Wet and bedraggled on a rainswept November day, Badr is one of dozens of men who have arrived to pick up a tent and a sleeping bag from a charity operating out of a van in a car park in Calais. The 22-year-old, originally from Syria, has been in Calais over a week. His previous tent was taken by police four days ago, so he slept under a footbridge in the centre of town, huddled with six others for warmth.
It is a year since at least 27 migrants drowned when their boat capsized in the Channel, the worst such disaster for 30 years. But while the tragedy has mercifully not been repeated, partly due to better coordination between French and British coastguards, at first sight there is little other change in the wretched conditions faced by migrants in northern France.
