Monday 14 February 2011

Occupation and Control

12,000 Muslim women come to the UK for marriage every year. (BBC Radio 4 Today.) It might not be good or right (there is potential for their sons - native Britons - to be in competition with other native British men in the future). But it cannot be prevented, as it is normal for a bride to live in her husband's home.
But it is also the reason for foreign and Commonwealth men being able to live and work in the UK through marriage.
Because of the campaign successfully waged by feminists - arguing "equality" - in the 1970s and 80s.
This site argues that (a) the reality is inequality, and (b) it is a self-inflicted cause for much unhappiness to many native British men (including me).
The First World War - just like this issue of marriage and migration - was about the occupation and control of territory. While men were at war, some British women were fighting for the Parliamentary vote.
The success of the latter (a transference of power from one sex to the other) was an inspiration to those feminists campaigning for the "right" of foreign and Commonwealth men to be able to live and work in the UK through marriage. The connection between the two campaigns - with the same certainty of victory - was made by, for example, Patricia Hewitt, who wrote The Abuse of Power in 1982 (Oxford: Martin Robinson) while General Secretary of the Council for Civil Liberties (now renamed Liberty ) and who subsequently achieved power herself when she became Minister for Women in Tony Blair's Government.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Raging Imbalance

Tony Blair set up the Supreme Court to enhance independence by the judiciary. This has become a raging issue. Last night the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Phillips, gave a talk in London on Judicial Independence (which he believes is under threat).
This site has no quibbles with judicial independence. Judges should apply the law independent of political interference.
However, the reality is that judges interpret the law and the result, in effect, is that they determine the law.
In BBC 4's programme on the Supreme Court (27 January 2011) Lady Hale said: "We, of course, can say that decisions of earlier - or lower - courts are wrong."
Lord Phillips also remarked that judicial decisions can change. He added: "Fundamental human rights are of fundamental importance."
Lord Hope gave human rights as the reason why a homosexual cannot be deported. This may be a one-off case. But it doesn't stop there. It is not just one person who is affected. The law applies to all (foreign) homosexuals. And then there is chain migration. They marry and have (or adopt) children....
Uganda is said to be a country hostile to homosexuals (Metro, 8 February 2011, page 7).
If you (?) or I were to go to other countries there would be a time constraint (visa and/or entry permit). There is rarely any recourse to the law to over-ride that constraint.
This is evidence that, in the UK, not only does the legislature not make the law; but that the system is fundamentally unequal and unfair.
Gross inequality persists in part because people in transnational marriages are able to choose which country they want to live in. This is not open to people who marry people of the same nationality. (As outlined above.)
Where is that quintessence of justice - balance?
Balance could be restored if judges prosecute those politicians responsible for allowing foreign men to live and work in the UK through marriage.

Monday 7 February 2011

Where there isn't a Will, There's a ... Waffle

Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, addressed a conference on Global Security in Munich (remember September 1938?) over the weekend.
Refering to this, today's The Times main Leader (page 2) states:
"Multiculturalism...
"... has, sadly, failed.
"... instead of tolerance flowing from mutual respect, multiculturalism has led to alienation and atomisation. Some minorities, under no constraint to integrate, neither feel nor wish to feel part of the British mainstream."
Some people from other countries, well aware of this and quite happy to add to the UK's problems, nevertheless take up permanent residence here.
The British Government is in a position to prevent foreign men from using marriage as a means to do so - but lacks the will.
If David Cameron had announced that he is closing that loophole with immediate effect he would have said something of really great benefit to his flagship Big Society project.