We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare
The small boat crisis is certainly one that has permeated mainstream news over the past ten years. For me, the issue was highlighted when former Prime Minister David Cameron very publicly refused to take in migrants from Calais, brandishing them “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain”. Cameron was rightly admonished for this statement; however, this, in many ways, set the scene for a number of public attitudes since then, with rhetoric and treatment of migrants becoming more and more dehumanising from many public figures.
In We Came by Sea, Horatio Clare sets out to give not just the migrants a voice, but also those who work in border forces, charities and the RNLI, who also came under fire from Nigel Farage, who branded them a “taxi service” in yet another failed publicity stunt (donations to the RNLI rose 3000% following this event). In a world of media and political hysteria, We Came by Sea provides a voice of reason in a debate that seems intent on dividing the country, giving those who’ve been silenced on this issue a long-overdue voice in the matter.
Many of the issues talked about in We Came by Sea were not new to me. I was aware of the conditions of the refugee camps in Calais, which had not just been revealed in the news, but also friends who’ve had to visit whilst working in Home Office Asylum contracts, who also made me aware of the actual conditions these Asylum Seekers are placed into while waiting for their cases to be processed by the Home Office, so I was in a fortunate position when reading this book, to have some preparedness when opening these pages.
However, I found the underlying message in We Came by Sea to be one of hope, not just the hope these people have when trying to reach these shores, hope in that through the hard work of the various charities, the general supportive public and politicians throughout Europe who are working for the best interests of everyone, but also by exposing the hypocrisy of those who are whipping hatred against these people fleeing terror.
In We Came by Sea, Horatio Clare weaves a narrative that not just gives a voice to all those who have never had a voice in this more than vocal debate, but also a response to the ever-growing narrative by our public representatives that we are not becoming an “island of strangers”, but by helping those in need delves to the very heart of who Britain actually is, and that certainly is a story worth telling.
- We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare is published by Little Toller Books (£20.00). To order a copy, go to www.littletoller.co.uk
