WARNING.
This post may contain views that are offensive to some readers.
While I have no hostile feelings towards foreigners, having spent over half my working life either negotiating with or supporting the work in an IT system (written in Sweden) of colleagues from probably two dozen nations, deep down I probably subscribe to the sentiments expressed by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann in their “Song of Patriotic Prejudice”:
“The English, the English, the English are best. I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest.”
But when I see on TV members of the British Border Force encountering suspected illegal workers and gabbling to them their rights at high speed, followed by the question: “Do you understand?” and then the comment from the same officer: “Probably not.”, then I get very annoyed.
Surely it is the duty of the arresting officer to ensure that the suspect understands their rights under UK law before making an arrest, even if it involves the additional time and expense of obtaining a translator?
Or have we as a nation slipped so far in our standards that I need to delete Messrs. F & S from my playlist?
Are you sure that the members of the British Border Force were English?
Also, without arrest how do you get a translator to the suspect?