I was speaking to a pollster a few minutes ago, and one of the questions I was asked concerned the most pressing burning political issues at the present time. I gave two answers that I thought were fairly non-controversial (the economy and Brexit), then gave a third... and promptly had to clarify what I meant.
Because the third answer I gave was "immigration", at which point I immediately realised that (I think) most people who give than answer mean stopping immigration, which is certainly not what I meant.
On the contrary, I think the way this country is treating people who want to build their lives here, and especially those unfortunates who come here desperately seeking refuge is shameful and is (or should be) damaging to our standing on the world stage.
Indeed, one of the biggest problems we have as a country is that no senior politician (at UK level) is brave enough to stand up and say clearly that immigration is a good thing. Not just because of all the necessary jobs that immigrants appear to be willing to do and nobody else is, not just because they pay in far more to our economy than they collectively take out, but simply in terms of being here.
Diversity is a good thing. It's a shame our politicians can't acknowledge that.
(And if my answer ends up getting lumped in to some Daily Mail headline about immigration being one of the big concerns of British people, I am truly sorry. I should have thought more before I spoke.)
#9: "A Woman of Substance", by Barbara Taylor Bradford (a book from The List - one more to go!)
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