Conversational implicature

My god, why didn't you say so!

This is LONDON
29/07/05 - News section

Shot Brazilian's visa 'had expired'

The student visa of Jean Charles de Menezes expired more than two years before he was shot by police, a Home Office spokeswoman has said.

The Government also issued a cautiously-worded statement which appeared to indicate Mr de Menezes had a forged stamp in his passport.

The spokeswoman said: "Mr de Menzes ... applied for leave to remain as a student. This was approved on October 31, 2002, and he was granted leave to remain until June 30, 2003.

"We have no record of any further application or correspondence from Mr de Menezes.

"We have seen a copy of Mr de Menezes' passport containing a stamp apparently giving him indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

"On investigation, this stamp was not one that was in use by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on the date given."

Comments

[pogo]

Not true about the visa, like all the other info/excuses about his killing,

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Figures. Got a link? I'd be happy to post an update with more reliable info--and appropriate attribution, of course.

[Anonymous because I'm going to hell]

Also, the picture on the visa is clearly not of de Menezes, since the man in the picture has a head.

[Mrs. Coulter]

So that explains why he ran...funny that people will run from the police for reasons other than that they are terrorists.

[Don]

Very confident statement by Pogo. Do you have inside information or is this just an assumption?

[George]

C'mon, he ran from the police, and he's brown. Of course he's a terrorist. What else do you guys need?

[epistemology]

Well, Lindsay, it doesn't really matter if this is false as pogo says, I'm sure he was a suspicious character for other reasons. Puts one in mind of the old Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Mikado, the song They'll None of 'Em Be Missed:

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list--I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed--who never would be missed!

And 'St--'st--'st--and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who--
The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.
But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list,
For they'd none of 'em be missed--they'd none of 'em be missed!

OK, I've elided the racist and sexist parts of the song. It was SATIRE!

[Thad]

Epi, you're a real class act, aren't you?

[epistemology]

Thad, I was being facetious. I thought I made that clear. Sorry.

[Mark]

There are hundreds of thousands of people in Britain with expired visas, nearly all of them quietly making a contribution to the economy. You don't get armed police chasing after you because your visas's expired.

On the other hand, Stockwell, while safe by the standards of much of Brazil, isn't the quietest part of London and the police were in plain clothes. I cycle through Stockwell every working day. If a bunch of heavy-looking guys with guns started to chase me, I would try to get away as fast as I could.

[pogo]

Sorry about that flat statement about his visa; I was reading a UK site that made that claim, and now I can't find the link. However, an article in the Guardian does cast some doubt on his "illegal" status, since he went back into the UK from Brazil three months ago without problems:
"Grief, anger and questions at funeral of Brazilian wrongly shot by police."
guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1539286,00.html

[mudkitty]

The fact that his visa expired makes it ok to shoot him...

[Don]

Sorry, mudkitty, I missed the part where anyone said it was ok to shoot the guy. All I keep reading from the authorities (who must be lying, being the authorities and all) is that;
a) it really was an accident
b) everyone is really sorry
They must really think we're stupid to try that on.

[Craig Shergold]

The reports of the attack all mention that he had a big stuffed coat on when he ran from a plainclothes cop with a gun and was snuffed for his trouble. I've never seen an answer for the obvious question:

What was in the coat?