Illegitimates

All but 9 of 35 Albanian "migrants" have been deported (yesterday's News). In which case they are not "migrants"! Call them "potential migrants" or "Albanians who entered the UK illegally". To call them "migrants" gives them a legitimacy to which they are not entitled. Besides, why didn't they get passports and buy tickets? Then, because the UK doesn't have ID cards, they could overstay like everyone else. Calling EU citizens who come to the UK "migrants" is misleading. If it doesn't pan out for them they just go home. Though Brexit has caused uncertainty.

Bromide - not the real thing

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's Labour Party, says there are 5 evils: Inequality, Neglect, Insecurity, Prejudice and Discrimination. It is clearly Unequal that some people have the privilege of being able to live in two countries(through marriage) while others cannot. Mr. Corbyn could sign my petition "Stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK" at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/129594 But immigration issues are marked by denial and Neglect. The main reason a majority in England and Wales voted for the UK to leave the EU was immigration. They feel Insecure. No wonder! "5,895 foreign offenders are still in the community after being released from prison, Home Office figures show... they have used human rights legislation..." Prejudice means pre-judging. My only time in court was when in 1991 I brought a case about not being allowed to live in Hong Kong. The judge dismissed my case without allowing me to express it. Please see "Sauce for the Gander" in 2013. That was Prejudice. If Mr. Corbyn uses Prejudice to mean unfair treatment then it is clearly unfair that foreigners are entitled, because of equality laws, to deprive Britons of work and promotion. It is also unfair that only foreigners have access to human rights law where immigration to the UK is concerned. There is a clear systemic imbalance. Discrimination between right & wrong and good & bad is good! Judges are supposed to Discriminate - having heard the case! If by Discrimination Mr. Corbyn means unfair treatment, then it is clearly unfair that through allowing foreign men to live and work in the UK through marriage the sex ratio of young people is unbalanced - to whit, there are more young men than young women. Please see "Linguistic and Cultural Relativism" on 24 November 2010, for more on Discrimination.

Submarines

Parliament has just voted to renew Britain's nuclear deterrent, the Trident submarines. To some, this is essential for the defence of the realm. For others, it keeps the UK as a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council. But Scots don't want it, and if Scotland votes to separate from the UK then the rump UK will look ridiculous at the UN. So, instead of keeping nuclear weapons keep the Scots happy! It's pointless having nuclear weapons while not having effective immigration controls - which really would be a defence of the realm. In Arthur Miller's 1940s play "A View from the Bridge" illegal immigrants are referred to as submarines. This is because they cross the Atlantic unnoticed and pop up in America.

Factional Self-interest

Russia, by far the world's largest country, has taken 3 Syrians who applied for asylum from a war in which Russia is deeply involved. (Iran and Saudi Arabia, how many?) Syrians travel through Russia to live in Norway. Afghanistan shares a border with China. But Afghans don't go to China (the world's 2nd. richest country). They come here. Communities help their own people. And it is no secret that in Europe Non-Governmental Organisations and lawyers help people who want to live in Europe. Thousands of people, mainly young men, illegally in France and Belgium flock to the Channel ports to enter Britain. They don't have to come to Britain to claim asylum, but this is where they want to come. That says everything. While people without passports are allowed to stay here, not a day passes but that people with passports are refused entry to the UK. 30,000 a year are sent back on arrival (Chris Huhne's figure in 2010). This has badly affected me. First in 1965, and then in 1978 and 9. Please see http://marriageandmigration.blogspot.com "Inhuman Wrongs" in 2008. Factional self-interest was behind a determined campaign to defeat the Conservatives' 1979 election manifesto policy to stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK. Conversely, discontent with immigration is forcing the UK to leave the European Union, which has many negative impacts not least of which is annoying our neighbours. It also resulted in the recent murder of an MP, to the ruin of more than one life.

What Goes Around Comes Around (II)

The official figure in 1979 for the number of men using marriage to live in the UK was about 10,000. Mrs. Thatcher's 1979 election manifesto promised to close this loophole. But she did not keep her promise. The Immigration Minister, Mr. Timothy Raison, when asked Why not? replied "Because of the fuss." As a result at least 300,000 men are living in these islands. The British Empire was built on the principle of divide-and-rule. Now it is the British who are divided....

Welcome to the Asylum

"Welcome to the Asylum", Centre for Policy Studies's booklet in 2001, page 1:"Our immigration policy is an exercise in wishful thinking.... Attempts at reform have been piecemeal and have mostly failed, partly through mismanagement and partly through lack of vision. Any strategy on immigration requires vision, morality and courage.... The last 15 years have seen a dramatic change in all categories of people who seek to enter the UK; asylum seekers, economic migrants with permission to work here and illegal immigrants." Overstayers (in 2001) are put at about 200,000 annually, and London alone is estimated to have a million people living there illegally.

LoL = Land of Lunatics (II)

When David Blunkett was Home Secretary he abandoned plans to deport 30,000 failed asylum seekers a year. ("The Times", 16 July 2002, p. 11) Both he and Theresa May when Home Secretary criticised judges for interfering in immigration cases. A few years ago there was a TV programme on the Supreme Court (BBC Four "The Highest Court in the Land") in which the senior judge responded to this by saying (with a smile) "We're only doing what the politicians want us to."

"stupid, divisive and wrong"

David Cameron called Donald Trump "stupid, divisive and wrong". Mr. Cameron has just taken the UK out of the EU contrary to his own wishes! The main reason a majority of people voted to Leave the EU was because of lack of immigration control. Mr. Cameron was responsible for that. Mr. Trump wants stricter control of immigration to the US.....

Mayday! (= M'aidez! = Help!)

Mrs. May in her first speech (4 mins. 16 secs.) in Downing Street yesterday made no mention of the main reason Britons had voted to Leave the European Union and why she had just become Prime Minister - immigration. So the new broom swept the elephant in the room under the carpet. The talented Mr. Cameron said on resigning after 6 years as Prime Minister his greatest achievement was same-sex marriage. (!) So now foreign men can become British by marrying a man! For me, yesterday was not a gay day.

LoL = Land of Lunatics

Discontent with immigration to the UK caused millions of people to vote to Leave the European Union. In charge of immigration for the past 6 years has been Theresa May. Today Mrs. May becomes Prime Minister! Lunatic. In charge of the asylum.

Appeals

During Britain's Coalition Government the Home Secretary, Mrs. Theresa May, said she was going to reduce the number of appeals in immigration cases from 17(!) to 4. The reason for appeals is in case the first decision is wrong. But it could equally have been wrong the other way. Someone could have been given "Indefinite Leave to Remain" wrongly. There is no appeal against that. The Republic of Ireland had a Referendum on the EU. The Government didn't like the result. So they had another one. The Government liked the result, and that was the end of the matter.

Spoilt for Choice

The Council of Europe in Strasbourg, home to European human rights, states in its literature that the international community has long recognised the privileged position of women in transnational marriages because they can live in their husband's country as well as their own.

Love Equality

Venus Williams was a complainer for equal pay for unequal work at Wimbledon.
As though she hasn't enough money!
She and her sister, today's Wimbledon singles champion, are doubles champions.
It's impossible for a man to win two prizes in the same tournament if he is a top singles player.
Equality was the argument that prevailed to defeat the Conservatives' 1979 policy to stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK. But wives can live in their husband's country, so if they marry a foreigner they have the privilege of being able to live in two countries.

The Rites of Man

Before and after 1979 the Equal Opportunities Commission campaigned vigorously against the Conservatives' election policy to stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK.
By law the EOC was obliged to support complaints from men.
So I complained to it that foreign men were allowed to live in the UK through marriage even though British men often could not live in their countries through marriage.
The EOC's response was that my complaint was out of its ambit.
So I complained to the European Commission of Human Rights about the EOC's failure to support my complaint. Its response was that I should challenge the EOC in the UK courts.
To this end I sought legal aid. My finances entitled me to it (I was getting divorced). But the Law Society refused it.
On 7 July 1983 the House of Lords determined that the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act did not apply to immigration control. This was in the case of Regina vs Entry Clearance Officer, Bombay, Ex parte Amin.
Therefore the EOC's campaign was illegal.
Furthermore the European Commission of Human Rights acted against its own rules. Article 26 of the Convention had not been complied with: because not all domestic remedies had been exhausted when on 11 May 1982 it determined in favour of three women whose husbands were not allowed to live in the UK.

Rights r Wong

179 British troops were killed in Iraq.
1,000s of foreign and Commonwealth men every year are allowed to live in the UK through marriage.
255 British servicemen were killed in and around the Falklands. A similar number have subsequently committed suicide.
While that Conflict was going on (11 May 1982) The European Commission of Human Rights determined in favour of 3 (foreign) women whose husbands were not allowed to live in the UK.
The Commission had dismissed my complaint of 10 June 1977 that the UK allows foreign and Commonwealth men to live in the UK through marriage even though I (and other British men) are often not allowed to live in their countries through marriage.
The Commission's reason was that I had not been the victim of a government decision.
Therefore, over the most important subject known to man - the occupation of territory - Britons have no "rights".

Criminal Blair (?)

Saddam Hussein expelled the weapons inspectors. He allowed them back in when troops were sent to the Kuwait-Iraq border.
The Chilcot Report is out today.
On 18 March 2003 several MPs said in Britain's House of Commons that British troops could not remain behind if the Americans invaded Iraq. (They would be worse than useless as allies.)
While British lives were at risk on the battlefield the Government allowed foreign men to take up permanent residence in the UK.
Tony Blair swatted aside the many critics by saying they were racists.
Immigration has forced the UK out of the EU.
Judges gleefully weigh in on immigration cases where there is the prospect of someone being enabled to live here. But not when there isn't.
Please see "Sauce for the Gander" in 2013. My Comments at the end.

Rebarbative

Theresa May is the frontrunner to become Britain's next Prime Minister.
She has been Home Secretary for 6 years, i.e. in charge of immigration.
It is discontentment with immigration to the UK that has driven people (a majority in England and Wales) to vote to leave the European Union.
It is rebarbative that someone who has caused such discontent and such a drastic outcome should now even be thinking of leading the UK.

Wars Within Wars

Having commemorated the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), when 19,240 British soldiers died, soon there will be a celebration. This will be of women getting the parliamentary vote.
As a teenager I was troubled by this.
I didn't know that some women opposed the conflict.
For example, the novelist Mary Ward wrote in a Letter to "The Times" (23 May 1917) that Frenchwomen were suffering and contributing to the war effort but they were not agitating for a great constitutional change.
The Conservatives' 1979 election promise to end the concession whereby foreign men can live in the UK through marriage was vigorously opposed by, among others, Patricia Hewitt (Australian-born, like Mrs Ward, and Equality Minister in the Blair Government) who argued that just as the women's campaign to get the vote was successful so would their campaign succeed.
Unfortunately it is men who mainly fight wars. British soldiers who are killed are mainly men. Foreign husbands are men.
I am grateful to the women who have signed https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/129594

Pointless

My cousin who lives in South Africa tells of a woman who came to Britain from Kenya when it became independent.
She became so fed up with British politics she is now living in South Africa.
A response I got to my petition - please sign https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/129594 - was: "We should send you  abroad."
My brother is Canadian. In 1988 I applied to live in Canada. They have a points system. I got no points for being a journalist, and lost points for being over 44.
The campaign to take the UK out of the EU promised an Australian-style points system.
Strange that Canada was never mentioned....

100 Years On

"Our immigration policy is an exercise in wishful thinking. We pretend that we control our borders when we have lost all control." (Welcome to the Asylum", Centre for Policy Studies, 2001)
That quote from 2001 is equally valid today.
It explains the murder of Jo Cox MP and why England and Wales voted to Leave the European Union.
Yesterday much media attention was focussed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, when the British Army suffered 60,000 casualties.
It begs the question:  What would the young men who flocked to the colours 100 years ago make of the UK's failure to protect her borders now?

Do as the Romans (& Irish) do!

In 1973 I was against the UK joining the EU because of immigration and because I read that of 125 mandatory EU laws Italy had complied with only 17 (i.e. those Italians agreed with).
Britain, being law abiding, wouldn't be playing on a level field.
Many people blame Mr. Cameron for having a "stupid" referendum. It is said to have been because of divisions in the Conservative Party.
But everyone knows that the UK is being exploited. E.g., by Romanians sending child benefits back to Romania. Something had to be done.
Mr. Cameron got concessions from the other EU countries only because of the threat of the UK leaving the EU.
That policy failed big time when a majority in the UK voted to leave.
Mr. Cameron told EU leaders they hadn't given him enough about immigration.
We fined our fishermen while other EU countries didn't fine theirs. It's no wonder Cornwall voted to leave.
Britain should just have ignored EU laws, like other countries....
Italy:    What laws?
France: We're a founder member, so we can ignore them if they don't suit us.
Spain:   Manana....
Greece: We gave everyone democracy, and we can't afford it....
A few years ago the Republic of Ireland had a referendum about the EU. The Government didn't like the result, so they had another one. Which got the result the Government wanted....