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I am now in my 60s and I have been incredibly lucky. I was born in the UK and so were my parents and their parents before them. No-one has ever discriminated against me because of my appearance or accent; a secure childhood and a good education have meant that I have been able to practise in a profession I still enjoy for the whole of my working life. I firmly believe in the rule of law but I am equally aware that since about 1980 we have lived in a society where increasingly repressive laws have been passed, many of which have been poorly-drafted and have been brought into effect hurriedly and without proper reflection. We also now live in a society where respected senior judges can be openly described as “enemies of the people” by the tabloid press. We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis unprecedented in the memory of most of those now alive which has arisen entirely as a result of the personal ambition of one man. There is a saying to the effect that one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. There is another saying to the effect that if people of goodwill stand by and do nothing evil will triumph. Neither the United States nor the Republic of Ireland would today be independent sovereign nations if people had not been prepared to break the law and suffer for their beliefs. What of members of the wartime resistance in France and other nations who were prepared to take arms against an occupying power? I believe I am right in saying that as a matter of law they were no better than terrorists! I have enormous respect for Ms Strickland and the others who were prepared to take the stand that they did. I’m sorry that some suffered inconvenience and financial loss but how else will attention be drawn to what is being done in our names to people who are in the main only guilty of trying to escape from regimes even more repressive than ours, and/or to improve their chances in life? I have been lucky enough not to be faced with a decision to leave the surroundings in which I have grown up because of fear for my own safety or because I can see no future for myself and my family where I now live. It behoves us all to reflect on that, in my humble submission.