Political Penguin

I spotted this little gem today in the Guardian. Forget the main section of the article, it’s the bit about the Tories calling for a ‘statement today from the home secretary, John Reid, on the safety of Russian citizens in the UK’.
Now this is presumably in response to the death of Alexander Litvinenko who as far as I can tell isn’t a Russian national, having successfully applied for British citizenship so perhaps there is some other reason for this call for a statement. Perhaps the Tories have turned over a new leaf and are truly concerned about the safety of immigrant groups in the UK. Or, they simply made a slip-up and showed that whether or not you’ve got a British passport then in their eyes you’ll always be a foreigner.
I was then drawn to exactly what was the point in asking for an official statement from the Home Secretary on this subject, and indeed, how exactly a comprehensive response could be formulated. Is there a special arm of the police that deals solely with the protection of Russian citizens, or indeed for every other nationality that resides in the country, fully kitted out with an army of translators, specialists and producing reams of data on how they are protecting foreign nationals in the UK? If this isn’t the case then surely it would seem the Tories think there should be as they seem so concerned over the issue.
This is of course the same party that not to long ago criticised the amount of money spent by Police Authorities to employ translators because of the number of immigrants living in the country, but of course that was just a cheap swipe at johnny foreigner and what a drain on society they are, the Tories are now the huggy feely party of British politics and have obviously changed.
Note: When I first penned this article, the following section was not in the Guardian article: ‘Although police are resisting calling their investigation a murder inquiry, senior MPs are openly using the term. The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, said it was unacceptable for any UK citizen to be murdered inside their own country, while the Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has reportedly spoken of a naturalised British citizen “murdered on British streets by foreign nationals”.’
Perhaps the Tories spotted their slip-up and had to do a bit backtracking. However the point remains, the Tories asked a silly question not designed to aid understanding or supply information but simply for the point of asking it.
Equally, if their intention was to ask specifically about the case involving Mr Litvinenko then they should come out and say it, not hide behind vague terms. It should be given the response that it deserves, simply, that our legal, judicial and law enforcement agencies are there to protect everyone within their jurisdiction and is not aimed at any one particular group in society and in individual cases as it would presume this is what they are really after, then the response should be; it’s a matter for the police to deal with and investigate, oh and how the hell am I supposed to know if the police and secret services don’t.