But incredibly it does. It also infuriates me and makes me despair of what is happening to this country. This week Judge Ian Trigger was told he is facing a disciplinary inquiry because of comments he made while sentencing Jamaican drug dealer Lucien McClearley to two years in jail last month. This is an almost verbatim account of what Judge Trigger told McClearley - who's been in Britain illegally since 2002 and who was arrested in possession of £7,200-worth of cannabis, a gram of cocaine and a fake passport. "Your case illustrates the completely lax immigration policy that exists and has existed over recent years in this country. People like you - and there are literally hundreds of thousands like you - come to these shores from foreign countries to avail themselves of generous welfare benefits." So what did he get wrong? What lie did he tell? Who did he insult apart from illegal immigrants who come here to sell drugs? And who the hell cares what they feel? Judge Trigger also pointed out that the burden of the millions being handed out in benefits to people who come here illegally is being borne by decent, hard-working British citizens who take great care NOT to break the law. So what did he get wrong there? I'm sorry, I completely fail to see why Judge Trigger is the subject of an inquiry. What crime does he have to answer? What misdemeanour did he perpetrate? He told the truth and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge - egged on, I would guess, by government ministers - didn't like it. And the reason they wouldn't like what Judge Trigger said is because it makes this government look ineffectual, stupid and like they are incapable of organising a booze-up in a brewery, let alone immigration policy. Which they are. The fact is, Judge Trigger knows more than most about the failings of our immigration system. He has served on immigration tribunals for more than ten years. He knows every scam there is, he's heard every lie that's ever been told. And he, more than anyone, sees on a daily basis the results of this government's abject failure to control the numbers of people coming into Britain. I'd believe what HE says about immigration over any massaged statistics Home Secretary Alan Johnson might churn out. The inquiry into Judge Trigger's remarks is an affront to free speech because what it says is that anyone who speaks out about immigration risks being punished, publicly humiliated or left with a career in ruins. Nothing the judge said hasn't been said by me, a whole host of other journalists (which might explain the government's desperation for a privacy law?) and by opposition MPs who cannot believe the hash New Labour has made of immigration policy. Hell, even Labour's own ministers have admitted it's out of control. So, again, I ask why is Judge Trigger being investigated? The Office for Judicial Complaints says that if a judge makes insulting or racist remarks he can be sacked. And there you have it - the insidiousness, the hypocrisy and the ugliness of this so-called democracy of ours writ large. In Britain today to say that an illegal immigrant who fraudulently claims benefits and sells drugs shouldn't be here or claiming those benefits IS now classed as racism. There was a time - before New Labour - when a judge telling a thieving, drug-peddling scumbag that he was a scourge upon the country that had given him shelter, would have been applauded. Not any more! * You can read more from Carole Malone in today's printed edition of the News of the World.
Truth Triggers a rotten response
IT REALLY shouldn't surprise me that in politically correct Britain 2009 you can have your reputation torn to shreds and maybe even be hounded out of your job - simply for telling the truth.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
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