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Suffer, little children

by J. C. Greenway
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If you should find yourself musing on the immigration question this election-tide and wondering if we are, in fact, in danger of being swamped, seen as a soft touch or provider of free swan burgers to all the world’s poor and huddled masses, reassure yourself with this story:

M was arrested, and locked up in Cardiff Bay Police Cells, in extreme distress, dwarfed in man-sized padded clothing to protect him from self-harm. His seat was booked on a flight bound for Afghanistan…

In the dark early hours of Tuesday 2nd March, M was taken with an adult detainee by caged van on the 109 mile journey from Cardiff to Oxfordshire and Campsfield House, an adult detention facility run by the government’s commercial partner Serco. He shared a dormitory with seven men.

M is 14. Except the authorities think he is lying and he is actually an adult.  See what you think of the picture accompanying the story.

You could argue that we can’t take in everyone that wishes to come here. You could mention that harsh treatment is an essential deterrent. But if you try to argue that terrified children should be taken from their beds in the early hours, caged and told they are being sent back to the war zone they have fled, I would think that you had lost all touch with what it is to be human. May you be lucky enough never to be in need of compassion from strangers!

 


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4 comments

thenakedlistener 16 March 2010 - 3:18 pm

This is why I left England. I foresaw this was going to happen many, many years back. The last time I was back in England, it wasn’t the country I liked and loved. I couldn’t distinguish it from America. This is why nice things don’t happen anymore in England.

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markwoff 16 March 2010 - 3:36 pm

There’ll be no swan burgers. Swans belong to the Queen and are not for the likes of us.

Reply
Julia Smith 16 March 2010 - 3:59 pm

naked, I hope not but I suspect you are right. How can we expect nice things to happen to us when this how we treat children? The story of the Good Samaritan obviously doesn’t get much of a hearing any more.

And Mark, I bet it tastes like chicken anyway…

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