I see the suspicion I voiced a few days ago has now been confirmed – “Today the European Commission finally turned round and said Spain should take some of the blame for the surge in illegal African migration to the Canary Islands. The EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, said – in a nutshell – that the Socialist government helped cause this crisis, with its amnesty last year for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants. Spain granted this without first controlling black-market labour or consulting EU leaders. This enraged countries like Germany, who suspected that many of the regularized migrants would soon be turning up in their country, thanks to the border-less Schengen zone. It also seemed likely to be what immigration officials call a “pull factor” for fresh migrants.” . . . ‘Chickens’ and ‘roosting’ are the words that spring to mind, I guess.

Having suffered from a cancelled flight and endured a long struggle to get compensation from Ryanair, I’m not that company’s biggest fan. Especially as I already viewed their flights as even more cattle-truck-like than Easyjet’s. But now I read they’re going to allow the use of mobile phones on their flights and this prospect alone is enough to force me back onto scheduled airlines. As someone has written:-“ It will certainly make for a unique selling point. ‘Ryanair: we make a short flight feel like the longest journey of your life.’"

Critical Quote of the Week

The two most striking characteristics of British society today are a voracious, invasive prurience and a controlling, intrusive state
Columnist in today’s Sunday Telegraph, commenting on the handiwork of that unholy alliance of Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair, I guess.