Immigration: How British policy failed (BBC2)

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Our local primary school displays an inspirational poster on the doorstep. “A smile means the same thing in every language,” they say, and that’s a sweet thought.

But behind these words is a worrying subliminal message.

They suggest that some students will not speak or understand English. And that raises serious questions about how much teaching time is spent making allowances for these children.

According to the Office for National Statistics, English is a second language for 21% of schoolchildren, or more than a fifth.

In schools in Lambeth, south London, there are over 40 languages ​​spoken by 50 or more pupils as of 2021.

Cultural issues like these are at the heart of public anxiety about mass immigration. But the two-part documentary Immigration: How British Politics Failed barely attempted to address these concerns.

The first episode of “Immigration: How British Politics Failed” highlighted New Labour’s decision to welcome economic migrants. Tony Blair himself strongly denied that this was an “open door policy”

The documentary presented an insidious narrative that, following the banking crash of 2008, the British public had become increasingly hostile to all immigrants. Former Prime Minister David Cameron is pictured here. He was in office from 2010 to 2016

From the beginning, the focus was exclusively on statistics – annual population growth, the number of legal versus illegal immigrants, promised limits on new arrivals, and so on.

The first episode highlighted New Labour’s decision to welcome economic migrants. Tony Blair himself strongly denied that this was an “open door policy”.

Andrew Green, founder of Migration Watch UK, vehemently disagreed.

None of the talking heads stopped to consider the ethics of encouraging skilled labor and educated professionals to leave their home countries simply to fill gaps in the UK labor market.

How are developing nations supposed to grow and prosper if we eliminate their artisans, graduates and doctors? That has always struck me as immoral as well as short-sighted.

We should certainly encourage young people who already live here to prepare or retrain for these jobs.

The documentary didn’t mention that. Instead, it launched an insidious narrative that, in the wake of the 2008 banking crash, the British public had become increasingly hostile to all immigrants, be they refugees, legal arrivals or trafficked migrants.

As Nigel Farage and others talked about overcrowding in the UK, for example, the screen would cut to an image of airports and train stations that looked half-empty, or traffic rushing by on motorways.

According to the Beeb, this hostility has been fueled by misinformation, spread by political opportunists and outright racists.

In a blatant piece of virtue-signalling, the BBC itself was found guilty: the British National Party’s Nick Griffin had once been allowed on Question Time.

A clip was shown, where he was beaten by others around the table.

The overarching message throughout these two hours was that everything bad we’ve been told about immigration is exaggerated, misrepresented or simply untrue.

As Nigel Farage and others talked about overcrowding in the UK, for example, the screen would cut to an image of airports and train stations that looked half-empty, or traffic rushing by on motorways.

The caption might as well have said, “Everything seems to be going smoothly. What is the problem?

It was left to the Daily Mail’s special investigations editor, Sue Reid, to land the one real punch. Speaking about the dangerous struggle of illegal migrants to enter the UK, she said: “A country without borders is no country at all.”