Dear Nesta,
I come ’long hearin’ dat when luck ’pon yuh side, yuh en got much to worry ’bout! T’ings some people get ’way wid, would lan’ mos’ o’ we ’pon de wrong side o’ de law! I never pay it much min’ befo’, but when I read how some folk does “wuk out duh own salvation” an’ beat de system, comin’ out ’pon de winnin’ side, I t’ink it got some merit.
Some people, when duh put duh min’ to it, come up wid de mos’ “outta de way” excuses an’ duh luck don’ desert dem! Jes’ like de two illegals dat twis’ de immigration system to suit duh problem. After readin’ ’bout dem in one o’ de papers yuh sen’, I still wonderin’ how de Court accep’ dem excuses! One man decide “visits to de gym” should be ’e reason fuh stayin’ on, while de nex’ one put forward de “j’int ownership o’ a cat” as ’e argument!
Firs’, de story ’bout de man from Iran! He get smuggle into Britain by lorry, en’ up livin’ in Scotlan’ whey, fuh de pas’ seven ’ears, ’e been lucky in dodgin’ deportation, while tryin’ to get refugee status. But evuh time he apply, de Courts turn down ’e reques’.
He din inten’ to tek “no” fuh a answer – dah’s perseverance! – an’ las’ year, decide to go at it agen, but dis time, come up wid de bright idea o’ playin’ de “yooman rights” card. He say nobody could consider he a outsider, when duh check ’e lifestyle. He had frien’s, an’ was involve in de same activities as dem, p’intin’ out ’e was even now goin’ to de gym, ’mong ethuh t’ings!
All dis was proof he had a private life in Scotlan’, an’ de aut’orities would be violatin’ ’e yooman rights ef duh decide to deport ’e back to Iran! Well, de judges could only agree, an’ declare dat Article 8 o’ de European Convention on Human Rights, guarantee de right to a private an’ family life, dat he now had, so he had evuh right, not only to remain in de UK, but to keep on livin’ rent-free in a flat paid fuh outta public fun’s, an’ claim a weekly allowance as well!
De local people blue vex, an’ callin’ fuh ways to tighten up dah Article 8! Somet’ing got to be wrong when a law could allow illegals not only to stay on, but get free board an’ lodgin’ as well!
But dah en de bes’! Anethuh “system beater”, a Bolivian architec’ in Britain sence 2002, dodge ’bout illegally mo’ dan two years after ’e student visa expire. Now, knowin’ he was illegal, yuh would t’ink he would live as quiet as possible wid ’e English partner, but no, he get bol’ an’ went out shopliftin – an’ wuh happen? He get ketch! He see some type o’ cat ornament in one o’ de stores, an’ decide he want it, widout exchangin’ any cash! When ‘e went up befo’ de judge, de aut’orities, realizin’ he was illegal, see duh chance to put ’e out de country. But ’e fight de Home Office decision, arguin’ ’e wukkin’, payin’ taxes, an’ de j’int ownership wid ’e partner o’ de cat – de same one ’e t’ief – show de seriousness o’ duh relationship, an’ ’e should stay in Britain! De judges consider ’e case an’ agree to leh ’e stay – not at de expense o’ de Crown, as it shoulda been! – an’ now, ’e “home free”! Yooman rights, fambly life an’ “luck” win out agen!
I en know wuh dis worl’ comin’ to. I gine get couple lucky charms an’ see wuh could happen fuh me!
Tek care o’ yuhself
Yuh frien’ Babsie
