Moderation

I just watched a rather irritating TV programme where they had people phoning in to say whether immigration is good or bad, and in fact the TV programme had done some research and it was something like 80% of people thought immigration was a bad thing. (Well done to the 20% of people who had managed to realise that we’re all immigrants if you go far back enough, and our uniquely rich culture comes from the diversity of adding up everything from nordic language to curry, reggae music to genetic variation).

So the question was “Is immigration good or bad?”

But of course that survey totally missed the point which is that too much immigration is bad, but too little is ALSO bad. The question we SHOULD be thinking about is “What’s the optimum point?” or at least “How much is too much?” – what’s the acceptable range. And then we can work out how to aim for that.

I do fear unlimited immigration, and I do fear that next January we might get overloaded with people from Romania and Bulgaria, or that we gradually get swamped over the next 5-20 years, because there is a maximum rate that we can assimilate new people, but I don’t know what that maximum rate is, and I don’t know if my fears are founded or unfounded. And nobody is even allowed to talk about it without being branded racist.

So the thinking person’s position should be:
a) it’s not about race, it’s about numbers – of any type / colour / race / creed.
b) it’s not about keeping people out, it’s about working out what is the maximum number of people we can welcome in.

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