We (Nearly) Always Get Our Man ...

Forgive me, but if you'd heard this before, log off now. However, I very much doubt it.

The French Interior Minister, 'Little' Nicky Sarkosy, has a grand plan - a plan so cunning that you'd have to be French to have thought of it. In his bid to rule the country (his bid to be President will come later, trust me) begins with the repatriation of undesirables. In other words, get all the black people without papers on planes as soon as possible. Fact: Europe has an immigration problem which needs to be addressed - and the French prefer the SAE variety.

Yesterday morning, at around 5am, a large collection of riot police in cyber-cop outfits gathered in a housing estate 35kms south of the capital. The idea, as far as they were concerned, was to round up as many 'sans papiers' as possible and have them winging their way back to whence they came. With operations such as this, the government aren't huge fans of blanket press coverage as it looks bad to the man in the street. However, a little bird in the Interior Ministry thought that if the government were seen to be doing something about the ever-growing immigration question and publicising their plan in action, then the man in the street might be more supportive when election time rolls around.

So, at 6am and a huge gathering of press later, the gallant thugs in blue plastic stomped into the high-rise housing estate and took a lift to the appropriate floor. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), the police were more than a little heavy-handed once they had found their prey. A quick call of wakey-wakey in French and it was all over. At the end of this long, costly and well publicised operation, the filth came out with their quarry.

The tally of their efforts was thus;

1 x coloured youth with Down's syndrome.

I bet you're proud of your thugs in blue now, eh Sarky? It's no wonder no-one has a good word to say about the police in this country.

Stu