When I read yesterday that there may be as many as , illegal immigrants living in London , my first reaction was: Is that all? Then, on second thoughts, I remembered writing about a similar statistic fairly recently. Back in October, academics at Oxford University claimed there were only , illegals across the whole of Britain. The figure comes from a study commissioned by Thames Water and obtained by the Daily Telegraph courtesy of a freedom of information request.
For some reason, Thames Water has decided to distance itself from the findings. Thames Water played no part in the writing of the report and the conclusions drawn are those of the firm that carried out the research.
Are the bosses of Thames Water terrified of being accused of ray-cism? Probably, such is the level of snivelling corporate cowardice these days in the face of advertising boycotts, cancel culture and hateful woke bullying. What do they think we are going to do: stop using water? Grow up. Are they afraid Just Stop Sewage will start picketing treatment works and glueing themselves to the gates of reservoirs? Regular readers Sid and Doris may recall a column I wrote nine years ago, after an immigration panel judge told The Mail on Sunday that there were at least 1.
A study commissioned by Thames Water suggests there are as many as , illegal immigrants living in London. Partly because of the cases that come before me, but also because of the evidence of the sewage industry — an excellent way of gauging how many people are really living in this country.
The discrepancy between the official figures and what is actually going down the pipes shows there are more than a million more people in London than are legally registered and another half million or more outside the capital. As I remarked at the time: The answer, my friend, is flowing round the U-bend. I also suggested putting the elite British Bog Snorkelling team on the case. Thames Water was perfectly entitled to explore the, er, output of its customers, legal or otherwise.
