Article by Jon Yates (Co-founder and Strategy Director of The Challenge Network) on the Liberal Conspiracy website arguing for greater integration of incoming migrants.
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/03/12/the-white-flight-debate-shows-how-little-we-understand-integration-in-the-uk/
Jon Yates is of course quite right to argue for integration. Integration offers the only realistic route out of the mess that has been created by the volatile combination of multi-culturalism and unrestricted immigration. But one is bound to ask what the migrants will be integrating into.
If you ask left-wing politicians what they mean by the characteristics of "British" society they come out with meaningless platitudes that could apply anywhere and to anyone. Integration into this bland left-wing nothingness will be easy as it simply involves "tolerance" (undefined), a liking for free healthcare (what's not to like) and a preference for chicken tikka masala (this last characteristic based on very dodgy statistics). So long as you define British culture on these vague general lines only the most extreme abu-qatadaesque individuals can fail to "integrate".
The problem is that "integration" of this kind is not only unsatisfying culturally, it is also ineffective since it is essentially meaningless.
So perhaps the politicians who are arguing for "integration" could be a little more specific about what society everyone is supposed to be integrating into.
Speaking personally as a conservative (small "c") I want new entrants to British society to integrate into the TS Eliot definition - classicist, royalist, Anglican-Christian (perhaps any two out of the three). Is this so difficult? Given the huge numbers that want to come here, would it be so hard to require candidates to express and demonstrate cultural affiliations that will keep the the existing society relatively intact?
Otherwise the continued press of numbers will destroy British (and specifically English) society in the same way that unrestricted numbers will erode, corrode and annihilate a prized national park that everyone wants to visit (I realise of course that there are a significant number of people who would jump at the chance to destroy British society, but perhaps these people should be reminded that social destruction is a game two can play).
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/03/12/the-white-flight-debate-shows-how-little-we-understand-integration-in-the-uk/
Jon Yates is of course quite right to argue for integration. Integration offers the only realistic route out of the mess that has been created by the volatile combination of multi-culturalism and unrestricted immigration. But one is bound to ask what the migrants will be integrating into.
If you ask left-wing politicians what they mean by the characteristics of "British" society they come out with meaningless platitudes that could apply anywhere and to anyone. Integration into this bland left-wing nothingness will be easy as it simply involves "tolerance" (undefined), a liking for free healthcare (what's not to like) and a preference for chicken tikka masala (this last characteristic based on very dodgy statistics). So long as you define British culture on these vague general lines only the most extreme abu-qatadaesque individuals can fail to "integrate".
The problem is that "integration" of this kind is not only unsatisfying culturally, it is also ineffective since it is essentially meaningless.
So perhaps the politicians who are arguing for "integration" could be a little more specific about what society everyone is supposed to be integrating into.
Speaking personally as a conservative (small "c") I want new entrants to British society to integrate into the TS Eliot definition - classicist, royalist, Anglican-Christian (perhaps any two out of the three). Is this so difficult? Given the huge numbers that want to come here, would it be so hard to require candidates to express and demonstrate cultural affiliations that will keep the the existing society relatively intact?
Otherwise the continued press of numbers will destroy British (and specifically English) society in the same way that unrestricted numbers will erode, corrode and annihilate a prized national park that everyone wants to visit (I realise of course that there are a significant number of people who would jump at the chance to destroy British society, but perhaps these people should be reminded that social destruction is a game two can play).
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