Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Well a degree of sensitivity is needed here I feel.
OK it's not much fun to queue, but every department of state is facing cuts in spending (except the NHS and the pittance we spend on foreign aid). So people on welfare have seen big cuts and tightening of criteria, state workers have had their pay frozen for multiple years and pension cuts, policeman have had their overtime and allowances scaled back, the armed forces have seen cuts in capital expenditure - the list goes on. Austerity is pretty much inevitable and not unique to the UK.
So without excusing the fact that the UK Border Force still has a big workforce, just because we are affluent and middle class we can't get a complete bypass to these austerity measures. That is simply unfair and politically unrealistic.
Nobody is asking for a complete bypass.
The fact you are ignoring is that LHR is the 'face of the UK' to the rest of the world. Perhaps in the name of austerity you think the shambles that passes for passport control is acceptable. It's not even as though these austerity measures are doing much good, but that's a debate for another forum.
Queuing for 2-3 hours to gain entry to your own country of citizenship is wrong. Plain and simple.
Queuing for 2-3 hours for people wanting to visit this country and, presumably, spend their money here is hardly a good welcome. We NEED to attract people to the UK to spend money and invest here - queues like this are hardly the way to go about this.
You might be happy to put up with this in the name of austerity measures, but I think you'll find you're in a very small minority.
BAH