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Capitolo 1
Reading Comprehension
Out with the new
Why attitudes to immigration are hardening
The British like to think of themselves as rather enlightened when it comes to
immigration and race relations. Disputes over headscarves are left to the French.
Ghettos, frank discrimination and the nasty notion that Britishness is a white
characteristic endure only in coal-stained northern towns, which are stuck in the
past in more ways than this. Everywhere else, a multicultural consensus reigns.
It’s a view that is becoming hard to sustain. A YouGov poll for
The Economist
this week finds that 74% of people believe too many immigrants are coming
into the country. Londoners, young people and the middle classes can normally
be counted on to hold more liberal views, but not, it seems, when it comes to
immigration. Their sentiments are virtually identical.
Most damaging for Britain’s enlightened self-image, the nation has risen to the
top of the European xenophobes’ league. A Eurobarometer poll earlier this year
found that 41% saw immigration as one of the two biggest problems faced by the
nation—16 points more than in any other European country. Forget unemployment,
terrorism or crime: the real threat comes from the man with the battered suitcase.
Why the hard feelings? It’s a puzzle, especially given the benefits brought by
new arrivals. Immigrants may depress wages in the bus-driving and vegetable-
picking industries, but they are only good news for urban middle-class folk,
who benefit from cheaper (and more interesting) restaurant food and plentiful
nursing. Even reproduction is easier, thanks to foreign nannies.
«
A generation of
London kids is being raised with Warsaw-accented English,
»
points out Trevor
Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality.
The Economist’s
poll suggests an answer. The natives are not particularly
restless about newcomers who come explicitly to work. Just 7% of those
who reckon there are too many immigrants blame the number of employment
permits handed out. Four-fifths believe the country needs more skilled workers,
and two-fifths even think it needs more grunts.
The newcomers that grate are those who strain the delicate British sense of fair play:
85%cite either asylum seekers or illegal immigrants as the main reason the country
is being overrun. They are thought to be bad news not because they take jobs or
commit crimes, but because they compete unfairly for public services. Jumping
the queue is always intolerable, whether it is for housing or at supermarket tills.