Lunatic House

The Immigration Offices in Croydon are appropriately in Lunar House. "Welcome to the Asylum" was published by Centre for Policy Studies back in 2001. There's a separate section for asylum seekers. These mostly young men don't come here because of our climate or our once beautiful countryside that's being rapidly built over. They come because they have found a way to get around the constraints on normal travellers who have passports and (if necessary) visas. And they get permanent residence. Many do it to join their compatriots already here who encourage them to come. Having friends/relatives living in the UK is no qualification for refugee status, but it works!.... When the new invaders who land on our shores daily (in calm seas) learn that Britain once had slave traders will they turn around and go back home? Or will they come to accept that they too are guilty? Or, more likely, are they just here for what they can get?..... Opposition to porous borders is natural. Yet it provokes intense hostility! Why? Bitain, like other countries, has armed forces (including nuclear weapons in Britain's case). Immigration controls perform the same function, but without killing people. So why is it that those who want stricter, but fair and just immigration control are subjected to such hostility? It's unbalanced, irrational and barmy.