A recent edition of Radio 4’s “Any Questions” was asked to say whether or not Shamima Begum should be permitted to return to England to appeal in person against the removal of her british citizenship. This may not seem, at first sight, to relate to the UK’s membership of the European Union, but it does go straight to the heart of the kind of country we claim to be. Membership of the EU does the same.
For all that we claim to be a secular and diverse society, the values which we vaunt as british, and are shared by our continental kin, are rooted deep in the teaching of the christian scriptures. As I listened to the panel giving their views, I kept hearing the voice of a teacher from Galilee, as he spoke to those who came to hear him. Someone asked him, “Who is my neighbor?” He told the story of a man who was violently robbed and left for dead. Those of his own community shunned his apparent corpse, but a despised outsider shewed pity and arranged for his care out of his own pocket. It turns out that our neighbor is not necessarily among our kith and kin, but may be a despised foreigner.
There are reasons to believe that Miss Begum is undesirable as a citizen of the United kingdom, but there is no reason to withhold justice from her, just because she’s different. It’s one of the qualities—justice, fair play—which we claim as being truly british. If we do not allow her to have her day in court, we shew ourselves to be as callous as she appears to be. The way to spread our values can never be to lower ourselves to the level of those for whom we have contempt, but to seize the higher, more humane ground. To try to be “Good Neighbors”, even to those whom we fear.
Nico
European Movement Mid Kent 
A very late comment on this article but it must be borne in mind that this lady was radicalised at a very young age. Indeed it would be a few more years before she would have been able to vote in the UK. So, cannot vote but able to make up her mind on radicalisation? I don’t think so.
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