How on earth can anyone say public finances are in a mess?

 

We are all migrants

Yesterday the first official refugees from Syria arrived in the UK at Glasgow airport. Some random thoughts.

Firstly, I am reminded of this fascinating research about the generic make up of many Brits. The Romans, Vikings and Normans had apparently little influence on our DNA, it was the Anglo-Saxons invasion in 400-500 AD which substantially altered the generic make up. 30% of most English White DNA is German and 40% is French

Interesting that only the Welsh appear to have DNA similar to the original inhabitants of Britain after the last Ice Age. Of course, even they were "migrants" at some stage as well.

However, the "Celts" in  Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Cornwall have surprisingly no central gene source and are genetically the most different in the UK.

I remember once encountering a blond blue eyed idiot who was spouting racist rubbish that "all these foreigners should go home" by saying that surely this means he will have to go back to the German Forests that his family came from?

In Italian the word "foreigner" means someone from the next city or village.

I used to work in Brick Lane in the East End of London which has a Muslim mosque that used to be a Jewish synagogue and before that was a Protestant French Huguenot Church. 

British born members of my family regularly work abroad and send home their income.

I was forced to leave my family in Wales to seek work since at the time local male unemployment was 33%.

Nearly the whole of the UK was once totally uninhabited during the last Ice Age. This was only around 11,000 years ago.

I am proud that Newham Council is welcoming and supporting 10 Syrian Refugees families. 

So in one way or the other, we are all foreigners, we are all migrants.

Hat tip picture Edinburgh, Scotland

The gap between richest and poorest region...

And of course the gap in the UK is by far the worse. This cannot continue. Only a Labour Government can make a difference. 

Wealth inequality in the UK

Please spend a few minutes to watch this video on wealth inequality. Regardless of the moral and economic arguments I think that unless we tackle such inequality our nation will eventually disintegrate.

"Inequality has been rising for 30 years. The gap between rich and poor is the widest since the second world war. If current trends continue, we will have reached Victorian levels of inequality in 20 years. Sign up to our weekly email briefings to get the full facts. http://inequalitybriefing.org"

Changing British attitudes

Interesting - While the changing attitude to NHS is no surprise given increase in waiting times and lack of resources the more positive view on role of state benefits is encouraging. Britain is also on the whole becoming a more tolerant and equal society. Hat tip: http://bit.ly/1eAsQhI