Portland: Possible New Venue?

[John Upham]

Now that Portland has fresh new accommodation for 500 persons perhaps it could be considered a potential 4NCL venue?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

In case this was too cryptic a comment from John (it went completely over my head - I went searching for news of a new hotel in Portland, Dorset), he is referring to this:

Bibby Stockholm: Asylum seeker barge docks in Portland as migration bill progresses (BBC News)

Bibby Stockholm (Wikipedia)

[John Upham]

On a more serious note during a classic car rally on Sunday I had cause to visit the Norton Park Hotel near to Winchester.

Lovely, modern venue.

[NickFaulks]

On a more serious note during a classic car rally on Sunday I had cause to visit the North Park Hotel near to Winchester.

Lovely, modern venue.

Norton Park?

Don't tell Serco. This looks like the sort of place where illegal migrants might be housed in the style which they have been promised, so may not be available to the local population for much longer.

[John Upham]

On a more serious note during a classic car rally on Sunday I had cause to visit the North Park Hotel near to Winchester.

Lovely, modern venue.

Norton Park?

Don't tell Serco. This looks like the sort of place where illegal migrants might be housed in the style which they have been promised, so may not be available to the local population for much longer.

Yes, sorry about that. When I visited it was free from such intrusions. No signs of SERCO or fans of Norman Wisdom's adopted country. As you say however, it might only be a matter of time before it is ruined.

[Carl Hibbard]

Moved into the Not Chess and not particularly funny section.

[NickFaulks]

Moved into the Not Chess and not particularly funny section.

Agreed, not funny but certainly tragic.

The chess connection is that organisers are encountering great difficulty in finding venues nowadays, and we know the reasons. John's suggestion of Norton Park may well be a good one, and Winchester would be convenient for much of the South of England.

[Angus French]

On a more serious note during a classic car rally on Sunday I had cause to visit the North Park Hotel near to Winchester.

Lovely, modern venue.

Norton Park?

Don't tell Serco. This looks like the sort of place where illegal migrants might be housed in the style which they have been promised, so may not be available to the local population for much longer.

Yes, sorry about that. When I visited it was free from such intrusions. No signs of SERCO or fans of Norman Wisdom's adopted country. As you say however, it might only be a matter of time before it is ruined.

Are these later two posts not racist?

- The people put up in hotels – and in other places and, in future, the Bibby Stockholm are not “illegal immigrants”, they’re asylum seekers awaiting processing of their asylum applications. Most such applications are successful and many of those that are rejected are overturned on appeal. Typically the conditions are not great - asylum seekers get (sometimes very basic) accommodation but other than that have to fend for themselves on a meagre allowance while detained, often for months. (Why is it that asylum applications usually take months to process and sometimes more than a year?)

- Two groups are unnecessarily set off against each: asylum seekers (referred to as "illegal immigrants") and the local population.

- Albanians are characterised as illegal immigrants and described as “intrusions”.

The Refugee Council has facts and figures here.

[Thomas Rendle]

Are these later two posts not racist?

They're certainly very unpleasant. I don't see the need for this thread at all - I assume it was a poor attempt at humour.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"(Why is it that asylum applications usually take months to process and sometimes more than a year?)"

Because successive governments choose to save money by reducing public services. So there's fewer staff and they're overworked and demotivated. Also asylum applications are important and you want to try to get it right and let genuine cases in, and keep others out. It's not just a, "oh there's a form here, I'll stamp it yes or no as the mood takes me".

And there are a lot of applicants...

[John Upham]

If this thread is causing offence (and that was not my intention) then please feel free to delete it.

[Paul Cooksey]

The chess connection is that organisers are encountering great difficulty in finding venues nowadays, and we know the reasons

Isn't the number of asylum seekers in contingency accommodation relatively small compared to the overall size of the UK hotel sector?

I am by no means an expert, but I do have google. It seems to me 40k people likely to be a about a 2.5% increase in hotel room occupancy, which has bounced back to pre-pandemic mid 70% levels.

There does seem to be inflation in hotel rates significantly higher than that we have in the country as a whole, which is an issue for chess events. But seems to me more connected to the hospitality industry having its costs impacted by inflation rather than demand for contingency accommodation.

[Mick Norris]

Are these later two posts not racist?

They're certainly very unpleasant. I don't see the need for this thread at all - I assume it was a poor attempt at humour.

Yes, it has unpleasant undertones but not as unpleasant as the government

[Roland Kensdale]

I believe our Government is planning to raise money by increasing charges to migrants.

I haven't googled to verify details. This seems astonishingly cruel and offensive.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Tbf bad taste (or indeed plain bad) jokes are a bit of a John Upham speciality - and I mean that in a nice way, mostly