Saturday 26 June 2010

Dunce's Cap

The details have been announced today (BBC Radio 4 News) of the Government's cap to immigration from non-EU countries. Work visas will be restricted to a little more than 24,000 between now and next April. This will reduce the number of work visas issued by 5%.
Either the visas are necessary or they're not.
If they're necessary there shouldn't be any cap.
If they're not, they shouldn't be issued.
What happens if the Americans take over BP after the cap is imposed? They don't get visas?
If the issue of immigration to the UK is to be taken seriously, the obvious loophole to close is the one by which foreign men can live here through marriage even though they don't have a job.
Foreign husbands could still live here if they have a necessary job.

Thursday 17 June 2010

The State of Britain - Hands, Feet, Chickens, Roll Over & (Cream)

100 years ago some women in Britain were enjoying (as Mrs. Pankhurst said) the fight for the parliamentary vote.
When the other war came, Mrs. Humphry Ward opposed the proposed transfer of power from one sex to the other (letter in The Times 23 May 1917). She believed it would result in the collapse of the British Empire and bring women into conflict with men - the final outcome of which was in doubt.
With the collapse of the British Empire, the boot of power is on the other foot globally and in the hands of women domestically.
Chickens are coming home to roost.
Following the Second World War these (mostly) took the form of young men from the Indian sub-Continent and the Caribbean coming to these islands.
In May 1979 Mrs. Thatcher was elected to control the controls. Specifically, to end the concession to men through marriage.
This was vigorously opposed by the National Council for Civil Liberties whose General Secretary, Patricia Hewitt (Minister for Women in the last Government), ascribed her success as inevitable as women winning the right to vote and described it as her "most satisfying achievement".
Yesterday the Director of Liberty, as the NCCL is now called, Shami Chakrabarti, won a debate organised by BBC Radio 4's "Woman's Hour". She had proposed Mrs. Pankhurst as the woman who had done most for women in politics.
Back in 1979 I had thought there's not much point in men having the vote.
There can be no doubt about the outcome if native British men roll over.
(The cream are wasted in Afghanistan. [And were in France and Belgium.])

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Relationships

BBC Radio 4's "Today" reports that the Government will introduce English language tests for people applying for visas to marry someone in Britain.
38,000 such visas were issued last year.
The language tests are expected to reduce that by 10%.
A reduction of 50% (or more) could be achieved at a stroke by implementing the Conservatives' 1979 General Election promise (subsequently broken) to prevent foreign and Commonwealth men from using marriage as a means of taking up permanent residence in the UK.
Naturally, that 38,000 is not the end of the matter. They will have children........
Also, The Daily Telegraph reported (3 June, page 11) that 273,445 foreign students were given visas in 2009, a rise of 30% over the previous year. Those students are entitled to work, and they can acquire permanent residence in the UK through marriage. And, by law, like those who have come here for marriage, they are entitled to compete on "equal" terms with native Britons for work and promotion. This, despite the UK having 2.47 million unemployed.
In a separate item on "Today" Lord Prescott argued forcefully that gardens should be built on to provide homes - because of shortage of space...... (So much for "England's green and pleasant land".)
Meanwhile, British soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan with increasing frequency. Today's was with the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment......

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Tale of Two Tragedies

The British Government cannot cap non-European Union migration to the UK any more than BP can cap that wretched leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
What it could do - if it had the will - is restrict foreigners who come to the UK on a temporary basis from becoming permanent residents.
The obvious means by which single people achieve this is by finding someone to marry.
It is primarily young men who have the urge to explore and to occupy other peoples' territory.
For years people from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe (and elsewhere) have been flocking to Calais (sans papiers but with much determination) and other Channel ports so as to live in Britain. They are all young men and boys.....
Women's role is vital - men and women are "Each useless without the other" ("Hiawatha") - but it is natural for women to be homemakers, rather than enablers of young men's predatory ambitions.
England and Wales were occupied by the Romans for 367 years. The Roman legions withdrew 1,600 years ago, in 410 AD.
The present occupation of these islands by young men from outside the EU is a cause of much unhappiness.
Forget that particular cap.
Plug the leaks.
Both of 'em.