Let 'em all in, says top judge
The senior member of Britain's judiciary, Lord Woolf, declared last month that he would, if necessary, defy parliament in order to protect terrorists and asylum-seekers.

The noble Lord said that the courts must be ready to use the European Convention on Human Rights to block contentious laws. He went on to compare legislation limiting the influx of aliens (if only there were such a thing in reality!) with the policies of Nazi Germany. No, we're not making this up!

According to Lord Woolf, the judiciary must be prepared to make itself unpopular by defying public opinion when a principle like this one is at stake.

Now that is interesting. We are supposed, are we not, to be living in a democracy? Nazi Germany, on the other hand, was supposed not to be a democracy but a dictatorship. Yet, by making rulings that go both against public opinion and against the decisions of the elected representatives of the people in parliament the judiciary, if Lord Woolf has his way, will in fact be employing the methods of dictatorship - ‘Nazi’ methods.

Of course, we should not be too surprised that his Lordship, who is himself a member of an ethnic minority and a descendant of people who came to this country as a result of an open-door policy towards asylum seekers of another age, has such a view on these matters.

This is why we think it is an arguable point that a person in such a position of authority and influence in this country should come from the ranks of the indigenous Anglo-Celtic population. Such a person might be more responsive to the wishes of the British people and more concerned about their best interests.