Shame

Our Prime Minister's performance on migration at the UN, at least what I have read of it, made me ashamed to be a citizen of the UK.

She seems to have set her face against trying to come to any sensible, decent or collective approach to the problem of migration. She seems to be personification of those of her countrymen and women who want to retire behind the moat of the English Channel and let the foreigners sort themselves out, for preference as far away from us possible.

She is prepared to spend some money, quite a lot of money in fact, but there is little sign of common charity towards the plight of the migrants, no sign of solidarity with our fellow Europeans and no allowance for the fact that we have some responsibility for the huge problem the world now faces. And she is trying to dump that problem on the mostly poor countries which are the neighbours of the failed countries which are generating the migrants. She does not even appear to have attempted weasel words about how she would love to be able help more but she has terrible problems of her own at home.

She has put us on the same unsavoury level as the Poles or the Saudis. At least the Hungarians have been pushing back against the hordes from the east for a thousand years or more, so it is perhaps understandable that they are neither forgiving nor helpful. But we have no such excuse - and we are one of the richest countries in the world.

Maybe the worm will turn one day. Maybe we will face some terrible problem and the world will just say 'where were you when we had a problem'.

PS: regarding our share of the blame, I ought to add that collapse of empire or disengagement from empire has rarely been accomplished without pain. Think dark ages. We should not beat our selves up too much for the failings, for example, of the countries which were once our colonies. The places were not so great when we arrived and it is just a pity that we had not got them into better shape by the time that they kicked us out.