People are starting to stand up and be heard.

From my (other) favourite blog 2lmc spool.

One of Britain’s leading symphony orchestras has been forced to scrap an American tour, partly because of the “mind-blowing palaver” and cost of securing visas for 100 players and staff.

the cost of arranging the visas, estimated at £45,000, would render the trip uneconomic

For those in the US whose response is “fine, we don’t want any of those pansy orchestras around”, there’s also this:

Other agents said rock musicians, also fed up with the process and expense, were refusing to visit the US to work. Katie Ray, of Traffic Control Group Ltd, which secures visas and work permits mainly for rock bands, said some artists were now choosing not to tour in the US.

Of course, the usual rubbish emerges at the end of the article.

John Caulfield, the US embassy’s consul general in the UK, [said] “We are all paying a cost because of terrorism.”

Indeed, I remember all the terrorist outrages caused by rock bands and orchestras in the US. Oh, no, wait, no I don’t.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 1:25 pm and is filed under People, Politricks, Yes yes yes!.