... in response to Nudes of the World, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 27, 2004[This message has been edited by Cold Warrior]
Here is a funny story in the news recently about a Russian woman who wanted to study English in Scotland.
A RUSSIAN student refused entry to Scotland to study English was told by Whitehall officials she would have found the Scots accent difficult to understand.
The extraordinary statement was made in documents sent to the un-named women by Foreign Office officials when they refused her entry to the UK last summer.
"You cannot satisfactorily explain why you have chosen to attend an English course in Scotland rather than your options of Oxford or Cambridge, where you should face less difficulty understanding a regional accent," officials stated.
The Foreign Office last night refused to apologise for the comments, but said steps had been taken to ensure the "error" would never happen again.
"The reason given has no basis in immigration rules on which decisions are made by visa-issuing staff. It should not have been allowed in the refusal notes," said a spokesman.
"The error was noticed at the time by the entry clearance manager and he drew the attention of all staff to it. We will make sure this error will not be repeated."
The comments were revealed by John Swinney during yesterday's First Minister's question time in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP leader accused Whitehall of "institutional discrimination" and said the comments cast doubt on the likely success of Jack McConnell's drive to attract fresh talent to Scotland.
He has now written to Mr McConnell, the First Minister, demanding that he condemn the statement and challenging him to explain how he plans to implement his aim.
Mr Swinney said: "This case reveals the institutional discrimination in Whitehall against Scotland.
"Jack McConnell has made much of his laudable aim of attracting people to come and live and work in Scotland. The reality, however, is that all the power lies in London and their attitude is nothing short of a gross insult to Scotland."
Mr McConnell initially insisted it was not a matter for him to comment on because immigration is not a devolved issue.
However, a senior aide later expressed concern over the matter. "Mr McConnell will happily take it up because that is not the type of reason that should be given for denying anyone access to Scotland," he said.
Although the comments relating to the "regional accent" caused concern, there were other reasons for denying the woman access to Scotland. These included the fact she had not attempted to learn English in Russia when given the option, there was no evidence she had the funds to finance her studies, and there was no indication the course could meet the minimum requirement to obtain a student visa to Britain.
By: ANDREW DENHOLM -- 09-Jan-04
