Another Travesty Of Justice

It tells a tale on civilisation today - or at least civilisation in Nigeria - that it takes international outrage to save an innocent woman's life as opposed to plain ordinary morality.

That's terrible... I'm glad that the Amina Lawal (that was here name, right?) case was squashed. BTW Missi, thank's for bringing up that e-mail about it months ago... I wouldn't have known about otherwise...

I have to say that the British immigration system is extremely schizophrenic. It just can't decide what tack to take as a matter of policy, and as a result, these absurd inequities are commonplace. George is basically right. If you're a criminal or a freeloading goldbricker, you've got it made; but if you're a responsible law-abiding person with skills to offer and good prospects for employment, they don't want to hear about it--just go away. My Ukrainian friend finally received permission to stay, after about 7 years of being jerked around, but he'll never be able to set foot outside the UK because he can't get a UK passport and the Home Office has his Ukrainian passport, which has by now expired. He had to leave his native country because the criminals running the government were out to kill him. On a less extreme not, you may not be aware that technically it is illegal for a foreign national to look for work in the UK. You are supposed to have a job offer before arriving at the boarder. They can deny anyone admittance to the UK for having a CV in their possession, and it has happened, I've been told. I can just see it now: Let's see here. No guns, no bombs, no anthrax, no heroin, uh oh, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST FOR POSSESSION OF AN UNAUTHORIZED CV!! UP AGAINST THE WALL WITH YOU!! Of course, I hesitate even to think what the US boarder procedures must be like nowadays. They probably won't let me back in because I've spent to much time outside the country. Maybe this is an Anglo-Saxon disease of some kind?

James, you and I both know that while it can prove extremely difficult to enter the United States through airports, it's pips easy to drive across the border from Mexico or Canada. All you require is an American I.D. card, not even a passport. We got stopped once way down in Southern California by the border patrol. There were 5 or 6 of us in the car, all English except for Karen, the driver. The border patrol looked inside, took one look at us and asked, "All U.S. citizens?" "Yup," said Karen. "Drive on then." Wheras airports - depending on which state - can prove notorious. Obviously it's very easy to enter Florida as a tourist, because hundreds of thousands of Brits do so every year, but try entering, say, Detroit. I was captured there once and held for quite a long time. As to illegal immigrants in this country, I'm of two minds. As I lived as an illegal alien myself for over seven years, I can certainly empathise with someone searching for a better way of life for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin tells us that the more immigrants entering the U.K. and accepting lower wages, the harder it is for U.K. nationals to secure gainful employment. Not to mention how much it costs each and every one of us in taxes. "Gangs of New York" tells this very story. Politicians flirting immigrants for votes and nationals fighting Irish in the street. What these American nationals so easily forget, and what most Americans forget nowadays, is that only a few generations ago they were the immigrants themselves. And they seek to deny others the same priviliges their ancestors enjoyed. I'm as Anglo-Saxon as it's possible to be - tracing my ancestry back to the Saxon kings - which means that I probably have Viking/German/Irish (definitely)/Roman blood in my veins, and I can certainly count murderers and rapists in my family tree. There's no easy answer.

Missi It's typical, the genuine people always suffer for the spongers.

In spite of being slagged by practically every newspaper in the land, the Home Office say it's a waste of time her solicitor appealing as they have no intention of changing their minds. Just this once I'd like to know the names of 'they'. Thatcher said the same thing 6mths before they had to scrap the poll tax. It's called 'people power' and we should make more use of it.

That is despicable.

The good news though is that the woman that was due to be stoned to death in Nigeria has had her sentance squashed, no doubt due to international outrage.