Out of Touch

The United Nations is in danger, yet again, of embarrassing itself by falling out of line with the wishes of the British Government. Last spring, the UN sent a special rapporteur (in Westminster English, a dusky female foreigner) named Rashida Manjoo to report on violence against women, sexism and misogyny. At the time, no doubt, it seemed a reasonable opportunity for a quick snigger among the Bullingdons; but the lady has certainly gone too far in comparing British pluck and toughness with conditions in our late Imperial possession of Bangladesh. Manjoo heard several allegations about the wog-dump at Yarl's Wood, so the Home Office refused her access to the site, presumably in order to shield her from the inevitable mendacity of the inmates; this is obviously quite different from the Bangladeshi decision to keep her out of a refugee camp for the local Muslim terror suspects. Manjoo's warped sense of priority is apparent in her comment that "for people facing the threat of deportation, it’s in their interests to talk about this"; evidently the UN has learned nothing from the past few years, during which it has become exceptionally clear that when it comes to the interests of people facing deportation, the British Government is at best sublimely indifferent.