Well, of course, one way of measuring the toxicity of the current debate(s) about migration is to ask how closely the public's views of the levels of migration (and its trajectory) are related to the actual incidence *of* migration?
As it turns out unfounded and/or distorted claims about migration have led the majority of the public to think migration is rising when in fact it is falling!
And to be frank, Labour is colluding in this sh*tshow!
@ChrisMayLA6 And has been colluding for many years. Ed Milliband, I'm looking at you.
On the accession of Eastern Europe, Blair had the option of a seven year phase-in but refused it.
To "borders should not exist" purists, this is not problematic.
It did though mean that flows exceeded what the logistics could handle - infrastructure and employment.
Much grievance was not about xenophobia but about the sudden deterioration of schools, GP surgeries, housing availability.
There should have been a seven year transition and there should have been comprehensive social integration and infrastructure projects in parallel.
We are essentially still in that place. There are academic economic arguments about demographics and entrepreneurial spirit which look good on a spreadsheet but still no attempt at planning, no transition arrangements.
Race and volume get all the attention on both sides of the divide but the assumption is still that new arrivals will just disappear into the system, which will take up the slack, with no policy and no investment.
There is one significant difference from them. Data on immigration were based on a passenger survey which had inadequate coverage and was thus entirely unreliable. This is no longer the case . Data are a lot more reliable these days. At the same time most resource allocation decisions are backward looking - something which some local authorities have been very successful at gaming to their advantage . That has yet to change.
@lionelb @ChrisMayLA6 On the topic of Blair. How did he become so enormously rich so quickly?
@ChrisMayLA6 @lionelb Ah, so I assume that the networks is something he aquired while a politicians, so it can be argued that he is now profiting handsomely off something which is not something he earned?
yes, I think that's a fair comment; blameless migrants have become the scapegoats for a policy failure compounded by austerity-shaped crises across the public sector (and social provision)....
@ChrisMayLA6 Fearmongering has become an epidemic nowadays.
They cut pensions while in the breath they make you afraid of poverty when you retire.
They cut foreign help and development funds and in the same breath they make you afraid of immigrants.
Fear controls the population. Sadly very effectively.
@ChrisMayLA6 absolutely. Who could possibly have guessed that 18 months of promoting extreme right wing rhetoric, rather than reduce manufactured concern about immigration, would have amplified it?
It’s reassuring to know we have the finest political brains in positions of leadership during such difficult times 🤔
@ChrisMayLA6 You can say "shitshow".
ha ha, I prefer the delicacy of the *
@ChrisMayLA6 That hardline rethoric has just enforced the belief they are right, and immigration is a big problem.
This perception is largely of Labours own making, they publicly agree with whatever nonsense Reform says.
Much the same is true with crime!
Dara O'Briain: "I get really pissed off when people give out about crime going up when the numbers are definitely going down. And if you say the numbers are going down, they go, 'but the FEAR of crime is rising'. Well so what? Zombies are at an all-time low level, but the fear of zombies could be incredibly high. It doesn't mean we have to have government policies to deal with the fear of zombies. It's ridiculous."
The last 20 years of politics in a nutshell.
