tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post8351835944618028818..comments2024-03-26T09:38:39.888+00:00Comments on Borthlas: Opening the bordersJohn Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-49634322129340115412016-02-04T19:40:23.496+00:002016-02-04T19:40:23.496+00:00Whilst I don't agree with all the points you m...Whilst I don't agree with all the points you make here, I agree with much of it. The final paragraph, in particular, echoes the point that I was making in the post. Traditional approaches to borders are being superceded by events, and McDonnell was right to draw attention to it. I don't know quite what the alternative might be at this stage either - but ignoring the changes and trying to pretend that everything can simply carry on simply won't work.John Dixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-52363655736750486082016-02-04T17:08:53.807+00:002016-02-04T17:08:53.807+00:00The dilemma for the left is that completely unrest...The dilemma for the left is that completely unrestricted immigration is logically incompatible with a welfare state based founded on universalist principles. Mr Farage is simply wrong to state that the NHS has become a World Health Service, but he is right that even a nation as rich as ours cannot afford for it to become so.<br /><br />McDonnell ultimately I expect looks forward to the nation state withering away as global socialism knocks away its reasons for being. He's right though about the long run impossibility of halting the flow from Africa and the Middle East by any measures short of sinking the boats with migrants still on them - which would be outright murder. Even putting troops on the ground in Syria and Libya to impose a 'peace' settlement won't stem the numbers of people we describe as 'economic migrants' who are willing to risk everything to reach what they understandably regard as the land of milk and honey.<br /><br />If we can't practically prevent illegal immigration (and in a purely UK context, given the limited number of entry points the lid probably can be kept on for far longer that is practical in continental Europe or the USA) then we face the prospect of a permanent and increasing semi-invisible underclass of illegals unable to access basic public services for fear of deportation and only able to work in the black economy with all the exploitation and wider social consequences that would follow ... as Obama and others in the States have realised it's better to give illegals a path to eventual citizenship that just to ignore the issue given that it won't go away.<br /><br />It seems to me as though the level of social solidarity that existed in Britain after WW2 and led in 1947/8 to the creation of a 'cradle to grave' Welfare State redistributing wealth essentially in accordance with need and between the generations is on its' last legs. Immigration may have played its part, but so have many other social trends and in retrospect its possibly the 'great generation' who may have been exceptional as a consequence of the experiences they lived through. I'm sorry to say I see us drifting ever more in the direction of insurance / contribution based social policy (which it can be argued was the original intent behind national insurance before Lloyd George essentially abolished the fund to pay for the Great War) as in the US for example, with the state providing little beyond minimal safety net services free at point of use.<br /><br />The more I think about it, the more I come to agree (I think) with McDonnell that the traditional Wesphalian nation state is a hopelessly outdated means of tackling the challenges of the 21st Century - it's just very hard to envisage what lies beyond or how we might go about getting there, particularly given the difficulties currently facing the EU project ...Democritushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06749137742833103823noreply@blogger.com