Last week I wrote about the plight of Felix Wamala, a gay man from Uganda whom the Borders Agency is keen to deport. Last Friday they tried for a third time to put him on a plane out of the country, and for a third time they failed. According to LGBT History Month, “his escorts refused to take him from Colnbrook Detention Centre to the waiting plane.”
What happened here? A bunch of government bureaucrats tried to deport someone, and the security guards they hired to take him away refused to do so on humanitarian grounds? I can’t be certain about that because the media is resolutely ignoring the story, but if so it’s pretty remarkable.
In other news, Cricinfo reports that the West Indies cricket team, due to start a test series against England in under two weeks, is seriously under strength, in part because three of their number can’t get visas to enter the UK.
What sort of country have we become?
I seem to remember that the last time a cricket team weren’t allowed to bring a player they’d selected by the authorities of the host country, it had somewhat severe consequences…