Here’s an argument I’m getting seriously fed up with, and I heard it on Symi the other day. Actually it’s not really an argument at all, but an expression of fear, in my opinion at least. The conversation, when talking to a rational person goes something like, ‘You’re doing great work with the refugees, but we really can’t take any more in (our country), we really are full up.’ Less rational folk on Facebook and elsewhere, tend to say, ‘We’re full up,’ and leave it at that, To which I say, ‘I’m glad you had a big lunch now sit back and think about what you are actually saying.’ I’m talking UK here as that’s my country but I am sure it applies to other countries too.
Apparently the United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is full up. There is no more room for anyone, particularly not the refugees. Okay, there are parallels between that and the Nativity of course, but let’s not bring religion into it. Let’s look at that statement again. ‘We are full up.’ Actually there are around 63,000,000 people living in Britain at the moment, very roughly speaking, and there are any number of empty homes. If you read the Telegraph then the number is 218,000 and if you look at the pictures in the Mirror, the number is 635,000 empty homes in England alone (2015). Emptyhomes.com says, “The latest Government data on vacant dwellings shows over 610,000 empty homes in England with over 200,000 long-term vacant dwellings (that is homes unoccupied for over six months).” I won’t bore you with further stats and images of the thousands of empty (i.e., not full up) homes in the country, I think you’ve got the message.
Here’s another thing. According to the Daily Mail (and who are we to argue?) there were 5,000,000 British Expats living abroad in 2014, so that’s 5,000,000 spare places in the UK alone. Let me repeat: the country can’t be ‘full up’ because over five million of us are not living there at the moment. Someone can have my place, I’m not planning to return anytime soon – and if I ever do I’m happy to share.
Actually, I looked at a very handy site called Statslife who rather back me up and say, “The British public is obsessed with immigration. The notion of Johnny Foreigner coming over here, taking British jobs and straining public services is now rampant in UK politics. Regardless of what statistics and evidence say, the myth of Britain being ‘swamped’ by immigrants is proving incredibly resilient.” And don’t we know it! We even hear it here on Symi. They go on to point out that around 7 to 8% of the UK population live abroad (In America the figure is 0.8% living abroad, Spain its 3% and Australia it 2.1% as of 2014.) I love the part where, when talking about British expats in Spain, they say: “An ESRC funded survey conducted in 2005 showed that a third of the British immigrants rarely or never meet Spanish people (other than in shops and restaurants), 60% did not speak good Spanish, half do not have residence cards, and over a third are not registered on the town hall register.”
So, British folk moving abroad, or to Spain at least, are not only freeing up space for refuges but don’t even bother to get themselves properly registered, a matter in which refugees have no say. Remember yesterday’s blog and the fingerprints, photos and 17 pieces of paper filled out for each refugee.
As you can tell, the so called argument that Great Britain can’t take any more people is a load of bunkum. I don’t know exactly who the people are who say this, luckily none of my friends have said it, though some may think it, but I wonder if those who do have considered how to make more space in their country? Well, you could choose to not have any more children Mr and Mrs six kids and demanding a bigger council house, that’d help in the long term, and if you’re in politics or somewhere where you can make a difference there are things like, regenerating disused estates, cleaning up empty properties, improving areas so people do want to live in them, there’s plenty of places and space without having to build more – sad to see the world of social housing hasn’t changed since I took my MSc in it and social policy all those years ago.
So, I’ll leave you with the above thoughts and please, don’t let me hear you say that your country can take no more people in need because you are ‘full up.’ No country can ever be ‘full up’ and if you mean the social infrastructure can’t take it, then you need to be electing people who can sort that out. Actually I will leave you with this thought (courtesy of Fastcoxist.com). If everyone lived as densely as they do in Manila, the population of the world could fit in Tunisia. Or, if you like a little more leg room (and sheep), if everyone in the world lived as densely as they do in Manhattan, the population of the world could fit in New Zealand. No, your country is not full up.
