Tories in good idea shock!

Brace yourself (as my mother always says before announcing bad news). Sit down (another of the Mater's usual instructions on the occasion of misfortune). Have a glass of Scotch at the ready (my own idea). Because the Cameron Tories have actually had a good idea.

Have you recovered yet? I must say that it surprised me too.

The idea in question is one which seems so simple as to be a non-starter: deport immigrants who bring TB into the country. In the light of the rise in the number of cases of TB in the UK - a rise fuelled (pdf) by TB infected foreigners entering the country - one would think that the government would already have put in place measures to do this very thing. But apparently not. Rather, when those with TB enter the UK, they automatically become entitled to NHS treatment for their condition, which, as the Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green says, clearly gives rise to an increased risk of health tourism, on top of the health risk that these people pose to the established residents of this country.

Really, I can find no quibble with the Tory proposal of immediate deportation for immigrants with TB, particularly given that Mr Green also appears to have revived Michael Howard's 2005 call for immigrants to be screened for diseases such as TB before entering the country. Actually, I can think of a quite major quibble, which is that the overwhelming majority of immigrants entering Britain should not be allowed in at all, healthy or not. But Mr Green's comments are nonetheless to be welcomed, both as a proposed improvement on the status quo, and as a rare deviation from the generally liberal-left line pursued by the Cameronites.

Of course, whether the Tories would actually do anything about the problem, should they come into power, is unclear. It is, after all, well known that a newly elected government takes its pre-election promises no more seriously than a surly child takes his commitment to do his homework...

Luton schoolchildren contract TB

Pupils and teachers at a junior school are being screened for TB after four pupils tested positive for the disease.

A letter was sent to parents of pupils at Southfields Junior School, in Luton, Beds, offering the tests after a pupil displayed symptoms of tuberculosis.

Three of his classmates were confirmed to also be in the early stages of the disease, which the Health Protection Agency said is not contracted easily.

Luton has three times as many incidents of TB than the national average.

You know in what other respect Luton beats the national average by three to one? In the number of immigrants enriching it. In the 2001 census, 7.5% of respondents nationwide were born outside the UK. But in Luton, that figure was nearly 20%.

Of course, there could be some other explanation for these particular cases. But it has been clearly established that, to quote from a report (warning: pdf) from the charity TB Alert, "increases in TB rates are linked to immigration". If the Luton schoolchildren did not get TB as a result of immigration, plenty of other people did.

Just another one of the myriad ways in which immigration enriches Britain.