I applaud the concept but I'm just a bit concerned - if you start deporting British criminals back to the UK ????? Seriously my maternal great great grandfather was supposedly a Boatswain on a ship which took prisoners to Australia. He was actually born in Bermuda and allegedly stopped in Spain to bring a senorita home as his wife. Since I have been singularly unsuccessful in finding out anything about my Dad's WW2 experiences, perhaps researching this more fully would be an interesting diversion. Any suggestions on where to start?
That would probably require a lot of trawling through ship's records, company pay records etc. As to where to start, a geneology site would give you a lot of help. As for your father, Nana, would you like to post what little you have and we can try again?
I wonder if the Australians would be as quick to deport a woman suffering from terminal cancer? Note to non-UK forumites: the UK government did just that. The lady in question was sent back to Nigeria, where the healthcare is marginally worse than in the UK, and has now died, probably earlier than she would have done. Meanwhile, a Gurkha Falklands veteran has not been allowed to receive healthcare in Britain.
Our criteria for deportation just amazes me!!! How / why do we allow this when those that incite to bring about our demise, or commit awful crimes, remain here? Our treatment of our service personnel (by this government and some individuals) in general, and particularly the plight of the Gurkhas, makes me ashamed to be British. It was just a flight of fancy! I just imagined the descendants of all of those "criminals" (most of whose "crimes" would not be considered as such today) having to return here - maybe then we would win back the Ashes etc.etc.
Vet health care Hello Adrian, Seems we have the same problem here in the US. I am not sure if you have heard, apparently US vets returning from the Iraqi war are suffering from a lack of medical care as well as needed psychological attention. It seem the story broke when the Senior medical officer of Walter Reed hospital, (US Army hospital) resigned and now there is a probe as to why our vets are not getting the needed care. My father was a Captain in the US. Navy, and my brother is also a wounded vet who has severe ongoing problems as a result of his injuries has had to resort to civilian doctors for his care. If it were not for fantastic insurance, he would have been bankrupt!. I apologize for barging in on your discussion but I thought I would be able share the plight of many US servicemen. all the best, Joe
Hi Joe. be thankful your forces still have their own specialist hospitals. Our Government closed down ours a couple of years ago and shoved all of the wounded forces personnell into NHS hospitals that have no idea of how to treat them when they wake up screaming in the night.
The hospital where I do some of my work used to be a major military hospital. In the 1990's the government sold it to the NHS, to become the District Hospital for the local population. Goodness knows where they thought war casualties would be treated in later conflicts. Probably they needed to save money and improve the NHS there and then in order to win votes, and decided to leave the problem of military casualties to future governments. I imagine the same thing happened in the US, except there they would have been sold to private companies
vets I know that alot of our VA hospitals( Veterans Administration), are frequented by our vets especially from Korea, Vietnam and WW2 era. For years they were places of horror. I remember visiting an uncle who suffered from serious skin disorders as a result of fighting Japanese on some god forsaken Island in the Pacific, the place was a mess! Tho now, they haven been upgraded due to the negative press over the years. I know of a couple of US Navy SEAL's who suffer from terrible nightmares, are now getting the necessary care they need. Its a shame that there has to be a national outcry before the government sees fit to help the vets. Too many years of unnecessary suffering. Best regards, Joe
A man with over 20 child molestation convictions against him. Moved to Oz when he was a small child himself. Served his sentence for child abuse now been deported back here.
