Legislate in haste - and repent

-- If only the government at Westminster did not rush into legislation without thinking things through and listening to more sober counsel. As a result it is now forced - rightly - to suspend controversial new rules on "sham" marriages which the High Court considers are in breach of human rights.

It is a shame - because no--one in their right mind can suppose the institution of marriage has not been cynically and extensively abused to provide a loophole through which immigration controls could be by-passed - and indeed via which humans were being trafficked.

But by not framing its law correctly, the government has, it would appear, been guilty of unlawful discrimination.

This is why parliamentary scrutiny - however unfashionable and unnecessary it may seem - works. And why the government's good intentions once again have foundered on its arrogance and inexperience.

Consider one recent case in which a gang are thought to have made millions of pounds from organising more than 120 sham marriages to enable Nigerian immigrants to stay in Britain. --