UK Edition
You will doubtless share my delight at the heartwarming news that Angelina Jolie-Pitt is to fling open the doors of her 35-room, $60million chateau in the south of France to refugees. The Jolie-Pitts have completed the $5million renovations so their grateful, deracinated guests will be able to enjoy the vineyard, the 20 fountains and the lake, not to mention the furniture specially designed by Brad.
Failing that, the refugees could be put up in some style at the Jolie-Pitt estate in Los Feliz, where they will enjoy considerable privacy because Brad bought two properties next to the house to keep ne’er-do-wells like, er, refugees, at a safe distance.
Or there is always that 7,000 square foot mansion in New Orleans, complete with three-storey guest house, oodles of space for several Syrian families.
If the refugees fancy being near the ocean, welcome to the Jolie-Pitt’s $18million home in California. Brad bought it shortly after his divorce from Jennifer Aniston, but the cliffside property is not considered child-friendly enough for the Jolie-Pitt’s vast brood, so the house has mainly been empty. No wonder the saintly Ange is so desperately keen to offer refugees a home.
Oh. Sorry, slightly crossed wires. Angelina is desperately keen for us to take in refugees.
In her capacity as special envoy to the United Nation’s refugee agency, the movie star tore into Western leaders on Monday over their response to the migration crisis, saying they were in danger of “promoting the politics of fear”.
By contrast, she praised Angela Merkel for her decision to admit over a million refugees to Germany last year, a move which, as well as alarming Merkel’s own supporters, rode roughshod over EU agreements. “I think it came from a beautiful, emotional place,” gushed Angelina of Merkel’s recklessness.
Well, Mrs Merkel’s “beautiful, emotional place” has now led to an ugly, unfeeling, face-saving agreement with Turkey which has already seen reports of refugees being shot dead on the border with Syria. The EU’s Faustian pact with President Erdogan means bribing Turkey to stop refugees entering Europe by giving Turks visa-free access. A plan which, as Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, points out is about as sensible as storing gasoline next to the fire you are trying to extinguish.
Such complexity and awareness of risk to European citizens seem to be beyond Angelina Jolie. Like many actors she looks most uncomfortable when required to play herself. The star dares to accuse us of taking a “hardline on immigration” when both she and her children are completely immune from its consequences.
Remember when Brad and Angelina were awaiting the birth of their daughter, Shiloh, the family stayed in Namibia at the Burning Shores resort? They rented out all of the luxury hotel’s rooms to make sure they could command a total lockdown and absolute privacy.
What a contrast with the experience of pregnant women turned away from NHS maternity hospitals because they are full, due to uncontrolled immigration to the UK. Like those eurocrats who dictate the lives of millions of people from their Learjets and their limos, Mrs Jolie-Pitt is the Queen of De Haut En Bas.
May I suggest a compromise? We will accept pious, moralising lectures from the many-mansioned, multi-millionairess Angelina Jolie when, and only when, she has trouble getting her six children into an overcrowded school. That should guarantee a welcome period of silence.
Angelina Jolie-Pitt should open her doors to refugees - or shut up