The programme isn’t the place to air half-baked theories about the migrant boats crisis, says one of its former presenters Jaci Stephen
Last week, at the annual Edinburgh Television Festival, Rylan Clark entranced audiences in an interview with his wit and all-round charisma. It was one of the best sessions I had seen in 37 years of attending.
He appears to be a good, kind, tolerant person, whose live-and-let-live attitude, inclusive of all humanity, is a joy to witness in a divisive world.
So why, oh why, oh why, did he open his mouth presenting on This Morning to weigh in on the subject of migrant boats? Not only was he out of his depth; he was drowning.
Stressing that he is not against legal immigration that he says built the country (and saved his mother’s life in the NHS), he went on to rant about the boats carrying illegal immigrants who get four-star treatment while many of our own citizens go hungry and homeless.
Ah, there we have it. The boats. The two words that have become synonymous with a xenophobic hatred that rises up on every wave. Rylan is not a xenophobe or consumed with hatred, but he needs to get his facts straight about the boats and stop floating half-baked thoughts that only fuel the racism of others.
Do people really jump into a rubber dinghy, risking their lives on the seas in the hope of securing an iPad when they reach their destination? Do they really want the precariousness of hotel living? Are they really the reason the NHS is faltering and the reason people in Britain are going homeless and hungry?
Rylan is only 36 years old and these problems have been eating away at the country since before he nibbled on his first rusk. Homelessness is deeply embedded in UK history as far back as 1388 with social unrest following the Black Death. The Vagrancy Act of 1824 criminalised sleeping rough and begging. And homelessness became a huge issue in the 20th century owing to the economic hardship during the Great Depression and the Second World War, which led to a housing shortage.
The Housing (Homeless Persons) Act of 1977 was introduced specifically to help the homeless or those under threat from homelessness. Since the Act, councils across the UK have consistently dealt with significant numbers of people seeking help; and according to official data, the number of people sleeping rough increased by 169 per cent between 2010 and 2017. Poverty is the biggest driver of homelessness, not boats. Lay the blame at the door of the failure of successive governments to address the real crisis.
The boats are a smokescreen because homelessness is a long-standing social issue, not one that has suddenly appeared with the incoming tide; the problem with This Morning‘s attempt to dissect the issue is that it’s a show that lends itself badly to addressing politics. What it does best is shallow. Nothing wrong with that. We all enjoy (and need) a little bit of fluff in our lives. But when presenters unarmed with historical fact enter that arena, they end up sounding at best ignorant, at worst stupid.
It’s not Rylan’s fault. You have to do what producers tell you to do, and not for one second do I believe he set out to offend. He’s a gentle, caring soul and a brilliant presenter, but putting him on the spot like this was a mistake.
I was on the show for several years, reviewing the soaps, so I know how little time there is to delve into any subject in great depth. When I refused to wear a poppy for Remembrance week, I was asked if I would discuss the reasons why on air. I refused. My reasons (as are those of many who do the same) are incredibly complex and it has nothing to do with the respect I hold for our service men and women. I knew that a couple of soundbites would be misinterpreted and regurgitated ad infinitum.
This Morning, post-Richard and Judy (who were real journalists) is a place that wheels people on and off set with incredible efficiency and ease; it’s conveyer belt broadcasting and the kind of relaxation one needs following the heavy stuff of the news programmes that precede it. Flotsam and jetsam. That’s its true remit. And the show should stick to it.
