The Provencal Paradox

So, Labour is going to campaign on immigration: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/mar/31/general-election-2010-conservatives.

The absurdity is clear and will be said by others. What I wish to challenge here is the idea that the only good challenge to immigration is by reference to resources. David Cameron seems to have bought into this. Doubtless he was taken aback when he was asked on television by a Muslim nurse with a hijab about why we import medical staff rather than train our own? An excellent question - but once you remove identity issues from the immigration debate, once you have no particular loyalty to compatriots over would be migrants, then it is all about economics. If it is cheaper to import staff, it is economically rational not to train your own.

Essentially, we have long since bought into this. The original importation of migrant labour into the NHS was to deal with a genuine labour shortage when we had full-employment. But it has long since turned into a means of bringing in cheaper workers and cutting down the messy business of training your own.

Provencal paradox

However, what I want to address here, is the issue of whether it is racist to object to cultural change created by immigration. Gordon Brown clearly thinks so, and has limited his debate to purely material matters.

My point is that no one likes their community changed by weight of numbers - at least not if they like it. I am sorry to use such a prejorative term such as "weight of numbers", but I could tie myself in knots looking for a euphemism. Let us not play that game. After all, the weight of numbers need not come from immigrants, it may come from British middle class people moving into a Docklands development (eg: Wapping), it may come from Guardian readers wanting to move somewhere edgy, and pushing out local ethnic minorities (eg: parts of Brixton). But unless an area is wholly undesirable, locals do not welcome such change. Well, they may pocket the profits from house sales, but they do not regard it is an improvement.

Why can our left-wing friends not understand that it is rational to object to changes brought by virtue of mass immigration? It is not a belief in the superiority of local people or culture. It is not even a desire to be wholly insular. It is just that people like the familiar, and don't want it swept away. Locals will be quick enough to assimilate the best influences of newcomers once barriers are broken down. But it is one thing to delight in an Indian restaurant, another to find that the local butcher has been replaced by a Halal one.

What is more, I like to think that most immigrants come to Britain not to create an enclave of their home country. Some do behave like the worst British ex-pats and colonials, sending their children "home" to marry rather than risk mixing with the locals - and let us never forget, inter-marriage is the best sign of healthy immigration. But ultimately, those who make their home in this country probably like this country for what it is.

This sentiment is probably incredible to many lefties, but let me explain it in terms they may understand: the Provencal paradox:

If you move to Provence, you do so to live in France. You want France to surround you and French things to surround you. You want to talk French to French people, even if it might take time to get fluent. You want to be part of local life. Of course, you need to take time to achieve such a state of affairs. If there are a few other English people in your village, that may make things easier - it is nice to relax and speak your own language and discuss familiar things. Only with copatriots can you discuss British TV of the 1970s and 1980s, and it is nice to do so.

But you do not want too large a British community. You do not want to create a British cocoon to keep France at arm's length. What is more, you do not want in your village a large number of compatriots who Anglicise the place. You do not want the cafe turning into a greasy-spoon. You do not want an English pub replacing the local bars. You do not want to live in the place which feels increasingly like England, and decreasingly like France.

I am sure our left-wing friends would wholly agree with this. They would regard as an abomination towns in Spain where English pubs sit next to Welsh pubs which sit next to Scottish pubs.

But wherever they find in Britain areas that are increasingly defined by Asian or African culture, they are thrilled to the bone. It is on such areas that they lavish praise for being vibrant; while damning as a sterile any areas which seem hideously white.

Of course, somewhere, deep down, the left understand that this does not quite square. That is why Tony Blair maximised immigration without lifting a finger to share the blessings of diversity with his Sedgefield constituents. But, until such time as the socially conservative minorities flex their muscles with the Labour party, it will always be full-steam ahead with immigration.