Immigration! That word! We said it! Now wait for the neuralgic responses to come rolling in. For they will, they surely will. It’s like mentioning sex in a deeply Christian family around the year 1955. And like sex, it won’t go away even if everyone stops talking about it.
We’ve published a number of blogs on the matter here, even a little mini-series last year. The other day, someone in the office suggested they add up to our very own LSS Theory of Immigration. Sounds a bit portentous, doesn’t it? Anyway it goes something like this: Immigration is caused by people moving from nasty places (poverty, wars, oppression) to nicer places (money). It’s been going on for a very, very long time. It is a typical example of a free market brokering supply and demand, in this case labour. Er…that’s it.
It is in this light that the recent UK Government initiative on channel crossings ought to be considered. [1]Will it work? Only time will tell. In the meantime, opponents and supporters of the scheme should ask and answer these questions:
1 Many people are deeply frightened by these arrivals. These fears are particularly concentrated in certain social layers. If the crossings are not stopped, how will these fears be allayed?
2 Many illegal immigrants are finding work rather easily. Shall people and companies who employ them be hunted down and prosecuted?
3 During the US experiment with prohibition, every attempt to prescribe the flow of illegal alcohol failed as did every get-tough initiative, because the demand for booze was so great. Do you really think this will not happen again?
4 The War on Drugs-see prohibition above
5 Why does the UK receive such high numbers of immigration from countries like Albania and Syria and such low numbers from places like Switzerland and Denmark?
6 How could rich countries promote programmes of economic improvement to cut the flows of migrants?
If our soi-disant Theory of Immigration is correct, the UK Government’s new initiative will fail. Leaving even more domestic anger, drownings and disillusion. Only time will tell.
[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64883462
#immigration #sex #suella braverman #english channel #migrants #emigration #united nations
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