Our friends
Sir: The present controversy over immigration—and the accompanying rise in racial tension—again highlights the double standards being operated by Westminster.
I refer to the treatment, on the one hand, of British passport holders who enter the country and that of aliens with foreign passports who arrive from the Republic of Ireland on the other. Those who are friends of Britain and wish to continue that friendship and who supported her during the war are being turned away while aliens whose ambassador in London is accepted as the representative of a foreign country are accorded full rights of citizenship, including participation in the franchise. These southern Irish aliens are from a country which remained neutral during the war, giving as much help and sympathy to the enemy as to Britain.
Furthermore, it is from their ranks that bombs are made to kill and to destroy. Cells among their ranks constitute a very serious security risk in Britain, yet they are allowed to come and go freely while others who are proud to carry British passports are herded about like animals and very often refused entrance.
The lesson to be learned from this is clear: If one wants fair play from Britain don't offer help or loyalty. Stab her in the back every time the opportunity arises. Embarrass her in the courts of Strasbourg, arrest her soldiers should they stray a few yards over your border and give a safe haven to those who shoot and bomb her citizens.
Are these the actions of a friendly foreign country, one so friendly that its citizens should be accorded special privileges within our shores ? Or are they not rather the offensive policies of a country whose citizens should be treated as the foreigners they are, thereby relieving the pressure on houses and jobs which is contributing to racial tensions in Britain '?
Ernest A. Baird Leader, United Ulster Unionist Movement, Nine Rosepark East, Belfast
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