r/MadeMeSmile Feb 25 '25

Wholesome Moments Nicholas Winton helped 669 Jewish children escape the Nazis and his efforts went unrecognised for 50 years. Then, in 1988, while sitting as a member of a TV audience, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the kids he had rescued, who were now adults.

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u/JustAnotherSlug Feb 25 '25

This never gets old.

91

u/Simon_Drake Feb 26 '25

Another opportunity to inform people that a couple of years ago the UK's Right-Wing government changed the law on refugees and this would have been illegal if Nicholas Winton did it today.

The law used to say it was illegal to profit from assisting people in applying for political asylum in the UK. The Conservatives changed it to remove the "for profit" part so it is now illegal to assist someone in applying for asylum in the UK, regardless of how justified the claim is, where they come from or what they are fleeing from.

What Nicholas Winton did for 669 children would get him put in prison today. It's deeply disturbing that our modern governments repeatedly fail to learn the lessons of the past and align themselves with the wrong side of historical atrocities.

16

u/Stormtomcat Feb 26 '25

that's sobering and the opposite of making me smile.

3

u/Karukos Feb 26 '25

If there is anything for you to keep in mind in mind now is that actions like these have been illegal before. People did them anyways. We do not have to sit idly there, we can do what's right.

1

u/nzMunch1e Feb 26 '25 edited Feb 26 '25

I'm trying to find when this was done but am having no luck? Can you point me in the right direction please.

I found it, was 2021:

Offence of knowingly and for gain facilitating the arrival in the United Kingdom of an asylum-seeker

A person only commits offence if he knows or has reasonable cause to believe the individual is an asylum- seeker. Section does not apply to anything done by a person acting on behalf of an organisation which aims to assist asylum-seekers and does not charge for its services

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u/audiophunk Feb 26 '25

You've got it wrong. They're the only ones that have learned from the past. They see where they went wrong and won't be making the same mistakes this time.

Meanwhile the rest of us are watching dogs playing the piano on youtube.

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u/Simon_Drake Feb 26 '25

Please explain what correct moral lesson learned from the past leads to making this illegal.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Simon_Drake Feb 26 '25

What you've just done is casually claim all refugees and asylum seekers coming to England are murderers who stab people. That's far-right propaganda and you should be deeply ashamed of yourself for blindly repeating hate.