Recently by Roshan Doug

Last Thursday the equalities minister, Harriet Harman, revealed her
plans to make it legal for firms and organisations such as the police
to discriminate in favour of female and ethnic minorities' job
candidates.

To some people that might seem like a sensible measure.

Last year, for instance, the Commission for Race and Equality found
that fourteen out of the fifteen selection/promotion schemes used by
the police authorities in England and Wales did not meet the required
standard.

In other words, they denied opportunities to Black and Asian
people when it came to a career in the police force.

I hate to sound like a cynic but am I the only one who thought that Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert last Friday was nothing more than a media lead, cringe-making, sycophantic affair?

And am I the only one who thought that all those vain, obsequious celebrities were there mainly because of the enormous publicity they would generate for themselves and thereby inflating their mammoth-sized egos (not to mention their bank accounts)?

Traditionally men went to war in the name of God, for their king and country. And by country it also meant family - their women and children. It was, after all, a man's role to safeguard the security of his wife and their off-springs.

And this concept is shared amongst all cultures throughout the ages - a reminder, perhaps, of our unique humanity.

Common sense takes a while before it surfaces in this world of political correctness.

I'm referring, of course, to the news that Britons who invite foreign nationals here will be held responsible if their visitors break our country's immigration rules.

Apparently, according to the news this morning, they could be fined up to £5000 and even imprisoned.

And about time too!

I can't help thinking that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

For instance, when the first alien spaceship lands in London in HG Wells' 'War of the Worlds', the narrator is incredulous to find that the following day everyone went about their business as if the incident was of no real importance.

It was at school when I first visited a church.

I remember recounting the experience and impressions of the setting to my Hindu parents. Having some awareness of 'difference' and 'otherness', I told them about feeling somewhat perplexed at the awe-inspiring structure which was, we were told, falling apart. As a result, the congregation - including the pupils - were going to take part in a charity walk to raise money so that the church could have a new roof and a general facelift.

After a long painstakingly laborious investigation lasting years and involving a whole range of coordinated surveillance activities with the cooperation from a number of agencies at home and abroad - you've managed to track down a dangerous, deluded individual who is a threat to our national security and the safety of British people. He's also one of the top men in an infamous terrorist network which the allied forces are trying to infiltrate and destroy.

He goes to court and is convicted of recruiting young political extremists and plotting terrorist activities all over Europe. You want him locked up, the police want him locked up, the government and indeed, parliament want him locked up.

Would you be a little miffed, therefore, if your Court of Appeal decided that this man not only must be let out in the community but cannot be deported to his home country lest he should be tortured? Wouldn't you think that the safety of our country with 60 odd million people should take precedent over the safety of a potential mass murderer who - given the chance - is willing to kill innocent British people going about their ordinary business? Wouldn't you also think that your senior judges in their infinite wisdom would uphold the importance of your safety as an innocent law-abiding servant before the safety of a convicted foreign terrorist to whom you - very likely - are a prime target?

I don't know what it is but for almost a week I've been feeling rather annoyed and irritable. I wish I could put my finger on it - to tap into the source of my unhappiness - but honestly I can't.

Well, not really.

But this weekend we've learnt that, within a couple of days of each other, another top secret file has been found left carelessly on a train - apparently on the same service but going in the opposite direction.

You couldn't make it up, could you? I mean, if John Le Carre included something like this in one of his novels, you'd think how implausible! A civil servant or a government official leaving valuable documents on public transport? No way.

But that's exactly what's happened.

Ah-ha... I see Iran's uranium enrichment is back in the news today.

Apparently, an EU delegation is making a new diplomatic effort to resolve the present stand off between the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the West.