At the risk of repeating myself and becoming tedious, this all arose because Les Barker (who knows the ropes and has someone applying for visas for him who also knows the ropes) has THIS time been turned down on the grounds of cultural uniqueness. This rather suggests something has changed. It was never easy and always involved various hoops to jump through but this time some of the hoops have been moved away (and we're still supposed to jump through them).

The question for me is (and always was) - why has Les suddenly become NOT culturally unique? And if it has happened to him, it could happen to any of us, which is why it's important.

Anne