part 4: little blue box

her too small hand
in a too large yellow glove
she scoops it up
while I look away
and then we (she) improvise(s)
there is the little blue box


I cannot look
but I do

I cannot see
but I do

I cannot hold (the box)
but I do


the bag crinkles
the blue box
is light
- unbearably so

hailstorm outside
my heart feels
right at home

I place the little
(unbearably light)
blue box
in the back seat


I cannot look
but I do

I cannot see
but I do

I cannot hold (my tears)
but I do


The box nestles in
a corner
without a peep
without a crinkle

I need Michael Stipe
his blue tattoo
just right for

the (our (my))
little blue box


It spends half an hour
in my right pocket
with my hand around it
then
I hand it over


I can look
but I don't

I can see
but I don't

I can feel
but I don't

part 3: odds 'n ends

I love her
so I tell her last night

'Remember,
when you wake up tomorrow
it was NOT a dream
it really happened
so DON'T think it was a dream
because if you do
even for a brief moment
the pain will sneak up on you
and stab you in the heart.

So remember my sweet
it was not a dream
it really happened
don't let that heartless b*****d
sneak up on you'

on our way out today
- our second memorable journey
in four weeks
she sings along with Michael Stipe
about having a 'bad day'

my heart breaks
it must contain
rather a lot of
rising damp

so I do the old deep breath-look up
and some rapid eye movement
(Mr Stipe approves)
and it works again

I'm hugging
a grenade
in mid-explosion
the shrapnel loves me
makes me feel alive

part 2: who am I kidding

pain is white
and searing
and vengeful
and cruel
and it hits below the belt
- always
and it hurts
so much

it's like when you are walking about in the dark
on a cold morning
and then you stub your toe
for a moment

you

are

suspended

in a world of your own

and then it's a right hook
and a left
and a right again
you are reeling
but pain doesn't care
it holds nothing back
lets it rip
leaves you bloody and bruised
but it doesn't stop

and then ...
a turning point
you see why

so you take it on the chin
and you join in
your mind is a little Ed Norton
you are your own fight club
you like pain
it was all a misunderstanding
pain is your friend
long lost friend

you realise
you have a war (cry) in you
just waiting

this is nothing new
I have always liked picking at my scabs
just to see how much they'll bleed

that's why
today morning
after the freak hailstorm
I opened the little blue box
to look inside

didn't make me feel any better

I just like picking at my scabs

part 1: lest we forget

New Years day

'Hello' you say. We listen intently - did we hear something? yes we did. Excited, but not sure. So we listen again.

'Hello' you say again. This time we are sure we heard you... we think.
What do we do? It is the New Year - time for new beginnings. So we are happy - and excited - and in love. With each other - and with you

But we want to be sure...just in case. So we ask uncle Google. He tells us where to go. We buy the latest digital equipment - just to listen again - to your little 'Hello'

Excited, proud, happy, in love - pure magic

We cannot hold back - I want to buy a whole news channel, maybe a satellite too - like old man Murdoch. Then I can tell the whole world - that you said 'Hello'

6 day later...

I catch myself talking to you - a tentative little (thought) wave in your direction, as if I am anxious. Will you like me? I feel like a schoolboy on the first day of school - I want to be friends - with a certain little someone

two weeks now

you look so funny. So I decide what to call you. Makes perfect sense - whether you like it or not. We have decided. So there!

I have new targets now. Get in shape - I have only a few months to do it.

I start cooking - can you imagine?! Maybe you can - of course you can. Sorry I sounded patronising there for a minute.

I ask her what you are upto each morning. She says you are kinda shy - not much of a talker, it seems.
That's OK. I know someone like that. Take your time.

last weekend

I tell her that you will like it here. We are easy going - well she is, at least. Also, she is very very beautiful. Oh yes. You will like it here.

yesterday

I didn't ring her - to ask after you. I don't think you liked that. Yes I am sure that's why. That's why... you did what you did
(Hey, this is strange. Why has the screen gone blurry?
LOOK UP! LOOK UP! Let it all roll back in.
REM
Deeeeeeeeeeeep Breath
There. That did the trick)

What was I saying?
Ah yes.
So you have decided to leave - for now.
That's OK
We can wait
Take your time - all in your own time
I know you are kinda shy

Today

We liked your short visit
four weeks went flying past
I should have talked to you more
didn't really get to know you
But that's OK
There is still time
She says you've gone back
because you forgot to pack something
- something you needed badly
Before you come and say 'hello' again

You know what
We know you now
so we will be ready
and this time round
once you say 'hello'
there will be no going back
so make sure you pack everything you need

there is a little unplugged socket in me now
and I know what slots in perfectly

so like I said
(I have an annoying habit of repeating myself)

just come back

Fair game...

All information provided is current as on 08/01/2008

Immigration rules

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/hsmp/

The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) is designed to allow highly skilled people to come to the United Kingdom to look for work or self-employment opportunities.
Anyone outside the United Kingdom can apply for entry to the HSMP. If you are already in the United Kingdom, you may be able to move onto the programme without needing to leave the country.
Unlike our work permits or business people schemes you do not need a job offer or detailed business plan to apply to the HSMP. Your application will be awarded points based on your skills, experience, age and past earnings. If you are awarded enough points you will be accepted onto the HSMP.
The HSMP can provide you with a route to permanent residency (settlement) in the United Kingdom.

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/hsmp/settlement/
To qualify to settle in the United Kingdom under the HSMP you must:
- be living legally in the United Kingdom for the last five years; and
- currently have permission to stay in the United Kingdom as a highly skilled migrant; and
- have been in the United Kingdom as a highly skilled migrant, work permit holder or innovator throughout the five years; and
- have maintained and accommodated yourself and any dependants without the use of public funds throughout the five years; and
- have been employed, self-employed or a combination of the two throughout the five years; and - have sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK

Legal challenge:
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions (Hearing date: Tuesday 30 October 2007)
This appeal concerns the lawfulness of two government measures:
1. the alteration without consultation by the Home Secretary of the Immigration Rules so as to abolish permit-free training (PFT) for doctors who lack a right of abode in the United Kingdom; and
2. advice given by the Department of Health to NHS employers that doctors on HSMP whose limited leave to remain was due to expire before the end date of any training post that was on offer should be offered the training post only if the resident market labour criterion was satisfied (i.e., after UK/EU graduates are considered).

Relevant sections from the verdict:
60. Department of Health had raised its concerns with the Home Office but the Home Office
"… had doubts about the feasibility of excluding International Medical Graduates at postgraduate level from the HSMP without fundamental alterations to the provisions of the Immigration Rules governing the HSMP”

'it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Department of Health decided to "go it alone" and, in so doing, issued a document, the nature and purpose of which was to regulate the conditions attaching to the immigration status of an identified group.'

'the Home Secretary cannot introduce a change to immigration status without obtaining the necessary authority of Parliament. It would be absurd if another department of state could achieve the same forbidden result by acting independently. '

The Lord Justices Sedley, Maurice Kay and Rimer were unanimous in agreeing that the DH guidance was wrong.

Post graduate training opportunities for non UK graduates

Final Report of the Independent Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers (Tooke Report), Page: 29
FINAL RECOMMENDATION 11
Department of Health should have a coherent model of medical workforce supply within which apparently conflicting policies on self-sufficiency and open borders/ overproduction should be publicly disclosed and reconciled. We recommend that overseas students graduating from UK medical schools should be eligible for postgraduate training as should refugee doctors with the right to remain in the UK.

Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) Recruitment FAQs
What is the position on International Medical Graduates?
Doctors who graduated abroad, not least those from the Indian sub-continent, have made a massive contribution to the NHS and its patients. We do not want to prevent such doctors from working in the NHS, but we do think there is a case for trying to make sure that specialty training, which is funded by the taxpayer, gives priority to doctors who graduated in the UK. Every developed country provides some similar way of prioritising their domestic medical graduates.
In February 2007 guidance to the NHS on this was found by the High Court to be legally justified. However, in November this year, the Court of Appeal disagreed with that verdict, and we are unable to implement the guidance in 2008 as a result.
We are looking to see if there is anything else than can be done, but if a way is found to give preference to UK graduates, it will almost certainly not be possible to implement it in 2008.

Response from BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin):
“Our client is concerned that a reference to whether the tax payer should be investing in training doctors from outside Europe as distinct from UK medical graduates, coupled with the link to the consultation document which sets out the justification for the Department of Health preferred option, implies that HSMP graduates and our client are to be held to be causing difficulties for the Department of Health and UK medical graduates. It is incumbent upon the Secretary of State for Health to act in accordance with the law and as such we do not consider it is appropriate for the Department of Health to now act in such a way that the planning difficulties of the department appear to be attributable to our clients when the Court has ruled that the Secretary of State is acting unlawfully”.
“In the circumstances we consider that the Department of Health should revisit the website and amend the wording to reflect the ruling of the Court of Appeal, notwithstanding the petition to the House of Lords”.

Bottomline?
no jobs for bloody foreigners, even though they contribute to UK society through their professional services, pay the same tax as any UK citizen (note the 'UK tax payer' gambit by the government), have no access to UK public funds (i.e., not a drain on resources like some UK citizens) and have been asked to sign a statement promising the UK government to stay in the UK long term at the time of issuing their HSMP visa