Choir de force

Lest not a day go by without some armchair social commentary from me, even as I disembark from an aircraft.

I found the experience of the UK Border Force quite confronting as there was a group of uniformed men accosting passengers to check their paperwork. It may be that Ethiopian Airlines is suspected to be a route for asylum seekers with fake documentation, especially because next-door Eritrea produces many migrants.

Because of my skin colour they weren't interested in me, but a black woman in front of me and her two sons were halted. Hearing her speak in the queue previously, she couldn't have sounded more British if she'd tried. It smacked of racial profiling. If any asylum seekers making it that far are legally allowed to claim asylum when they touch British soil the checks don't need to be so invasive, so I don't know why the paperwork can't be checked at the official immigration counters as it would be routinely. It strikes me that singling out non-whites who are in fact British citizens is likely to do more damage in offending and marginalising them than the inconvenience of checking paperwork one hundred metres further on. The emotional intelligence of these checks and the understanding of how profiling must affect morale and inclusion seem woeful.

I made it back to Cambridge in time for our office Christmas Party which again we had at Clare College. This year the choir that was formerly conducted by Tony gave a performance before dinner from this upper storey. It was a touching way to start proceedings, back in the presence of a truly great group of people.

The table I was in truly symbolised our international nature. A Brit, an Indonesian, a Tajik, an Indian and a Hungarian-Romanian. After a night flight and zero sleep I wasn't quite sure how I still felt energetic but the festivities showed no sign of ending as midnight struck...