Interesting unity of view by European newspapers’ UK correspondents :
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...lists-on-britains-mood?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
“A country claiming to be Global Britain has, meanwhile, since Brexit, become a narrow minded, anti-immigrant, internally divided society. Driven by a sect-like group of conservative Brexiters it has ended up with a minister of energy who is a climate sceptic. It tells you a lot about the state of the UK that Jacob Rees-Mogg is more reactionary in his environmental policies than the new king Charles III.”
Tessa Szyszkowitz, UK correspondent for Austrian weekly newspapers Falter and Profil
I forgot to mention, I enjoyed reading that piece in the ever dependable Grauniad. Sure enough, if it
quacks and
waddles, it is almost certainly a
canard. Whilst Ms Szyszkowitz's own country is indeed admirably open to immigration, particularly from Turkey and the former Yugoslavian states, I feel she unfairly maligns the UK. Internally divided we might be, but that hardly makes us unique within or across Europe or the EU. However, on immigration we are notably libertarian, with something approaching a record 400,000 people who weren't born in the UK going into the workforce in the last year, if I recall correctly a total of some 2 million since that infamous
annus horribilis, 2016. Last year work visas were issued to 110,000 people from India, 22,000 from the Philippines, 18,000 from Nigeria,15,000 from Ukraine, and significant numbers from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Pakistan, Australia, and even Russia. Remember that of the 3.5 million EU nationals who were expected to take up residency post-Brexit, well in excess of, erm, 6 million eventually did so. The country has offered refuge to 3 million people from Hong Kong, should they wish to come (many have). On top of this, last year there were some 500,000 study visas granted, many of the recipients of which will undoubtedly remain here and come into the workforce.
Small-minded and anti-immigrant? Hardly. Critics and supporters alike would describe this as expansionary, even something along the lines of 'open door'. The Johnson government, despite some notional noises to the contrary, even seemed quite relaxed about the 30 odd thousand people who have braved the sea-lanes of the Channel in flimsy dinghies so far this year alone, or the £billion odd spent on hotels in which to accommodate them whilst they faf about with their asylum claims, most of which are ultimately granted, the balance being largely allowed to slip away into the nether regions of the UK economy.
The EU, meanwhile continues to do its white fortress thing, bribing Turkey millions of Euros to keep more immigrants out of Germany, and setting up quasi-concentration camps in North Africa, and being reluctant, incidentally, to help Italy with the million or so Africans sleeping rough in southern City parks and streets, certainly one of the causes of the issue over which the
bien pensants of pfm are having a slightly frantic pearl-clutching session elsewhere in the off-topic threads.
An aside; whilst there were many uncomfortable truths in the linked piece, I can't for one minute think why you forgot to quote another of the correspondents, Antonello Guerrera of La Republica, who wrote,
“Sure, British politics looks shambolic. After four prime ministers in six years, the UK suddenly resembles Italy.
But the UK has, despite its flaws, what I consider the best electoral system in the world, which simultaneously secures local representation and stability (if PMs do well) and filters out extremist parties with no presence on the ground."
Gosh! Could that be faint praise, or even the real thing? Anyway, I wouldn't exactly call it 'unity of view'. Let's face it, unity of view isn't exactly a thing in the EU.