Immigration In The UK Part Two
So who are all these immigrants in the UK? Well let’s start with you and I. No one knows, who inhabited the UK when it broke off from the European mainland to become an island in 6,100BC (1). Archeologists and scientists continue to discover and learn more about our history and ancestry with each passing year, but what we do know is that DNA tells us we are 99% identical to anyone no matter what his or her skin colour or geographic location in the world may be. (2) We do know that, in the main, we have been settled by the Insular Celtic people and subsumed in part by the conquering Romans, Angles, Saxons, and the Normans. In some parts of the country, our people were raped and pillaged by Vikings some of whom made settlements in places ranging from York to the North of Scotland. If one were to look at my family crest and do a cursory genealogical study one, would find that I have both Norman and Viking ancestry. Add to that evolutionary mix additional wars, blood transfusions, organ transplants and the sublime mystery and infinite power of love, which knows no boundaries and one could make a reasoned case that people coming into the country are more akin to relatives than strangers.
Of course, that 1% difference in DNA is magnified by, geography, culture, values, environment, economics and language so that in many ways despite our similarities we are complete strangers to each other both fearful and suspicious of that which we do not know and cannot comprehend.
Being an immigrant is a mixture of wonder and fear and those qualities may emerge at any time of the day or night in ways one never experienced when one was in his or her native country. One feels that one is walking amongst aliens from another planet. Food is different. Drinks are different. Words have different meanings. Cars may drive on the other side of the street, and sales tax might be added on to a posted purchase price rather than already being factored into a price. The temperature of the day, the beginning and ending of a work day and the sheer scale and scope of differences one encounters as well as possibly having no one to seek assistance from can be overwhelming.
People respond differently to you, and one is categorized even if it is only on a subconscious level by accent, skin color, physical size and dress. One will also be judged by someone based on his or her prior beliefs formed by a television program or a previous encounter with someone from your nation. Why would anyone leave everything and everyone he or she knows to go to a place where he or she has to start from scratch and forge a new life?
The easy answer to that is the dream of a better life. The people pursuing that dream can be subdivided into seven groups.
1. End of the road immigrants. One can be born into the wrong area at the wrong time. Families out of economic necessity move to, where work can be secured hence the continued growth of our cities, but employment opportunities continue to fall short of demand. Agriculture continues to become more mechanized whilst other traditional industries tourism, fishing, and steel works may be in decline or shuttered due to new technology, global competition or E.U. mandates or quotas.
End of the road immigrants are not lazy people. They are courageous people, hungry people all they want is a chance of self-determination, and they know the path to that is a job. They leave everything they have ever known to encounter a world they have never seen before except through the distorted reality of a television screen. The last sound they hear is the sound of their loved ones crying not knowing when or if they will ever see you again. One catches a bus or a train to your point of departure with all the money one has which is not much sewn into a pocket of your jacket and even though you tell yourself you are only a day away from anywhere in the world you have no idea what the future holds or when you will ever see your loved ones.
I slept on a floor for twelve months when I was an immigrant. I had just enough money to buy a new looking dining room set from my landlord or a bed to sleep upon. I bought the dining room set, as I did not want to eat on the floor like a dog. The irony was three months later I was working as a receptionist on the swing shift after I had finished school for the day and got to know the female night security guard. She was working, and her husband was not and with two little ones to feed, and Christmas coming up I gave her my dining room set so they would have somewhere nice to eat Christmas dinner. For nine of my first twelve months, I both ate and slept on the floor like a dog. My only protein was canned tuna, which I ate, so much of I’m surprised I did not grow a set of gills. No television, no going out just books to learn, work to do and a roof over my head. Immigrant group one people are the equals you never see, the ones you only have at your parties as waiters and the ones who are the foundation stones for everything good that you have in your life be that roads to drive on, food on your supermarket shelves or someone to make sure your child can cross the street safely.
2. Immigrant subgroup two is paid professionals. They are sponsored by their employer and enrich our nation by filling in our talent gaps. They are essential in that they buy us time as a nation to establish an educational infrastructure to develop our own talent, and they enable our businesses to remain competitive around the world, whilst we retool and re-educate our population for the twenty first century.
3. Immigrant subgroup three are people who have large amounts of money and as a quality of life issue have decided that they want to live in the UK. They are not a burden on public services and as well as the money they bring with them a wealth of skills and cultural knowledge that enriches the lives of all who are open to living life in stereo versus mono.
4. Immigrant subgroup four is students. Students are the future. The best foreign policy investment a government can give to its country is to actively support foreign students attending British schools and universities. We live in a Global marketplace. Enriching the lives of foreign students by empowering them with education and exposure to all aspects of Britain gives both our citizens and these students an ease together which will facilitate productive relationships throughout their working lives.
5. Immigrant subgroup five is political refugees and asylum seekers. We, who have the scars of two world wars in our blood and those fleeing from persecution and the withholding of basic human rights, know inherently Britain is home for all of us.
6. Immigration subgroup six is the relatives of the initial immigrant.
7. Illegal immigrants or if we want to be politically correct we can mimic the American way of replacing the word illegal with undocumented immigrants. In Britain, this group has been reclassified as irregular or unauthorized migrants. In 2001, data was gathered by the home office and published in 2005. The 2001 figure was an estimate of 430,000 citizens (4). Think of the city of Manchester and one can visualize what that number of people looks like. It has been 13 years since that figure was revised by the home office, so I think it safe to state that when the home office releases its next report that the number will have increased. The fact that no report has been forthcoming speaks volumes as to how much of a hot potato issue immigration has become. From the legal profession to academia to politics parasitic individuals and groups have monetized immigration for personal gain and agenda advancement rather than the country’s or the immigrants’ best interests.
Immigration is a balancing act of needs and wants. With the exception of, asylum seekers, the receiving country has a fiduciary responsibility to ask and answer the questions “What can we do for you?” and “What can you do for us?” before accepting any new citizens from any country. Immigration is essential to avoid stagnation but as with everything else in life it must adapt to the realities of our times if it is to be beneficial to all concerned.
Three figures are important in immigration.
A. Year ending June 2013 Net migration to the UK was 182,000 people (5). Thus, 182,000 people more into the country than emigrated from our shores.
B. The aforementioned 2001 illegal population of 430,000 people (4).
C. Current unemployment of 2.32 million people (6).
Technology is changing the world we live in and the way we conduct business. For the nation to prosper we must give young and old alike opportunities for education and access to the tools necessary for self-determination and for innovation to flourish. It is essential to control costs at all levels of government to fund these new initiatives. The technological rebirth of Great Britain is the largest undertaking that any government has been faced with in our entire history. Failure by leadership to accept their moral and economic responsibilities to balance migration and opt out of European dictates drawn up long before the impact of technology could be factored into a constitution will be a betrayal of our nation and of immigrants who dream of a better life earned by their labors.
In reality, that means we raise the bar for admission to our country because with a population bereft of savings, who are living longer than ever and thus who will have to work longer than ever, coupled with a population of young people who in our technological age have neither the training to get a job or who are obsolete due to current business practices, we have no other choice. We have an obligation, an unspoken promise to our ancestors to make things better than they have ever been before. By controlling our immigration and declining the requests of people, we can not help and do not need our actions will have a ripple effect pressuring overseas governments to enact needed reforms that will benefit their country and empower people to strive for excellence within their native borders.
The next election is critical to the Conservative party and to the nation. A failure to win will set the party back decades, and a further splintering of the populace into fringe organizations will undermine needed reform and raise the possibilities of extremism and divisiveness within our borders. No matter what the challenge history has shown the power of people coming together and pulling together in the same direction to achieve a goal. Our sworn values of nationhood, security, choice, enterprise and freedom obligate us to continuous actions toward an inclusive society with enrichment opportunities for all. Immigration presents us with the perfect opportunity to reaffirm those values with policies that benefit everyone.
Source:
2. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-09-03-dna- differences_N.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color
3. Wonderful sites if you want to explore more information on genes. http://geneed.nlm.nih.gov/topic_subtopic.php?tid=15&sid=19
4. Sizing the unauthorized (illegal) migrant population in the United Kingdom in 2001 by Jo Woodbridge
6. http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-01-22/unemployment-figures-highlight-regional-differences/
Nice overview http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc123/index.html
