It could be the case that politicians are setting stiffer targets to make it look like they are taking action in the knowledge that, even though they are unrealistic, they can just blame ‘bureaucratic civil servants’ when they are not met. In the case of the political hot potato, immigration, this is a strong possibility.

A second source of this pressure is that the public sector now seems to be judged by how efficient it is rather than how effective. There seems to be more arguments about how to make the public sector cost less than there are about how to deliver the services effectively. The Gershon and Lyons reports are prime examples of trying to cut cost rather than trying to improve delivery. As a result it may be that immigration staff numbers have been cut so much that managers are forced into cutting corners to get the job done.

Either way this case looks as though its being set up for another sacrifice to take the blame, the immigration service’s David Kelly, so that politicians do not have to answer for the problems they are creating. It is also clear that the finger has to be pointed at politicians, rather than any party or individual, because all three main parties seem to be vying with each other to see who can destroy public services the quickest.

Two quotes from the emails:

"Islam is inextricably tied up with the main thrust of global terrorism through the Wahhabi sect. Fundamentalist Muslims of this sect are in Britain and we don’t know how many of the 1-2million illegal immigrants are also of this ‘faith’."

and

"An international alliance of Islamic Year Zeros feverishly exporting death to ‘infidel’ and non-fundamentalist Muslim alike, by Kamikazes literally in their millions, eventually will have to be silenced by nuclear weapons."