The GurkhasI admire the Gurkha soldiers tremendously. I think that the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office treat them badly. It would be absolutely right to let them into the country that they served and for which they would have died, and to grant them the rights that they had earned.
I can't help but wonder what on earth possesses the government not to let them in. I suspect that the government, if it knows what it is doing at all, is desperately trying to prevent the Gurkhas becoming the vanguard of a wave of immigration which would probably do this country no harm.
I do not by any means hold myself out as knowing anything about immigration law, so if any reader does, I would simply ask four questions;
1) There were, on the most recent figures, 6,600 troops from 42 countries outside Britain in the British Army, not counting the 3,640 Gurkhas. Would a Gurkha decision mean that all these troops and their families could come in?
2)If not, why not?
3) If a decision were made to allow the Gurkhas to come in, could it be subject to judicial review and human rights review if it exercised a parliamentary grant of power in such a way as to irrationally discriminate against some Gurkhas over others?
4) If troops from outside Britain (the main contingents seem to be from Jamaica and Ghana, and I know anecdotally that there are large numbers of the former in the catering corps) were effectively granted residence rights as a feature of their service, how could 'civilian' staff, employed in a combat zone, and armed or armoured alongside troops like, oh, say, translators, be kept out?
Just asking. I should emphasise that I do not know what the answers would be, but if I get some time I'll try and find out and I'd be grateful for any guidance.
Comments
one woman deported
one man allowed in
Monstrous Regiment of Women
I was perturbed by Nitschke coming in, given that his declared purpose, as another blogger put it, was to kill as many people as possible. Who were not our enemies.
Look, I'm not wading callously in; but I've seen people at their lowest ebb and I've lost a good many people whom I loved--still love--myself.
I will never, ever, support allowing people an easy option of pushing a button and killing themselves at their lowest ebb and I would urge everyone else not to do so too. I've seen people in agony.
But elevating death to a right is wrong. And if anyone wants to accuse me of thinking that from a religious standpoint, all I would say is that, as a citizen, I would want to live in a country that never gave up on life, even if those who held it did because of pain.
My and your response to pain is about me and you. Life is greater. This civilisation is near death itself, but I don't see why we should embrace killing.
...
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
...
As with everything, AC, I suspect that the wrong things are being done. For instance, I think that the public own the wrong things--for example, education, the arts or the banks, and that the wrong things are private-for instance, utilities and transport infrastructure. Similarly, we let in people who do not appear in large part though obviously not in total to want to work or play by the rules because we have to as refugees, whilst keeping out the skilled or the disciplined and we are driving our own skilled and disciplined away.
To a certain sort of person, this country has always been in decline. It's a mentality. However, it is in danger right now of making itself a basket case of rising taxes, unsustainable spending, corruption, and criminality. There are very good things about being here too, but the culture is sick and needs a cure, needs a remoralisation frankly. behind the post, I just wondered where immigration of soldiers fit into that.
As ever, thank you for your comment. I like Kipling very much, particularly Tomlinson, and 'The Gods of the Copybook Headings', though I have time for 'Gunga Din' too. I think that he came very close to the voice of the ordinary soldier, as far as I would know what that was anyway....