Homegrown Buttons

I don't pretend to know the reasons. Maybe visceral hatred plays a role and enables them to press the button, and it doesn’t matter that they’re homegrown.

The past 18 months in London have gradually eroded my soul and spirit. Following each barricade I break down, another one forms. Along the way, my self-confidence in my professional ability is ebbing away as is my self-belief. The National Highfalutin Society has a way of doing that – it’s archaic policies undermine my evidence-based knowledge, protocols in place that are based on history and not science or even common sense. Any attempt to deviate from the Victorian era is met with scorn and derision.

For what I’ve become since living here, some days I too wish I could press the button.

Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad

England, land of opportunities….my fucking arse it is. As a member of the European Economic Union, preferably English-speaking white or of rare, exotic, highly-sought after ethnicity (oh so impressive on the equal opportunities tick list) or a raping, murdering, paedophile refugee who incidentally has something to offer society then, welcome aboard.

I’m an Australian born and bred professional, who happens to be proficient in the English language (as attested by the IELTS exam) (because it’s common knowledge what the Australian national language is, innit?) and I’m about to become a British unemployment figure. The Department of Health, since April 2006, has deemed it unnecessary/undesirable for the NHS to employ International Medical Graduates (“IMG,” as it is otherwise fondly referred) to protect the jobs of local doctors (fair point, considering the scarcity of jobs available to the Latvian medic) I have over four years of experience within my chosen field of medicine, have been employed and overqualified for a job in London for the past 9 months (God bless this rare break), pay taxes (including monthly council tax to fund the 2012 Olympics for which I won’t even be here) but because my current visa expires in six months, I don’t gain enough points on the “points based system by which we choose successful candidates.” Surely, six months would allow me sufficient time to procure the HSMP status, and perhaps, my extensive work experience would account for something, amongst a room full of inexperienced candidates.

Maybe I’m mistaken about my right to work on my current visa, the lowly Working Holiday Maker, or maybe the DH is aware of a pending change to the processing time required for HSMP visas. By the way, my intention is not to stay in London forever taking up a precious job that belongs to a European by birthright. A chance to widen my medical knowledge through the wealth of variety and experience in London is all I wish for and to be able to take that home with me when I leave. The jobs I apply for aren't even valued training positions.

Quite clearly equal opportunities are only applied opportunistically. Some animals are more equal than others. I guess I just don’t fulfil the criteria for being a pig. Unless I'm just a fucking useless candidate in which case, why shortlist me in the first place? Fucking arseclowns!