England's Immigration Office

There was an article in this week's local-yocal paper the Hampshire Chronicle that made us "go hmmm". The immigration department in the US is fairly on top of things and border patrols are fairly strident. If a truck-load of illegal immigrants are discovered on US soil, they are rounded up by law enforcement officials and taken to the closest immigration office for investigation. They take it seriously. Whether or not that's a good thing can be debated until the end of time, but that's not what I'm trying to communicate right now.

I'd like to give another example of the English/American cultural differences. Now, I suppose it's not fair to assume that this is how the English immigration authorities always handle this type of situation, but you really have to wonder when you read about something like this: "Five illegal African immigrants found in the back of a lorry [truck], spent the night at North Walls police station, before being packed off to London by train the next day." When the Winchester police initially contacted the immigration office they were told to "release them with directions to the Immigration headquarters in Croydon [south London]". Hmmm... do you think they'd actually go? One would have to be very naive to answer "yes" to this question. Anyway, the Winchester police department wasn't satisfied with this arrangement. Instead, they put them on a train to Croydon the next day. "They travelled on the next train, free of charge, unescorted. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, and therefore could not confirm or deny whether they arrived. Insp Baxman added: 'Once immigration had made the decision, we couldn't lawfully hold them.' Fingerprints were taken in a bid to identify them, but there were no records. 'It's not the first time it has happened,' added Insp Baxman, 'Those people are in this country, but no one has any idea where they are.' Winchester police detained the Spanish lorry driver, but immigration officers told him there was not enough evidence that he had done anything wrong, so he, too, was released."

Well, that's one way of dealing with illegal immigration. Anything worth doing is worth doing right!

Hee hee

Heard a funny instance of the "insidious 'R'" today on the radio:

Pamela Anderson pronounced "PammeluhrAnderson". Pammeluhr!

Sweden goes home

The Swedish team did not fare very well yesterday. Germany scored two goals in the first ten minutes and then kept the pressure on for the rest of the match. Sweden was so busy on the defensive so they rarely had any opportunities to catch up. The match ended 2-0. Germany goes through to the quarter-finals.

The US is out, Sweden is out, Denmark and Belgium were never in it, so I guess we're just going to have to root for England for the rest of the World Cup.

World Mug Knock-out round

Sweden v. England was a tense game. Twice it looked like England was going to win but then Sweden scored another goal to set it back to a tie. The most tense moment was the last five minutes. It had been 1-1 for a while, then England scored another goal and I thought it was over, but in the last couple of minutes Sweden nicked the ball into the goal one last time. The game ended with a 2-2 draw which meant that both teams went through to the knock-out stage as 1st place (England) and runner-up (Sweden).

Today at 3pm Sweden faces Germany. We have high hopes, but we're bracing ourselves for a less-than-favourable outcome because the German team is pretty good. I suppose we should have swedish meatballs for lunch today.

Then tomorrow it's England v. Ecuador.

Rah Rah Ree, Kick'em in the Knee! Rah Rah Rass, Kick'em in the Other Knee!

Those of you living in the US might not realize that the World Cup football (soccer) championships are currently going on. It's a big deal over here. Even the US is playing! But they're not doing so well.

We've been watching a few of the games, mainly so we can keep up with workplace conversations. It's actually somewhat enthralling.

Of the teams that have been playing, we've been rooting for England, US, and Sweden depending on who was playing. Personally, I'm rooting for Sweden first and foremost. Denmark is not in it for some reason. Tonight, Sweden plays England. We're having Swedish meatballs for dinner to show our support. Should be a good game. Both teams are pretty good and the English coach is a Swede!

Go Sweden! Show those silly little Brits how the game is played!