banjofred

If all countries threw out time served criminals where would they go?

Maybe one country would welcome them as some sort of asset - defranchised slave labour?

Isn't that some sort of death sentence?

I believe the USA does the opposite; any criminal guilty of a federal (as opposed to a lesser state offence) offence is not allowed to apply for a passport; this means plenty of nice but not necessarily too bright Americans can help our tourist industry without us being subjected to too many clever but evil ones!

banjofred

'Our politicians (and judges) should look after the interest of the British Citizen, beyond that there should be nothing'

The interests of the British Citizen are global therefore we should be interested in the wellbeing of the rest of the world in our own selfish interests.

I have to agree with you re. judges as, for example, the French don't seem to have any problem removing 'undesirables' whatever the international human rights issues are that we uphold so vigourously even if we give succour to those whose public aim is to destroy us. The excuse seems to be that if they were sent back they'd be ill-treated so planning to blow us up instead is therefore 'ok'.

I believe we should look after our neighbours and our neighbours can take care of the rest of the world, but if our neighbours don't produce stuff like oil that we might need in the future then we have to be 'nice' to people even further away.

Reneging on treaties with our neighbours just isn't 'nice', but then maybe the rest of the EU will tire of us and who wants such a grumpy bedfellow anyway?

You changed your tune on criminals; before you gave the impression of kicking out from the UK all criminals - now it's just foreigners and that is slightly better - if you commit a crime in a foreign country I'd consider it that country's right to kick you out after punishing you. Removing the right to appeal on deportation would save a lot of money and although not fair might speed up the system.

Legal aid is often abused but we used to have the situation where only the ricxh and the very poor could afford legal aid; now it'll only be for the very rich as those in the middle certainly can't afford the legal fees in complicated cases (but then the legal profession should really die if they overcharge which seems strange as they seem to be doing ok......... strange one, that!)

Removing the citizenship of a person; where would you send them? Australia? Would Australia be happy? Can't you just send them to planet Zog instead?

Not at all straightforward and reasonable in my view, but I recognise the frustration where 'might is right' versus 'everybody has rights including those who wish to destroy you and your country' the latter of which can seem a little 'over the top' in certain circumstances (e.g. giving political asylum to those who are obviously criminals in their own country and wish to encourage suicide bombers etc in our own.......... but then you'd wish to dump our own habitual criminals on others so that's not exactly fair, is it?)

Maybe you'd prefer to start with the right to vote? Maybe it should only be given to people who have a certain education and can prove their sanity? Maybe it could just backfire on you as the 'thought police' would no doubt question your sanity?

Radio 4, 09:30 today and later on BBC iPlayer: The Life Scientific,

Jim Al-Khalili hears from Professor Michael Marmot, who identified a link between professional status and life expectancy after examining the health of British civil servants over many years. The Whitehall studies, as they came to be known, established that people lower down the pecking order generally have shorter lifespans, and Marmot explains that this phenomenon is not only confined to the UK.

Robert

It is nature and nurture.

Sometimes strength of character can just mean brutish lack of feeling. I am wary about any system that thinks letting the sick die or survive without the help of the stronger members of the pack is a bad thing. In different circumstances different characteristics are survival traits. Strength helps, endurance (physical and emotional) helps, intelligence helps, softer qualities like empathy, altruism, co-operativeness, patience, all help and are rarely all found in the same individual. So I am highly ambivalent about any plans to improve the gene pool.

I am going to stop here because I have been spending far too much time on this site. I enjoy a good debate and on good days believe I help shed light into the dark recesses of unthinking minds but need to concentrate on other things for a while.

Well, may be.

10% for example tends to go to the local council. Get rid of that part and there is quite a bit of saving.