As a young man who has experienced the ill-effects of immigration (I used to be a chef; the only English-born person in a team of 20), I am appalled at the lack of understanding of what the real issues are. Immigration may be good for “Big-Business Britain”, but it is not good for the poor, the unskilled, the poorly educated, or blue-collar workers who have seen their wages drop owing to a swathe of highly motivated workers from eastern Europe and Africa, who are willing to work at the minimum wage. A race to the bottom for work and a population explosion are two things this country can do without. I’ll be voting for UKIP on election day (Adam Tunstall, Windsor, Berkshire, to the Independent on Sunday (UK))
Epicurus, thinking laterally, might say that we should be doing something worldwide about the number of babies being born with lousy expectations in life, and their subsequent export. Why is there no debate about population and family planning? It is established that fewer babies and more female education can transform an economy, and thus keep potential migrants at home. Are we so cowed by the medieval views of big religion that we can’t develop a rational response to excessive population and the resulting migration of the job-less and the hope-less?
Epicureanism stands for moderation, and there had been no moderation on this issue. The public airways are dominated by people whose jobs are unaffected by migrant workers. The bluecollar worker has had no voice. Until now. One can loathe right-wing extremism and racism, but still sympathize with those made jobless through no particular fault of their own.
The people who tell us that immigration is good for the economy are right, of course. Bright, educated immigrants anxious to innovate and make a success in a new country must be good for it. But the cruel indifference towards those who, as the letter says, have seen their wages and their status in society drop because of poor, semi-educated immigrants willing to work for very little (or who are there to improve their English and then go home) is inhumane. In so far as this is a by-product of globalization it has been a boon only to the super-rich and corporations. What a miserable, stressful life they have created for those who have been born to the wrong parents! But then, what a miserable, stressful,life it must be for women condemned by their religions to be baby factories on two legs!