i think, considering we're supposed to anti -immigrant - we seem to have had a lot more immigrants than all those wonderfully enlightened places.

in fact, i'd say the absorption of people from other countries is a fairly ingrained part of our culture.

we used to be very dismissive and judgemental about Germany's gastarbeiter status of immigrants. This was aperiod whe we had a very open door to immigrants from Commonwealth countries.

theres a lot of countries who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk when it comes to this.

i live near a small port and the arrival of illegal immigrants in small boats is a fairly open secret. never discussed at at national level, and presumably going on at every small port, particularly where government cutbacks have closed the harbourmaster and customs office.

Still the subject won't be debated sensibly. The ones who like to think of themselves as left wing see no problem, because acknowledging a problem would require a response other than abuse, and the wealthy right wingers want cheap labour, and their lives aere not impacted in any way.

a bit like the snotty bastard who wrote that article.