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When an article starts with "Facts don’t seem to be all that important", you know
the story is about the conservative take on a political issue.
UK immigration and a nasty dose of xenophobia
Facts don’t seem to be all that important. If you want to express an opinion on immigration, it appears what matters is who can shout the loudest, and who is best at riding the latest populist wave. Many people say that immigration is the most important issue concerning the UK today. How about this for a contrary view? It may be more accurate to say the way in which the topic of immigration is portrayed in the press poses the single biggest threat to the UK today.
Let us look at some of the arguments often bandied about. First off, the UK is swamped by immigrants. The OECD has taken look at data on immigration flow for 2011 (or for the latest year for which data is available) for 24 of the largest OECD countries. The country with the largest inflow of immigrants was Switzerland, followed by Norway, then New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, and then the UK. In fact, migration inflows into the UK were less than the OECD average.
Now look at the migrant population, which is to say the percentage of population for each country who were foreign born. In the case of Luxembourg, the number stands at around 40 per cent. The OECD average is around 13.1 per cent; it is 12 per cent for the UK. In fact across 32 OECD countries, 15 have a higher proportion of their population who are foreign born, while 16 have a lower proportion. In other words, the UK is below the mean average and just above the median average.
The real issue here, however, is that we rarely hear the pro-immigration arguments. Instead we send a van around East London, telling immigrants to go home. This is just plain nasty, not to mention utterly bizarre. ... Many of the tabloid newspapers have become mouthpieces for the anti-immigration lobby. ... David Cameron is courting the anti-immigration lobby, trying to score cheap points by saying: “We hate immigrants more than Labour.”
http://www.investmentandbusinessnews.co.uk/politics/uk-immigration-and-a-nasty-dose-of-xenophobia/5101
Facts don’t seem to be all that important. If you want to express an opinion on immigration, it appears what matters is who can shout the loudest, and who is best at riding the latest populist wave. Many people say that immigration is the most important issue concerning the UK today. How about this for a contrary view? It may be more accurate to say the way in which the topic of immigration is portrayed in the press poses the single biggest threat to the UK today.
Let us look at some of the arguments often bandied about. First off, the UK is swamped by immigrants. The OECD has taken look at data on immigration flow for 2011 (or for the latest year for which data is available) for 24 of the largest OECD countries. The country with the largest inflow of immigrants was Switzerland, followed by Norway, then New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, and then the UK. In fact, migration inflows into the UK were less than the OECD average.
Now look at the migrant population, which is to say the percentage of population for each country who were foreign born. In the case of Luxembourg, the number stands at around 40 per cent. The OECD average is around 13.1 per cent; it is 12 per cent for the UK. In fact across 32 OECD countries, 15 have a higher proportion of their population who are foreign born, while 16 have a lower proportion. In other words, the UK is below the mean average and just above the median average.
The real issue here, however, is that we rarely hear the pro-immigration arguments. Instead we send a van around East London, telling immigrants to go home. This is just plain nasty, not to mention utterly bizarre. ... Many of the tabloid newspapers have become mouthpieces for the anti-immigration lobby. ... David Cameron is courting the anti-immigration lobby, trying to score cheap points by saying: “We hate immigrants more than Labour.”
http://www.investmentandbusinessnews.co.uk/politics/uk-immigration-and-a-nasty-dose-of-xenophobia/5101