Why does the Daily Mail devote much of a page to the views of an Afghan asylum seeker, who is so inept, that on his own admittance, he has failed sixteen times to enter the UK , and who, crucially, is actually awaiting deportation from Belgium to Afghanistan?

The Daily Mail13.11.03 Headline of two page spread across pages 20 and 21: Welcome to the wealth creators There are three stories. The first about Blunketts new asylum policy with the standfirst We need hard-working migrants, says Blunkett. The second and third have a joint headline across one column of page 20 and the whole of page 21: BUT, BACK IN THE REAL WORLD covering two stories. The second of which is: Afghan foiled 16 times vows: I wont give up

Intro: An Afghan who has been caught 16 times trying to smuggle himself into Britain aboard a boat from Belgium vowed last night: Ill be back

Haroon he declines to give his surname- said nothing would stop him trying to reach the country he sees as the Promised Land.

He says he is speaking for 50 other Afghans with whom he has been squatting in an abandoned restaurant in Zeebrugge while they wait for the next boat to Britain

The story consists of an interview with 32-year-old Haroon, who claims that once he reaches London all his troubles will be at an end. He talks about the good life he thinks awaits him here, and that he will not need identification papers. He admits to the unnamed reporter that he left his country for a better life rather than from persecution and admits he will be an illegal immigrant.

He talks about the difficulties of life in Afghanistan, avoids saying too much about how he got to Zeebrugge in Belgium where he is waiting for a boat, says he wants to bring his parents to live with him, and claims to have earned the right to be happy and will continue trying to get here until he dies.

Then follows an interview with Zeebrugges mayor Patrick Moenaert, who has demolished the old restaurant where the migrants had been living while waiting to get to the UK, who says he doesnt want these people in Zeebrugge and that he has rounded them all up and sent them to secure detention centres before deporting them back to Afghanistan.

So where is the story? The man whose picture graces much of page 21 isnt currently likely to get to the UK as he is being sent back to Afghanistan. But that crucial fact is held back to the end of the story.

The story itself is curious. The by-line is Mail Foreign Service, whoever they are. The story is about a man with only one name, Haroon, but The Mail does not even indicate if they are keeping his second name confidential to ensure at least a minimal veracity. The story is not checked out in any way, except that he is one of a bunch of illegals being deported.

As for his 16 attempts at getting into Britain, what can one say? If getting into the country is as easy as The Mail and its fellow anti asylum campaigners insist, then Haroon must be a pretty poor at his job, on the other hand perhaps getting into the country has become harder than The Mail wants us to believe.

A rather unscrupulous story aiming to confirm the usual message that we are constantly being invaded by would be asylum seekers, even if, in this case, it probably shows that things are getting harder for would-be asylum seekers.