Yesterday they were proved to be inept, or should that be lying, with their calculations on the speed of the economic recovery, and then another bombshell!
They let down, snubbed, call it what you will, the Gurkhas, or to be precise, the entire British armed forces.
The message that the Home Office sent out was, ‘Thanks for serving the Country pal, but now that you have been demobbed, you’re on your own.’
How can a person, for all intents and purposes, be treated as if he were British for fifteen years, and then overnight, as soon as he has been served his demob papers, become an alien?
The Government’s argument is that, if we let the ex-Gurkhas stay in the country, by the time they are joined here by their families, Britain’s population will swell by 100,000.
So what? If the Gurkhas weren’t available to fight for us in the Pacific in WWII, leaving the Allied troops to concentrate on Europe, our population may well have swelled by 82,000,000, all of them German.
The Government’s cop out is that a Gurkha who was demobbed before 1997 can stay if he can meet one of the following criteria:
- Three years continuous residence in the UK during or after service
- Close family in the UK
- A bravery award of level one to three
- Service of 20 years or more in the Gurkha brigade
- Chronic or long-term medical condition caused or aggravated by service
This really means, if you are a Gurkha officer, you are more than welcome to stay, if you are one of the other ranks, tough!
As the plaque on the Gurkha Memorial says:
THE GURKHA
SOLDIER
Bravest of the brave,
most generous of the generous,
never had country
more faithful friends
than you.
Perhaps there should have been a final line that reads, “But only when it suits us”?
On behalf of British people everywhere, I apologise to the entire Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal for the treachery of the Government of Great Britain.
How right you are, George. It seems that we'll happily allow in thieves, vagabonds, layabouts and terrorists and pay them for nothing but we won't accept those people who have actually helped build and boost our country! And while I'm in grumpy old woman mode, have you noticed that people come over seeking asylum but once the problem's sorted out in their owen country, they don't seem to want to go back??
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