One of the joyful little tasks I will have in my list of things to do in twenty years time will be preparing to select a suitable care home where I can end my days, surrounded by handsome male nurses who will do anything for me.

 

Of course, this ideal care home will probably be difficult to find (if it exists at all). While I’m sure that there are some excellent care homes, there are also places like this, probably better named the Why the Fuck Should We Care Home. I only hope that I have the nous and the wherewithal to spot the ones like this and avoid at all costs.

 

(hat tip to Tom Reynolds for the link)

Those are the words ("volstrekt krankzinnig, naïef en onverantwoord") used by a member of the Dutch parliament to describe a recent decision of Rita Verdonk, the minister of Immigration and Integration. And what has the lovely Rita done now? Well, she’s decided to reverse the ban on deporting failed asylum-seekers who are gay or Christian back to Iran. This is likely to include Saba Rawi. The problem is that Rawi fled Iran over four years ago in fear for his life because he is gay. And now Rita wants him back in Iran, where the authorities now know full well that he is gay. There is real concern that if he is returned to Iran he will be executed. I honestly wonder how Rita Verdonk can live with her conscience – perhaps she simply doesn’t have one.

 

Update, 6th March: This morning, the Volkskrant is reporting that Minister Verdonk has apparently had second thoughts about sending failed asylum-seekers who are gay back to Iran. She is now saying that they will receive permits to stay. Doubtless everyone will wait and see what happens in the case of Saba Rawi in the next few days. The Volkskrant also reports that the basis for Verdonk’s original proposal to send gays back was a report from the Foreign Affairs Ministry saying that according to the Human Rights Watch organisation, the two teenagers hanged in Iran last year were not executed because they were gay and that therefore gays are not at risk in Iran. That’s brought a stinging reaction from an HRW representative stating that gays are certainly in danger of their lives in Iran. It should be pointed out that while the HRW chose to interpret the execution of the two teenagers as being for rape, and not because they were gay, other observers claim differently. Nonetheless, the HRW recognises the dangerous situation for gays in Iran.The HRW itself reported on two more executions of gays in Iran in November 2005.

As I’ve mentioned before, when we move to our farmhouse in the country (and now there’s less than a month to go, hooray!), Martin wants to become a dog owner once more. He’s not had a dog for the last 20 years, partly because he doesn’t think it’s right to keep a large dog in a built-up area such as where we currently live.

 

However, the gloves come off once we are settled in the farmhouse, since we’ll have nearly two acres of land ourselves, let alone all the surrounding countryside to exercise the animal. Part of me thinks what is the point of having a dog, while another part of me thinks it will be good. It’s rather like having a devil on my left shoulder, and an angel on my right, both whispering into my ears.

 

I see that the devil has turned up some evidence to bolster his cause; Churchill Insurance has produced research that shows that the lifetime cost of the average dog is £20,000 (€30,000). Egad! As they say, that’s more than the cost of a brand-new 3-series BMW. Oh well, Martin has his heart set on having a dog, so I’ll just have to be on the side of the angels this time around.

Following on from the experience I mentioned in Eroding Liberties, Jenni Russell relates a similar depressing incident that occurred to her on arrival in Heathrow. Is this sort of thing becoming more prevalent? Jenni may be the canary in the coal mine. I sometimes feel the rest of us are frogs in water, unable to feel that the temperature is rising.