Going back to the visa business, the man I felt sorry for was my Jamaican neighbour. Intellectually, he'd agree, he was no god. But as a man who wants nothing but a living for his wife and kid and to do a good job for the money, I don't think he could have been bettered.

The odd thing, as we agreed (although I don't think he had worked out the philosophy), was that if he'd waited another year and taken the UK nationality that was his virtually by right through being married to a British citizen, he wouldn't have needed a visa at all. He could have gone for 90 days like any other EU citizen.

And yet, what would be the difference between Nathaniel today and Nathaniel in a year's time? He would be the same man who walked the same way to work and slept on the same side of the bed and still had the same colour front door. The only difference would be that he had British nationality.

But what makes it all the dafter is that he would still, of course, have his Jamaican nationality as well. So, as the same man with the same plans, America would turn him down as a Jamaican but welcome him as British.

It just shows how ridiculous is the whole issue of nationality, borders and passports, doesn't it? Plus the insanity of making it hard for honest people to get in while dishonest ones would just forge documents anyway.

The twist is even more ridiculous, however. From now on, Nathaniel will have to answer on his US visa application that he has previously been turned down. But only if he wants to be Jamaican that day. If he is British, he won't have to answer the question because he doesn't have to fill in the form.

But even if he goes to America as a Brit, a check at the frontier will show he was once turned down... as a Jamaican. Even though that day he is a Brit, he could be expelled because a year earlier he'd been Jamaican.

Have you ever noticed how odd the world can be?