Why Can't They Just Help Us Bomb People?

A UN rapporteur on violence against women has been prevented from inspecting the Yarl's Wood wog disposal centre, according to campaigners who may or may not be sexually involved with the more intimate members of the Metropolitan Police. Aside from their often being foreigners, UN rapporteurs have an unfortunate reputation with the Government thanks to Raquel Rolnik, who took it upon herself to criticise the Spare Room Subsidy Subtraction despite her lowly status as a Brazilian female. The present case is also female, but is South African, which is an improvement; she is even called Rashida Manjoo, which is a sufficiently British name to get her the culture ministry provided she displayed no objection to police assertiveness or fiscal apartheid. Still, it is quite possible that access to Yarl's Wood was prevented purely on safety grounds, in case the efficiency of the place was such that the lady never came out. Her visit coincided with another unexplained death and another ugly deportation at Yarl's Wood; by a happy coincidence, the Home Office arranged for her to visit a facility for men instead. For its own part, the Home Office claimed that Yarl's Wood had never been part of Manjoo's official itinerary, but that she "has met the Home Secretary", which is undoubtedly in most respects an equally sane and fragrant experience.