Following fears within his cabinet over the cap, and complaints by Indian partners that the immigration cap could damage relations between the countries, as well as deter aspiring highly-skilled migrants, David Cameron has declared today that he would offer the Indian government a direct say into British immigration policy. He recognised that times had changed from an era when Great Britannia and Europe could set the pace of the world, to one where the BRIC countries have to be given increasing consideration and power. His courting attempt was clumsy however, and pretty shallow, as he euphemistically refered to the British colonial period with the words "sentiment and shared history", and gave the reasons why India should favour the UK, a shared culture. Now, for Cameron this shared heritage consists of "deep and close connections among our people, with nearly two million people of Indian origin living in the UK. We share so much culturally, whether it's watching [the actor] Shah Rukh Khan, eating the same food or watching cricket". Sounds a little patronising, doesn't it? Forget democratic values, a love for deeper culture things, such as music, theatre, literature. This version of our what ties us together is much easier to package, lighter to swallow, and still enables the UK to position itself as more developed. It's heavy with a neo-colonialist attitude. With this as a mental framework, I wonder just how much say the Indian government will truly have, especially since the mention of "nearly two million people of Indian origin living in the UK" could be a subliminal message along the lines of: 'See, we have plenty of yours already, so don't moan about us being protectionist. Send over the ones we need, and put a sock in it!'