Those of you who have watched the very excellent Homeland starring the eye candy that is Damian Lewis (never thought I would say that a ginger man is attractive, but there is just something about him....) will appreciate that the US is extremely hot on homeland security and rightly so, given their experiences at the hands of Al Qaeda. However, it's arguable that they might be overdoing it. Just a teeny tiny bit. Just occasionally.
The Shah has a friend with whom he plays footie every week. (Don't start me on footie - every feckin' night on TV, feckin' Euro feckin' 2012). Let's call this friend Doug. Because that's his name.
Now Doug has occasion to travel to Las Vegas every year for a business convention. This year he travelled with a colleague. A fair haired, blue-eyed colleague. (It's relevant, I promise). Let's call him Mike Jones (because I haven't a clue what his name really is). They board their flight and all is uneventful until they land in Nevada. Doug sashays through immigration, no problem. Mike is stopped by an unsmiling official.
"You Mike Jones?" he is asked
"Yeah, sure" he agrees.
"We've been waiting for you. Come this way."
Puzzled, he is led off. Several hours later, he has been divested of his clothes and given a Government-issue boiler suit to wear. He has had his passport, his luggage and his mobile phone removed. He has experienced a full body search. He has been given no information or explanation as to why he has been detained, except that he has been relentlessly questioned about his supposed terrorist activities (none). He is, to put it mildly, bemused.
After several hours of this shenanigans, one of the officious officials reappears, with Mike's passport in his hand. He opens it, looks at the photo and looks at Mike for several, long minutes. Eventually, he comes out with the killer question.
"Hey, you ever been black?"
Oh yes. The Mike Jones they were after was of African origin but their hair-trigger reaction had led them to detain an Anglo Saxon and not notice.
We're off to the States later this year. We'll be holding our breath as we go through immigration....
The Shah has a friend with whom he plays footie every week. (Don't start me on footie - every feckin' night on TV, feckin' Euro feckin' 2012). Let's call this friend Doug. Because that's his name.
Now Doug has occasion to travel to Las Vegas every year for a business convention. This year he travelled with a colleague. A fair haired, blue-eyed colleague. (It's relevant, I promise). Let's call him Mike Jones (because I haven't a clue what his name really is). They board their flight and all is uneventful until they land in Nevada. Doug sashays through immigration, no problem. Mike is stopped by an unsmiling official.
"You Mike Jones?" he is asked
"Yeah, sure" he agrees.
"We've been waiting for you. Come this way."
Puzzled, he is led off. Several hours later, he has been divested of his clothes and given a Government-issue boiler suit to wear. He has had his passport, his luggage and his mobile phone removed. He has experienced a full body search. He has been given no information or explanation as to why he has been detained, except that he has been relentlessly questioned about his supposed terrorist activities (none). He is, to put it mildly, bemused.
After several hours of this shenanigans, one of the officious officials reappears, with Mike's passport in his hand. He opens it, looks at the photo and looks at Mike for several, long minutes. Eventually, he comes out with the killer question.
"Hey, you ever been black?"
Oh yes. The Mike Jones they were after was of African origin but their hair-trigger reaction had led them to detain an Anglo Saxon and not notice.
We're off to the States later this year. We'll be holding our breath as we go through immigration....
