​Migrants keep coming with politicians unsure of how to stop the tide

This year’s figure according to the Daily Mail, will be announced next week and may have us choking on our morning coffee – a frightening 700,000 which the editorial suggests is `comfortably more than the population of Liverpool or Nottingham – in a single year.

I happen to know Liverpool quite well. My son went to university there and we travelled to see him frequently. Now in his 40’s and living abroad, he will be surprised. Liverpool like many British cities was always a crowded place. If UK cities like it fill up with endless migrants that surely suggests problems for the UK as a whole.

Successive British Prime Ministers have always promised to get migration under control, obviously with little or no success.

The Mail suggests that numbers `have been swollen by some 240,000 refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong’. But probably one of the biggest problems is a result of the small boats which have moved here in their droves with limited effort being made to put an end to them.

Successive efforts by Conservative governments have make little impact on the problem whilst Labour appears not to have much of an idea how to control it either. In fact, if they do get elected it’s likely they will let bigger numbers of them in.

Whilst it may seem to be the right thing to do the UK undoubtedly cannot afford it.

Our treasured health service is already suffering and lots of us – me included – are having to wait for unduly long periods for vital treatments. NHS staff think they are underpaid and I’m sure many of them are right now and their very public protests have driven a host of public sector workers on to the streets to fight for higher unaffordable wage rises. This tactic shows no sign of slowing down.

Back in my childhood I recall visits from people we knew as our American aunts. These were my father’s three sisters who left impoverished Ulster to seek better lives. They thrived and were able to afford the occasional trip home. America was that kind of place then where jobs were plentiful and hard work brought bounty.

America is a different country now where major cities such as Manhatten are facing a lack of workers, a problem brought on by Covid which saw numerous high rise work places close as staff decided it was safer to work from home. The problem now is that technology has allowed them to remain working from home, much to the consternation of major employers.

I read recently that many skyscrapers in America which once were work places for thousands are `already lifeless’. They’ve been described as `zombie buildings’. New York’s Mayor Eric Adams wants workers to return to work: He is reported to have declared: `You can’t run New York City from home’.

It’s easier for white collar workers to work from home – they’re not the ones physically struggling to make equipment - but we here in the UK could be facing all these issues in a big way soon. There is a positive side of course. It may mean that our sons and daughters may not have to emigrate to find a decent, affordable lifestyle.

I’m sure it broke my grandmother’s heart when she lost three daughters to America. No cheap international flights in those days.