"Ron, You seem to be in the minority on this great hair-splitting debate."

That is not exactly true. We are hearing primarily from people on the other side of the pond who have dramatically shown that they are ignoring aspects of the story that do not fit their preconceived notions.

Please try to comprehend what I have said earlier. Please read ALL the stories.   Dazbo said the orchestra would have paid for the expense for the embassy to come to Manchester. Maybe I missed that in the stories I read, but all I saw was that they asked the embassy to come to them - not pay for the expenses.   The embassy claimed that the cost of moving computer equipment to check fingerprints would be prohibitive and disruptive to their operation. The Embassy said that they would have worked out a time at the orchestras convenience to make it happen in London.

It boils down to red tape and a 200 mile trip that the Orchestra could not make. As I've said from the beginning, I do agree that our policies are too strict. Change is needed, but this is not the way to bring it about. I also think the Orchestra has made the issue larger than it needed be and have thrown around costs that are inflated. They also failed to continue the dialogue with the Embassy.

It is shameful that we cannot have open dialogue and that anyone who expresses a different opinion or shares additional information becomes labeled "arrogant" or part of some "evil empire", or simply dismissed because it doesn't fit the preconceived agenda. There is a bigotry at work here. You have become exactly what you are protesting against - arrogant, pig-headed and closed minded. Shameful behavoir and a poor representation of what you profess to stand for.