Immigration and The Daily Mail - Hypocrisy in Action

Lots of 'scary' headlines about the latest immigration figures in the national press. The Times took a suitably alarmist stance:

A record number of foreigners were granted British citizenship last year, according to Home Office figures published today.

Just over 164,600 people were given citizenship —- the highest number of applications granted in any year.

The seven per cent increase in persons given citizenship followed a fall in the previous year.

Since 1997 when Labour came to power almost 2 million people have been awarded citizenship, the figures show.

An estimated 591,000 people entered the country, ten per cent up on the previous year, meaning net migration into the country was about 190,000. The overwhelming majority —- 86 per cent —- of immigrants were non British citizens.

“This continued the trend of high immigration to the UK experienced since 1998,” said the Office for National Statistics which published the International Migration figures.


Mmm, scared yet? How about this (watch out for the meaningless statistic):

The number of migrants granted UK citizenship reached an all-time record last year as separate figures revealed more than 200,000 Britons moving abroad.

A raft of statistics released by Whitehall revealed 164,635 foreign nationals were granted UK passports in 2007 - the equivalent of one every three minutes.

The figure is up seven per cent on the previous year and takes the total since Labour came to power to almost 1.2m.

Did you spot it? Incidentally, that last extract is repeated in the Daily Mail. And the good old Express? Why, they are suggesting the figures aren't reliable and are actually much higher:

MINISTERS have no idea how many immigrants are coming to Britain, according to a damning report by MPs.

The official statistics are “totally inadequate” for grasping the scale of population changes, the Parlia-mentary investigation has concluded.

As a result, public services are in danger of collapsing because the lack of reliable data means the Government is incapable of planning ahead.

None of these papers really touch on why there is a rise in immigration (the Daily Mail doesn't even mention where they are from). After all, that would mean treating readers like intelligent individuals instead of mindless zombies. According to the National Statistics website the majority of asylum seekers come from: Afghanistan, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Iran and Eritrea. Notice any connection there? Two countries have been devastated as a result of our military adventures. These two countries have become increasingly dangerous as a result of our interference. Consequently, it seems quite right and proper that as we fucked their countries, they should come here to enjoy the freedom and democracy we have failed to deliver over there. If we bomb the shit out of their utilities and make their daily lives almost impossible, who can blame them for coming here?

As for the others, presumably the mainstream media are suggesting we send back asylum seekers from Zimbabwe? Despite the fact that the very same media outlets have been exposing how dangerous life is in Zimbabwe. So what is it to be, eh? Help the people of Zimbabwe, or turn our backs on them? It wasn't so long ago that the Daily Mail ran a headline screaming:

Don't Zimbabweans have human rights?

Make up your minds chaps. Either you want the people of Zimbabwe to have asylum here, or you do not. Which is it going to be? Just how deep is your concern for the people of Zimbabwe? Is it simply political opportunism? Fear-mongering? Or a genuine desire to protect their human rights? I think we know the answer.

Immigrants, Capitalists and Tax

Remember this:

Labour's 'open door' policy on immigration costs every household £350 a year, it was claimed yesterday.

David Coleman, an Oxford University academic, puts the total annual bill to the taxpayer at almost £8.8billion.

In a submission to a House of Lords committee, he said there had been an 'absent-minded commitment' to increase the population by one million every five years.

Perhaps not that individual story, but something like it repeated ad nauseum in papers such as the Daily Mail and the Express. A quick search on either paper's website should find a plethora of stories such as this one (a staggering 41,630 articles on the Daily Mail alone using the search terms 'immigrants', 'cost' and 'tax'). Of course, this created the usual fuss about immigration. After all, £8.8billion does appear to be an awful lot of money lost in taxpayers money. There is, however, a section of society that costs us far more and you are unlikely to ever see them on the front page of the Daily Mail day after day. Yes, you guessed it, those pesky capitalists.

For around three years now, Private Eye has been trying to extract information about tax lost due to avoidance and evasion from HM Revenue and Customs. In typical fashion, the department tried everything they could to get out of revealing such information, perhaps aware of how damaging this might be. Then, as is the norm in these days of 'burying bad news', the figures were released on budget day amongst a raft of other paperwork sure to distract the public. The figures were shocking and underlines that the section of society most deserving of our scorn and hatred are not the immigrant communities, but the capitalists. The following is taken from Accountancy Age:

HM Revenue and Customs dramatically abandoned its attempts to keep details of the 'tax gap' secret just before the Budget.

HMRC estimates the sum lost to tax avoidance and evasion to be somewhere between £11bn and £41bn each year. Total government tax receipts for 2008 are expected to reach £575bn. The take from corporation tax alone is only £52bn.

That means up to £41bn is lost every year due to capitalists avoiding their obligations, that's five times as much as the cost to the taxpayer of the 'influx of immigration' (as the Mail puts it). So, presumably we will see a prolonged attack by the mainstream media on this section of society. Don't count on it. The interests of the capitalists will always take priority over those seeking to improve their lives or fleeing from persecution. The real criminals in our society are not the immigrants, they are the capitalists and whilst sections of society continue to attack 'foreigners', the rich and sitting in their expensive yachts laughing at our stupidity. It's time for the laughter to stop.

Daily Express - "Two Million Homes for Migrants"

Typical calm and composed headline on the front page of the Daily Express today, bless them (image taken from Obsolete who also posts on this). Today's front page must be an Express reader's dream come true. Immigration and Princess Diana. Anyway, the content of the report contains many questionable claims, not least the idea that we will be building two million homes for migrants. The report itself suggests that we might need to if trends continue. In other words, nothing is set in stone that we will need to build two million homes. However, various other aspects also stick out.

The claims by MigrationWatch are based on the idea that
migration will grow from around 130,000 per year to 171,500 per year by 2026. Quite how anyone can make those kinds of projections is beyond me. In all likelihood, immigration will slow down over the coming years, rather than accelerate. Besides, a massive percentage of immigrants come over here to work for a limited period of time before returning to their country of origin. Believe me, being married to a recent immigrant, I have seen many of our friends go back to their country of origin once they had spent a couple of years here. These figures seem to suggest that the immigrants that are likely to come over will never leave and hence create pressure on the housing market. This could not be further from the truth. It is highly unlikely that those who come over will stay here permanently.

Another aspect of the story that seems quite curious is what the Express ignores. According to the figures, four out of ten of these new houses will be required to house immigrants. That means that six out of ten of the houses will be needed for non-immigrants. According to the figures in the article, new households will rise to 246,000 per year and 39% will be for migrants. According to the Express' figures, that means that by 2026, 4,428,000 houses need to be built. With 39% for migrants, this translates as 1,726,920 homes for migrants. This, in turn, means that 2,701,080 houses will need to built for non-migrants (the remaining 61% of housing). According to the Express, this means that 263 (1,726,920/18 and then divided by 365) houses will need to be built every day for migrants. However, this also means that 411 homes will need to be built every day for non-migrants (2,701,080/18 and then 365). And yet, for some reason, hardly any comment is made about the requirements for house building for non-migrants, even though they will be putting a massive strain on services. An extra 40% more housing will be required for non-migrants than migrants. Shouldn't the Express be focusing on this majority, rather than the minority of housing that is required for migrants? Using the analogy of the Express (migrant housing will be equivalent to 5 Birminghams - a pointless analogy, but let's go with it anyway), non-migrant housing will be the equivalent of nearly EIGHT Birminghams. And yet, strangely, the volume increase of migrants puts a strain on local services, but the massive volume rise in non-migrants will not. Puzzling, unless of course the argument is that immigrants don't work and contribute to the economy, whereas non-migrants do. An unsurprising slant by a paper such as the Express.

In short, the report is indulging in nothing more than old-fashioned scare mongering - shock horror. The housing shortage clearly has nothing to do with the amount of rich bastards buying multiple houses, no it's the immigrants that are to blame. And therein lies the problem. There are obviously serious concerns about the lack of housing in the UK, for some reason the Daily Express feels that the fault lies at the door of immigrants. Perhaps if they dug a little deeper, they might understand the true causes of housing shortages. But then, they are hardly likely to bite the hands that feed it, are they?

The Daily Express - they really hate immigrants.