/Ruby-and-Sapphire-MMD-Model-Dl-527335188 Steven - Allena-Frost-Walker http://www.deviantart.com/art/Steven-Quartz-Universe-MMD-Model-DL-530062182 Garnet(versions 1 and 2) - McChipy http://www.deviantart.com/art/MMD-Garnet-DOWNLOAD-523614657

Stages Earth Room Stage - Renale http://www.deviantart.com/art/Earth-Room-Stage-486622739

Cyber Thunder Cider Stage - tomo_yuuki http://www.deviantart.com/art/MMD-Cyber-Thunder-Cider-Stage-DL-379096277

metaPetal Stage Set - Trackdancer http://trackdancer.deviantart.com/art/MMD-metaPetal-Stage-Set-490868343

Effects