Latest S2 Update on Ukraine

[ABNARTY]

I had to giggle to myself last night when two Journalists were doing the usual thing on TV of discussing what their
fellow-scribblers had written for today's newspapers. The latest trend in the UK is the Government offering £350-per
-month ($456) to take in a Ukrainian refugee.

The two Journos thought it was a grand idea until the moderator asked them if they would allow those fleeing the troubles
in Ukraine to live in their spare bedroom. Both of them flapped and dithered and then explained such undertaking requires a
knowledge in dealing with trauma. At the end they both declined.

Ukraine war: UK households offered £350 a month for hosting refugees

'Households in the UK will be offered £350 a month to open their homes to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC tens of thousands of people could come to the UK under the
scheme and he may offer a room to a refugee. But the Refugee Council is concerned about the level of support
for those traumatised by war.

Labour said there were unanswered questions, accusing the government of "dragging its feet" over the crisis.

Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, people will be able to nominate a named individual or a family to stay with
them rent-free, or in another property, for at least six months. A website to express an interest in being a sponsor
will launch on Monday.

Mr Gove also told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme the government was looking at using the properties of
Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the UK for "humanitarian purposes" but there was "quite a high legal bar" and
this measure would lapse as sanctions ended.

Retailers Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons are among the UK companies offering to employ Ukrainian
refugees. Asos said it wanted to attract Ukraine's strong technology engineering skill set, while soap shop Lush said
it would open up internal vacancies to refugees.

Addressing a rally outside Downing Street on Sunday, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, called for
more support, weapons and humanitarian assistance. Local authorities will also receive £10,500 in extra funding per
refugee for support services - with more for children of school age, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities said.

More than 2.5 million people have so far fled Ukraine because of Russia's invasion, in what the UN has called the
fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two. The government has faced criticism -including from its own MPs
-over the speed and scale of its response. Defending the government's response, Mr Gove told the BBC the number
of Ukrainians fleeing the war who had been granted visas had now risen to 3,000.

At the moment, only those fleeing the conflict who have family connections in the UK are able to make an application via
the Ukraine Family Scheme. Other visas are available but application centres in Ukraine are closed.
Under the new scheme sponsors in the UK will not be required to know the refugees in advance and there will be no limit
on numbers. Ukrainians on the scheme will be given leave to remain for three years, with the right to work and access public
services.

Mr Gove told the BBC that he anticipated "tens of thousands" of Ukrainians might be taken in by UK families with the first
arrivals "within a week". Two weeks since it was announced, we now have some details of the scheme allowing people to
host refugees in their homes.

The idea is a simple one, but the practicalities of matching those fleeing Russia's invasion with willing households in the UK
won't be easy. Aiming to place people with hosts within a fortnight is ambitious and the system is untested.
Ministers are keen to avoid using hotels or other temporary accommodation used by Afghans last year, and are adamant that
security checks should stay in place on those fleeing Ukraine.

But for some Conservative MPs, let alone Labour and other opposition parties, the government's response has fallen short.
And it's no accident that Michael Gove - and not the Home Secretary Priti Patel - is fronting the latest efforts to smooth out
and speed up the process of settling people in the UK.

What ministers have described as a cross-government approach has looked at times like inter-departmental wrangling over
who's best placed to get things done...'

BBC:

Same old, same old. YOU need to do something. Us? Not so much. Our job is to sit here and bloviate on how righteous our ideas are for someone else.  

And in two weeks! Tens of thousands! Just moving in to homes everywhere across the country. No need to ask if it's OK or not with the home owners. Of course it is! 

*My offer to take in Ukrainian girls in their early twenty's is still not going over big with my wife. Something about my dead body yada yada...