Nicola Kelly
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
Journalist. Used to work for the Home Office, now report on it. 'Anywhere But Here', my book on the small boats crisis, out now.
Enquiries via IG DM @nicolakellywrites.
https://linktr.ee/nicolakellywrites
Enquiries via IG DM @nicolakellywrites.
https://linktr.ee/nicolakellywrites
Pinned
My book, 'Anywhere But Here', is finished! It will take you inside the Home Office and behind the scenes of the small boats crisis for the first time.
You can pre-order from
Waterstones: bit.ly/4gBxHTV
Foyles: tinyurl.com/3n7p3w3h
Amazon: amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
You can pre-order from
Waterstones: bit.ly/4gBxHTV
Foyles: tinyurl.com/3n7p3w3h
Amazon: amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
The piece that meant the most to me in 2025 - written after a traumatic week, the words tumbled out of me. Thinking of all the NHS overseas workers propping up the system and keeping our loved ones alive. Where would be without them.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
We're so lucky they're here
What a week in hospital taught me
open.substack.com
December 27, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The piece that meant the most to me in 2025 - written after a traumatic week, the words tumbled out of me. Thinking of all the NHS overseas workers propping up the system and keeping our loved ones alive. Where would be without them.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Buy @bylinetimes.bsky.social wherever you get your papers. My latest there now (online version is paywalled).
December 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Buy @bylinetimes.bsky.social wherever you get your papers. My latest there now (online version is paywalled).
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
🔴Up and down the country there are brilliant people doing brilliant things, quietly resisting the thugs and the politics to help.
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
What gives me hope
It's the little things that count
open.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:08 PM
🔴Up and down the country there are brilliant people doing brilliant things, quietly resisting the thugs and the politics to help.
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
The immigration hostile environment encourages overzealous over enforcement because there is no penalty in that direction. But there are severe penalties for under enforcement.
Universities have an extreme fear of the Home Office and have created a nightmarish administrative apparatus to implement the government’s hostile environment.
The outcome is that overseas students futures can be crushed for the most trivial of administrative errors.
The outcome is that overseas students futures can be crushed for the most trivial of administrative errors.
New from Free Movement: Court declares University’s failure to rescind its withdrawal of sponsorship as unlawful | Ben Maitland freemovement.org.uk/court-declar...
December 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM
The immigration hostile environment encourages overzealous over enforcement because there is no penalty in that direction. But there are severe penalties for under enforcement.
🔴Up and down the country there are brilliant people doing brilliant things, quietly resisting the thugs and the politics to help.
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
What gives me hope
It's the little things that count
open.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:08 PM
🔴Up and down the country there are brilliant people doing brilliant things, quietly resisting the thugs and the politics to help.
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Ending the year with this hopeful post (free to read). Small acts of kindness go a long way.
Merry Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Really moving piece in the New Statesman on a Palestinian student's journey from Gaza to the UK.
Applying labels shames and harms: always use 'people' not 'refugee'. Language matters.
Applying labels shames and harms: always use 'people' not 'refugee'. Language matters.
December 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Really moving piece in the New Statesman on a Palestinian student's journey from Gaza to the UK.
Applying labels shames and harms: always use 'people' not 'refugee'. Language matters.
Applying labels shames and harms: always use 'people' not 'refugee'. Language matters.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
🔴A British academic and his wife have been told their cousin can't come to the UK for Christmas.
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
'They've Ruined Christmas': Nigerian Student Blocked By Home Office From Visiting UK Family for Holidays
British academic and his Nigerian wife repeatedly stopped from hosting family members, including at their own wedding, due to visa restrictions brought in by Keir Starmer's Government
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
🔴A British academic and his wife have been told their cousin can't come to the UK for Christmas.
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
🎧There are incredible people up and down the country propping up the asylum system. I'm so glad @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social chose the clip of me talking about it on their podcast for this uplifting end of year episode of the @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast.
🎧: In the final podcast of the year, @ellenhalliday.bsky.social and @aloner.bsky.social look back at their favourite episodes from 2025. During a dark year, Prospect has been collecting glimmers of hope.
‘Despair is a luxury’: A year of hope with Zizek, Mehdi Hasan, Robert Macfarlane and others
Ellen and Alona hear from some of their past guests. What keeps them fighting for a more just world?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 8:14 PM
🎧There are incredible people up and down the country propping up the asylum system. I'm so glad @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social chose the clip of me talking about it on their podcast for this uplifting end of year episode of the @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast.
🎧There are incredible people up and down the country propping up the asylum system. I'm so glad @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social chose the clip of me talking about it on their podcast for this uplifting end of year episode of the @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast.
🎧: In the final podcast of the year, @ellenhalliday.bsky.social and @aloner.bsky.social look back at their favourite episodes from 2025. During a dark year, Prospect has been collecting glimmers of hope.
‘Despair is a luxury’: A year of hope with Zizek, Mehdi Hasan, Robert Macfarlane and others
Ellen and Alona hear from some of their past guests. What keeps them fighting for a more just world?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 8:14 PM
🎧There are incredible people up and down the country propping up the asylum system. I'm so glad @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social chose the clip of me talking about it on their podcast for this uplifting end of year episode of the @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
An immigration system built on cruelty...
🔴A British academic and his wife have been told their cousin can't come to the UK for Christmas.
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
'They've Ruined Christmas': Nigerian Student Blocked By Home Office From Visiting UK Family for Holidays
British academic and his Nigerian wife repeatedly stopped from hosting family members, including at their own wedding, due to visa restrictions brought in by Keir Starmer's Government
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:29 PM
An immigration system built on cruelty...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
Even by my low expectations for Kemi Badenoch ‘violence against women and girls is something done by immigrants and nobody else’ has shocked me.
Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence
December 18, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Even by my low expectations for Kemi Badenoch ‘violence against women and girls is something done by immigrants and nobody else’ has shocked me.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
Napier should have been closed years ago. It set the, low, standard for the conditions we see elsewhere though. Nobody should be being stuck in these camps. Instead of closing them we are seeing proposals to increase their use. There are better alternatives.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
UK’s first military barracks housing asylum seekers closes after six years
Napier barracks in Folkestone faced multiple problems, from far-right protests to damning high court ruling over safeguarding issues
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Napier should have been closed years ago. It set the, low, standard for the conditions we see elsewhere though. Nobody should be being stuck in these camps. Instead of closing them we are seeing proposals to increase their use. There are better alternatives.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
🔴A British academic and his wife have been told their cousin can't come to the UK for Christmas.
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
'They've Ruined Christmas': Nigerian Student Blocked By Home Office From Visiting UK Family for Holidays
British academic and his Nigerian wife repeatedly stopped from hosting family members, including at their own wedding, due to visa restrictions brought in by Keir Starmer's Government
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
🔴A British academic and his wife have been told their cousin can't come to the UK for Christmas.
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Despite sending over 100 pages of evidence, the Home Office said that they could not prove "a genuine relationship".
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/t...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
🔴I've spent the last week speaking to aid workers and migrants in northern France who've been attacked by dogs and racially abused by the far-right.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
The ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign, widely praised by politicians and commentators as a "grassroots" campaign for "unity" has now pivoted to harassing migrants and charity workers on the beaches of France.
Activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrant and aid workers
Activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrant and aid workers
Nigel Farage-Backed 'Raise the Colours' Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches
Far-right activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrants and aid workers
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:29 AM
🔴I've spent the last week speaking to aid workers and migrants in northern France who've been attacked by dogs and racially abused by the far-right.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
Nigel Farage said that the 'Raise the Colours' campaign was a "grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Nigel Farage-Backed 'Raise the Colours' Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches
Far-right activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrants and aid workers
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Nigel Farage said that the 'Raise the Colours' campaign was a "grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
🔴I've spent the last week speaking to aid workers and migrants in northern France who've been attacked by dogs and racially abused by the far-right.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
The ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign, widely praised by politicians and commentators as a "grassroots" campaign for "unity" has now pivoted to harassing migrants and charity workers on the beaches of France.
Activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrant and aid workers
Activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrant and aid workers
Nigel Farage-Backed 'Raise the Colours' Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches
Far-right activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrants and aid workers
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:29 AM
🔴I've spent the last week speaking to aid workers and migrants in northern France who've been attacked by dogs and racially abused by the far-right.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
This is a new phenomenon - Raise the Colours have made five trips to Calais & Dunkirk in the last month - and they're becoming increasingly volatile.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
The politics of #migration have driven some of the most consequential changes in Britain’s recent history. Colin Yeo, author of #WelcomeToBritain and @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social, author of #AnywhereButHere, discuss Britain’s broken asylum system on the #OnPolitics podcast: bit.ly/48SICpq
December 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
The politics of #migration have driven some of the most consequential changes in Britain’s recent history. Colin Yeo, author of #WelcomeToBritain and @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social, author of #AnywhereButHere, discuss Britain’s broken asylum system on the #OnPolitics podcast: bit.ly/48SICpq
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
When it's time to move on
It's toxic out there
open.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
Don't forget to subscribe. It's free!
Next one will be about what I've learned from spending time with the far-right.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Next one will be about what I've learned from spending time with the far-right.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Nicola Kelly | Substack
Short essays on all sorts, personal and political. Click to read Nicola Kelly, a Substack publication.
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Don't forget to subscribe. It's free!
Next one will be about what I've learned from spending time with the far-right.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Next one will be about what I've learned from spending time with the far-right.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
What is critical to underscore is that at present this is ramping up but I’ve been having security briefings since 2015. Insisting on human dignity of people who don’t look or sound like me apparently means I need to be attacked. Many of us are well used to dealing with it. It’s still wrong
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
When it's time to move on
It's toxic out there
open.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:44 AM
What is critical to underscore is that at present this is ramping up but I’ve been having security briefings since 2015. Insisting on human dignity of people who don’t look or sound like me apparently means I need to be attacked. Many of us are well used to dealing with it. It’s still wrong
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
Many charities dealing with marginalised people - disabled, refugees, those living in poverty are finding themselves targeted as a whole organisation and individual staff. It's particularly acute for refugee charities of any size but smaller charities are particularly vulnerable.
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
When it's time to move on
It's toxic out there
open.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Many charities dealing with marginalised people - disabled, refugees, those living in poverty are finding themselves targeted as a whole organisation and individual staff. It's particularly acute for refugee charities of any size but smaller charities are particularly vulnerable.
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
"Hey Siri, show me a world leading welcoming & caring & generous country where charities are being terrorized by people with genuine concerns"
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
When it's time to move on
It's toxic out there
open.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:26 AM
"Hey Siri, show me a world leading welcoming & caring & generous country where charities are being terrorized by people with genuine concerns"
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
‘I think Keir Starmer – somebody who has spent their entire career defending international human rights law – politicising this issue is really worrying. It only emboldens voices on the right.’
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social on migration politics, on the podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social on migration politics, on the podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
On Politics: Inside Britain’s Asylum System
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 10/12/2025 · 1h 3m
podcasts.apple.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:30 AM
‘I think Keir Starmer – somebody who has spent their entire career defending international human rights law – politicising this issue is really worrying. It only emboldens voices on the right.’
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social on migration politics, on the podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social on migration politics, on the podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Reposted by Nicola Kelly
This really shouldn’t be a difficult thing for politicians to condemn. Instead we get the same tired, lazy and dangerous BS about ‘activist lawyers’, which puts people’s safety at risk and now stops charities from even operating.
🔴I wrote about far-right attacks against refugee charities and why some are choosing to leave the sector to protect themselves. It's awful but understandable.
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
open.substack.com/pub/nicolake...
When it's time to move on
It's toxic out there
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This really shouldn’t be a difficult thing for politicians to condemn. Instead we get the same tired, lazy and dangerous BS about ‘activist lawyers’, which puts people’s safety at risk and now stops charities from even operating.