In The Life of Brian when John Cleese as leader of The People’s Front of Judea asks a meeting of fellow rebels, “what have the Roman’s ever done for us?” His question brings answers he was not looking for; the video below sheds some light on what the Romans did indeed do for them.
Like us we hope you find it irony personified, it also lends itself we think to asking a similar question, especially in relation to the potentially disastrous consequences of the UK Government’s current proposed migration white paper, if passed. What have the immigrants ever done for hospitality?
For a proportion of the UK population immigrants are seen as a big negative, they move to the UK, scrounging welfare benefits, taking jobs, straining health services, overrunning local schools and occupying state-subsidised housing.
Just as John Cleese’s character didn’t want to hear; studies by University College London show that in the share of cost of government spending and their contribution to government revenues, between 1995 and 2011 immigrants made a positive contribution of more than £4 billion to the UK, compared with an overall negative contribution of £591 billion for native Britons.
More often than not however, people who air negative views of immigration have no idea of how to back up their ‘views’. The question – “who don’t you want to come in” – was asked to people who state they want less immigration in the video below, by the BBC’s Nick Robinson, the answers are enlightening.
So, what have the immigrants ever done for hospitality?
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