Good to finally see an article that does not blindly peddle the "far-right is rioting" narrative. But one doesn't have to look too far into the future to see something like this happen in Canada as well. Yes the people here are more patient and complacent, but there will come a time when the uncontrolled immigration will cross that line and the impacts to the country's infrastructure becomes increasingly obvious. And I say this as an immigrant myself (and now a citizen) and with the added knowledge that most immigrant population are against uncontrolled immigration here in Canada.
I also hope Canadians will note how Britain is using their own recent speech laws to investigate (and arrest?) folks who merely use words on social media. This, too, will come for Canada if the online harms bill comes info effect unchanged.
The British far right is very much rioting. It's useful to engage in the sort of analysis Andrew has about root causes, but literal neo-Nazis started the initial riot and have been coordinating violence across multiple British cities ever since.
I don't think the rest of British society is composed of Nazi sympathizers, no. For the same reason that I didn't assume the people responsible for the BLM riots were a representative sample of the American population (as was borne out by BLM's legislative irrelevance the moment the fires were extinguished).
You will note that Andrew made a great distinction between the rioters and Nazis, etc. and the bulk of society who (if I read Andrew correctly) greatly sympathize with the discontent. So, my question is whether, once you discount the Nazi, etc. minority, you believe with Andrew that much of society does, indeed sympathize and that that is not a "far right" thing but a society thing? So, do you agree with Andrew or do you not?
I think it's an error to project the specific motivations of the rioters onto the British population at large, who - if they greatly sympathize with the discontent specifically expressed by the rioters - would surely have broken decisively for Reform UK and not the Lib Dems/Labour Party in the recent elections.
A tiny minority having a very public freakout because the country as a whole is moving in the other direction is far from unheard-of.
60% of Britons think immigration is too high. That’s way more than Reform’s support. Seven of the 10 most deprived areas in Britain rioted. There’s evidence galore this isn’t a small problem
Back in July, on this site I wrote the following: "We should be concerned about what is taking place politically in the United States. However, greater concern should be focused on what is taking place in Europe, England and Ireland. Immigration conflict is no longer brewing just below the political surface. The Political bubbles have reached the surface. This is not going to end well."
Enjoyed reading MacDougall's article. It was succinct, he managed to get most of it correct. I do believe that the main stream media get it wrong when they describe those who protest against immigration. Main stream media tend to describe these individuals as "far right". On July 27 in England, over 50,000 of these were so called "far right", were attending a meeting in Trafalgar Square in London. I paid close attention to that gathering. The so called "far right" were peaceful, they were from different nationalities, had different skin colours and different accents. They had two things in common they were all Brits and they were all pissed off that various British Governments paid them no heed. Especially on illegal immigration, high cost of living, high cost of housing, difficulties accessing their health system and that their governments were paying to house, feed, and clothe illegal immigrants in expensive hotels. Does this sound familiar?
Governments and politicians rarely spend time in coffee shops or small diners. Politicians and bureaucrats tend to pontificate, not listen. The current British Government is so far to the left they are going to meet themselves coming the other way. Prime Minister Keir Starmer reminds me of the kid in high school, who spent too much time shoved and locked in his high school locker. He is the ultimate pontificator. Best described as a "wimp with words". This man lacks character, he is indecisive and the wrong person, elected at the wrong time for what Britain currently faces and is going to face.
There are some similarities between Britain and Canada. Brits are complaining about illegal immigration and Canadians are also doing the same. Brits are complaining about too much legal immigration and so are Canadians. British working class people are being arrested and put in jail for protesting about both of the above. In Canada? Do we remember what happened to the Freedom Convoy Protestors? Do we remember what happened to those Canadians who donated money to the Freedom Convoy Protestors? Britain and Canada are divided by the Atlantic Ocean, however, similar issues and similar governments, led by similar weak leaders do not bode well for either Britain or Canada. Britain is cursed with a left wing Government for the next five years. Canada is fortunate that we will be able to rid ourselves of our left wing Government in about 14 months. Now, that is something to be happy about!
But if the Conservatives poll 40% — usually enough for a majority government, — that means a majority of actual voters still want Leftist parties. (or the Bloc: eyeroll)
Leftism is a contagious disease with no vaccination against it. No herd immunity.
Susan, leftism is quite simply saying, "The other guy has something and I/we want it. It doesn't matter if he worked for it; what matters is that I/we don't have it."
I don't recall the author of this quote, but it goes something like "if there are real problems in society and reasonable people will not deal with them, then unreasonable people will."
Politicians of all stripes in all places say they will make change, but little changes and the river continues on its course. It makes me wonder if politicians can no longer control the bureaucracy (if they ever did) and the bureaucracy continues to plough on regardless of what the politicians say and the people want.
Here in Canada how will PP create a sea change in the public service?
Allen, my prescription is to start with some high profile executions, er, firings. Then start actually downsizing the swivel service and close some crown corps (yes, yes, we know about the CEEB but there are others). Oh, and consultants? Yup, them too.
One additional minor comment on the scene described in the article.
Governments only have so much bandwidth. Ours, it seems to me, spends much of its available capacity on might be described as feel good sanctimony, usually delivered with a '...if you don't agree with us on this policy, point, programme, you are a racist, a classist, a fascist, an anti-environmentalist, a climate denier and on it goes...'. Delivery of a programme, policy or even simple government functions, is a lesser matter. On to the next 'good thing'.
Our present government in Canada could give a masterclass on all this.
In future, I'd be far happier with fewer announcements, fewer admonishments to do the right thing, believe the right thing, support the right thing, and a little more effort in delivering policy and programmes.
Problem is, much of what would make me happy isn't exactly newsworthy. It is simply government doing the job for which it is intended to do. And, of course, much of what government does is multiyear, long term stuff that is difficult to get excited about every other day. Defence blundering, for example, will take many, many years to resolve if global geopolitics permits us that time frame. It may well not and we'll see a repeat of the blunderings made in WWI and WWII. We might pay in blood all too soon for decades of neglect and avoidance. The tinder in this one area, to maintain the metaphor, is piled high and deep and, alas, is alarmingly dry.
Kind of sounds like what Biden has done last 3 1/2 years. Quietly gotten shit done. Only problem is that people don't notice that important governance is being done. Look where its gotten Biden. But maybe that's the point. Maybe if politicians focused on great governance and not on staying in power, we would get much better results. What's the old saying, democracy is a terrible way to organize your political system, except it is better than all the other ways.
There is a wonderful Newfoundland song called “Thank God we’re surrounded by water” . It allows Canadians to enjoy the luxury of blaming the other bastards ( to quote The Line Gurus) rather than do something to solve the problem. The French Quebec version of water are its language policies, while Canada relies on a bunch of arcane immigration policies and risk averse burrocrats to delay those who can actually afford airline tickets.
The hard truth is that you can’t have a country without the ability to keep strangers out, just like you can’t have private property without the ability to forcefully repel those who would take it from you. The ruling class in Canada may well come to regret having disarmed the populace when they find out there aren’t enough Redcoats and other uniformed personnel to maintain their vaunted “peace, order and not too bad eh government. The Washington DC area code is 202. But then Ottawa policy makers know that already, don’t they?
As a Spanish speaker, I am always amazed at how the my Latino American acquaintances who went through the US immigration hurdles to achieve their dreams are generally quite hostile to the queue jumpers coming from the South. The supporters of open borders by and large seem to be naive idealistic young white easterners who have had everything handed to them and have no clue about the sacrifices their ancestors made to get where they are.
You missed one thing Andrew.....the police have been very selective in when they react and when they don't. The recent riots by the Romany, the Palestinian groups and the long term frustration with the cringey Just Stop Oil protesters. Nothing was done about those although recently the leader of the JSO groups have been sentenced to significant prison terms. They are, of course, appealing.
The British people have engaged in extensive historical government protests as have other western countries like France for instance and these have been revolutionary to say the least. Don't think they are not capable of this again.
This opinion and observation certainly hits the nail right on the head in any number of Western liberal democracies. I guess the question that begs to be answered by those, particularly in Canada and the US, who are currently aspiring to political office is - Are you listening?? Are you observing the tinder that has been accumulating for decades?? I certainly hope so. It's time to reinstate the old "tough love" method of governing.
It's very hard to take seriously any writer that uses the term 'far-right' unironically. Tommy Robinson is called this constantly, but let's not forget that he got his start, coming into public view taking up the cause of the young girls who were GROOMED AND RAPED, for DECADES in Rotherham and elsewhere, mainly by Pakistani immigrant men, and whose complaints were ignored by police and other local authorities FOR DECADES until Robinson and his supporters started bringing it into the light...and got denounced and arrested and jailed for doing so. If honest speech and protest is 'far-right', then we need more of it.
The British government didn't just 'lay the tinder'...they laid it out, played with matches and did their darnedest to ignore the people yelling 'smoke! Fire! Also for years, the British authorities have been far harder on Britons who simply say nasty things on social media, while turning a blind eye to actually acts of terrorism, and constant preaching of hatred and violence by Muslims. There is simply no excuse. Yes, violence in the streets is terrible. Racial prejudice is terrible but for some reason native Britons accepted foreign immigrants for years before we got to the situation we see today. Being 'fair and evenhanded' is injustice when it's very clear that the blame lies directly on the crowds of immigrants, legal and illegal, who refuse to assimilate into British culture, and the authorities that don't care.
Far-right, far left, communist, socialist, Nazis, fascist, woke wtc… what ever happened to the common sense of the middle of the road citizens?
Those of us who endorse legal immigration, jobs and a good life for all , embrace our good neighbours, without hatred and constant apologies.
We understand and endorse our country’s diversity, at the same time we can not believe the short comings and strategic direction of our government. A government who has divided us!
We , in the middle , are proud Canadians contrary to what JT claims we are. No apologies! Divisiveness was encouraged by our PM and his team.
Seems simple but to start telling the truth now will threaten those in power and so the lies, sprinkled with bits of truth will be fed to the masses by a compromised media and the beat goes on. This will end badly.
Politicians always justify their actions by saying they listened however a critical phase of listening is actually hearing and comprehending what you are listening to and evidence would say that this part of the equation is missing.
I’ve read a few commentaries recently about the issues behind the rioting and I have to say Andrew that you’re better at understanding the issue than many others. The same thing is going to happen in Canada and the US unless the politicians start to listen and get a handle on immigration. And not just immigration as a whole, but we must assess our values first, and what an immigrant can add to those. Too often, we have immigrants arriving in our communities with no desire to participate in traditional Canadian life, but rather they seek to ghettoize with their fellow immigrants. They choose to make Canada the way they lived in their prior lives, and the political class think they will assimilate. Many will, but many won’t, and soon Radical Islam along with incompatible cultures will destroy Canada and GB from within in the future if nothing is done to recognize it and deal with it.
"Too often, we have immigrants arriving in our communities with no desire to participate in traditional Canadian life, but rather they seek to ghettoize with their fellow immigrants."
How is this any different than in previous generations? Immigrants tend to live close to other immigrants from their place of origin. It's human nature to embrace the familiar at least initially.
The difference is that many previous waves of immigration, while distinct from one another, were not really THAT different. Yes, Eastern Europeans didn’t share a common language with existing British or French Canadians but they did share more or less the same system of values. Western Europeans would have been even more similar.
None of this is to say that cultures from other parts of the world are any better or worse, they just have more to adapt to than previous generations did. It will take much more time for these cultures to assimilate into the Canadian mosaic which will naturally result in more concentrated centres for these cultures in Canadian cities.
Yea, I can see JT coming out and saying: "Dear Canadians, due to our insane policies we are broke, and we can't rise taxes anymore without crashing economy. But we have to keep giving out handouts to buy votes, therefore we will keep bringing two millions of cheap labourer every year to keep economy afloat".
Your penultimate paragraph starts with, "Most of all, the political class will have to stop making promises it can’t keep. It will have to stop lying."
Please allow me a correction that applies to Canada: "Most of all, the political class will have to stop making promises it absolutely refuses to keep. It will have to stop lying." I point you to the most recent promises by Canada's Immigration Minister that they will "reduce" temporary immigration but it has just hit it's largest ever volume. I pick on immigration not to relate it specifically to the troubles in the UK but instead to illustrate the deception and outright lying in our own country.
Ultimately, yes, Canadians can get pretty ornery. At the very least, PP and those around him should learn these lessons; it is absolutely too late for the current regime lead by the Face Painter to learn them and, anyway, no one would believe him even if he said the "right" words and even undertook some of the required actions. Too little - i.e. nothing - too late - i.e. never.
We are sadly not immune to any of this in Canada. I’ve long feared the growing dysfunction of our governments, politics and increasingly complicated social-stratospheres are fostering the corresponding unrest that we are seeing in UK, and can foreseeably lead to similar behaviours in Canada. The UK has struggled to contain and control the situation, and I can only hypothesize that Canada would fail miserably if/when faced with similar circumstances. Unfortunately, I fear we may be nearing that tipping point…
It seems liberal democracies the world over have reached the point of diminishing returns. The best we can hope for is relative stability and incremental change. Note I am saying change, not progress, which is a subjective judgement at best.
I am unconvinced by idealistic movements. Tired of people that fancy themselves the vanguard, the pointy end of the spear, or the true believers and defenders of the faith. Radical moderation and hopeful incrementalism with the willingness to take one step forward and two steps back with our attention on reality as it is. Maybe, just maybe, we can avoid conflagration.
Good to finally see an article that does not blindly peddle the "far-right is rioting" narrative. But one doesn't have to look too far into the future to see something like this happen in Canada as well. Yes the people here are more patient and complacent, but there will come a time when the uncontrolled immigration will cross that line and the impacts to the country's infrastructure becomes increasingly obvious. And I say this as an immigrant myself (and now a citizen) and with the added knowledge that most immigrant population are against uncontrolled immigration here in Canada.
I also hope Canadians will note how Britain is using their own recent speech laws to investigate (and arrest?) folks who merely use words on social media. This, too, will come for Canada if the online harms bill comes info effect unchanged.
The outlawing of speech is already in Canada, smdd.
The British far right is very much rioting. It's useful to engage in the sort of analysis Andrew has about root causes, but literal neo-Nazis started the initial riot and have been coordinating violence across multiple British cities ever since.
Okay, Clarke, and what about the rest of British society? Do they or do they not share many of the same grievances?
I don't think the rest of British society is composed of Nazi sympathizers, no. For the same reason that I didn't assume the people responsible for the BLM riots were a representative sample of the American population (as was borne out by BLM's legislative irrelevance the moment the fires were extinguished).
You will note that Andrew made a great distinction between the rioters and Nazis, etc. and the bulk of society who (if I read Andrew correctly) greatly sympathize with the discontent. So, my question is whether, once you discount the Nazi, etc. minority, you believe with Andrew that much of society does, indeed sympathize and that that is not a "far right" thing but a society thing? So, do you agree with Andrew or do you not?
I think it's an error to project the specific motivations of the rioters onto the British population at large, who - if they greatly sympathize with the discontent specifically expressed by the rioters - would surely have broken decisively for Reform UK and not the Lib Dems/Labour Party in the recent elections.
A tiny minority having a very public freakout because the country as a whole is moving in the other direction is far from unheard-of.
60% of Britons think immigration is too high. That’s way more than Reform’s support. Seven of the 10 most deprived areas in Britain rioted. There’s evidence galore this isn’t a small problem
Back in July, on this site I wrote the following: "We should be concerned about what is taking place politically in the United States. However, greater concern should be focused on what is taking place in Europe, England and Ireland. Immigration conflict is no longer brewing just below the political surface. The Political bubbles have reached the surface. This is not going to end well."
Enjoyed reading MacDougall's article. It was succinct, he managed to get most of it correct. I do believe that the main stream media get it wrong when they describe those who protest against immigration. Main stream media tend to describe these individuals as "far right". On July 27 in England, over 50,000 of these were so called "far right", were attending a meeting in Trafalgar Square in London. I paid close attention to that gathering. The so called "far right" were peaceful, they were from different nationalities, had different skin colours and different accents. They had two things in common they were all Brits and they were all pissed off that various British Governments paid them no heed. Especially on illegal immigration, high cost of living, high cost of housing, difficulties accessing their health system and that their governments were paying to house, feed, and clothe illegal immigrants in expensive hotels. Does this sound familiar?
Governments and politicians rarely spend time in coffee shops or small diners. Politicians and bureaucrats tend to pontificate, not listen. The current British Government is so far to the left they are going to meet themselves coming the other way. Prime Minister Keir Starmer reminds me of the kid in high school, who spent too much time shoved and locked in his high school locker. He is the ultimate pontificator. Best described as a "wimp with words". This man lacks character, he is indecisive and the wrong person, elected at the wrong time for what Britain currently faces and is going to face.
There are some similarities between Britain and Canada. Brits are complaining about illegal immigration and Canadians are also doing the same. Brits are complaining about too much legal immigration and so are Canadians. British working class people are being arrested and put in jail for protesting about both of the above. In Canada? Do we remember what happened to the Freedom Convoy Protestors? Do we remember what happened to those Canadians who donated money to the Freedom Convoy Protestors? Britain and Canada are divided by the Atlantic Ocean, however, similar issues and similar governments, led by similar weak leaders do not bode well for either Britain or Canada. Britain is cursed with a left wing Government for the next five years. Canada is fortunate that we will be able to rid ourselves of our left wing Government in about 14 months. Now, that is something to be happy about!
But if the Conservatives poll 40% — usually enough for a majority government, — that means a majority of actual voters still want Leftist parties. (or the Bloc: eyeroll)
Leftism is a contagious disease with no vaccination against it. No herd immunity.
Susan, leftism is quite simply saying, "The other guy has something and I/we want it. It doesn't matter if he worked for it; what matters is that I/we don't have it."
I don't recall the author of this quote, but it goes something like "if there are real problems in society and reasonable people will not deal with them, then unreasonable people will."
David Frum said a version of this in the Atlantic.
Politicians of all stripes in all places say they will make change, but little changes and the river continues on its course. It makes me wonder if politicians can no longer control the bureaucracy (if they ever did) and the bureaucracy continues to plough on regardless of what the politicians say and the people want.
Here in Canada how will PP create a sea change in the public service?
Allen, my prescription is to start with some high profile executions, er, firings. Then start actually downsizing the swivel service and close some crown corps (yes, yes, we know about the CEEB but there are others). Oh, and consultants? Yup, them too.
One additional minor comment on the scene described in the article.
Governments only have so much bandwidth. Ours, it seems to me, spends much of its available capacity on might be described as feel good sanctimony, usually delivered with a '...if you don't agree with us on this policy, point, programme, you are a racist, a classist, a fascist, an anti-environmentalist, a climate denier and on it goes...'. Delivery of a programme, policy or even simple government functions, is a lesser matter. On to the next 'good thing'.
Our present government in Canada could give a masterclass on all this.
In future, I'd be far happier with fewer announcements, fewer admonishments to do the right thing, believe the right thing, support the right thing, and a little more effort in delivering policy and programmes.
Problem is, much of what would make me happy isn't exactly newsworthy. It is simply government doing the job for which it is intended to do. And, of course, much of what government does is multiyear, long term stuff that is difficult to get excited about every other day. Defence blundering, for example, will take many, many years to resolve if global geopolitics permits us that time frame. It may well not and we'll see a repeat of the blunderings made in WWI and WWII. We might pay in blood all too soon for decades of neglect and avoidance. The tinder in this one area, to maintain the metaphor, is piled high and deep and, alas, is alarmingly dry.
Kind of sounds like what Biden has done last 3 1/2 years. Quietly gotten shit done. Only problem is that people don't notice that important governance is being done. Look where its gotten Biden. But maybe that's the point. Maybe if politicians focused on great governance and not on staying in power, we would get much better results. What's the old saying, democracy is a terrible way to organize your political system, except it is better than all the other ways.
Hallelujah Ian!
There is a wonderful Newfoundland song called “Thank God we’re surrounded by water” . It allows Canadians to enjoy the luxury of blaming the other bastards ( to quote The Line Gurus) rather than do something to solve the problem. The French Quebec version of water are its language policies, while Canada relies on a bunch of arcane immigration policies and risk averse burrocrats to delay those who can actually afford airline tickets.
The hard truth is that you can’t have a country without the ability to keep strangers out, just like you can’t have private property without the ability to forcefully repel those who would take it from you. The ruling class in Canada may well come to regret having disarmed the populace when they find out there aren’t enough Redcoats and other uniformed personnel to maintain their vaunted “peace, order and not too bad eh government. The Washington DC area code is 202. But then Ottawa policy makers know that already, don’t they?
As a Spanish speaker, I am always amazed at how the my Latino American acquaintances who went through the US immigration hurdles to achieve their dreams are generally quite hostile to the queue jumpers coming from the South. The supporters of open borders by and large seem to be naive idealistic young white easterners who have had everything handed to them and have no clue about the sacrifices their ancestors made to get where they are.
You missed one thing Andrew.....the police have been very selective in when they react and when they don't. The recent riots by the Romany, the Palestinian groups and the long term frustration with the cringey Just Stop Oil protesters. Nothing was done about those although recently the leader of the JSO groups have been sentenced to significant prison terms. They are, of course, appealing.
The British people have engaged in extensive historical government protests as have other western countries like France for instance and these have been revolutionary to say the least. Don't think they are not capable of this again.
This opinion and observation certainly hits the nail right on the head in any number of Western liberal democracies. I guess the question that begs to be answered by those, particularly in Canada and the US, who are currently aspiring to political office is - Are you listening?? Are you observing the tinder that has been accumulating for decades?? I certainly hope so. It's time to reinstate the old "tough love" method of governing.
RCMP is already warning the same could happen here
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/secret-rcmp-report-warns-canadians-may-revolt-once-they-realize-how-broke-they-are
It's very hard to take seriously any writer that uses the term 'far-right' unironically. Tommy Robinson is called this constantly, but let's not forget that he got his start, coming into public view taking up the cause of the young girls who were GROOMED AND RAPED, for DECADES in Rotherham and elsewhere, mainly by Pakistani immigrant men, and whose complaints were ignored by police and other local authorities FOR DECADES until Robinson and his supporters started bringing it into the light...and got denounced and arrested and jailed for doing so. If honest speech and protest is 'far-right', then we need more of it.
The British government didn't just 'lay the tinder'...they laid it out, played with matches and did their darnedest to ignore the people yelling 'smoke! Fire! Also for years, the British authorities have been far harder on Britons who simply say nasty things on social media, while turning a blind eye to actually acts of terrorism, and constant preaching of hatred and violence by Muslims. There is simply no excuse. Yes, violence in the streets is terrible. Racial prejudice is terrible but for some reason native Britons accepted foreign immigrants for years before we got to the situation we see today. Being 'fair and evenhanded' is injustice when it's very clear that the blame lies directly on the crowds of immigrants, legal and illegal, who refuse to assimilate into British culture, and the authorities that don't care.
Far-right, far left, communist, socialist, Nazis, fascist, woke wtc… what ever happened to the common sense of the middle of the road citizens?
Those of us who endorse legal immigration, jobs and a good life for all , embrace our good neighbours, without hatred and constant apologies.
We understand and endorse our country’s diversity, at the same time we can not believe the short comings and strategic direction of our government. A government who has divided us!
We , in the middle , are proud Canadians contrary to what JT claims we are. No apologies! Divisiveness was encouraged by our PM and his team.
Seems simple but to start telling the truth now will threaten those in power and so the lies, sprinkled with bits of truth will be fed to the masses by a compromised media and the beat goes on. This will end badly.
Excellent essay. Especially the part about politicians needing to LISTEN.
Politicians always justify their actions by saying they listened however a critical phase of listening is actually hearing and comprehending what you are listening to and evidence would say that this part of the equation is missing.
I’ve read a few commentaries recently about the issues behind the rioting and I have to say Andrew that you’re better at understanding the issue than many others. The same thing is going to happen in Canada and the US unless the politicians start to listen and get a handle on immigration. And not just immigration as a whole, but we must assess our values first, and what an immigrant can add to those. Too often, we have immigrants arriving in our communities with no desire to participate in traditional Canadian life, but rather they seek to ghettoize with their fellow immigrants. They choose to make Canada the way they lived in their prior lives, and the political class think they will assimilate. Many will, but many won’t, and soon Radical Islam along with incompatible cultures will destroy Canada and GB from within in the future if nothing is done to recognize it and deal with it.
"Too often, we have immigrants arriving in our communities with no desire to participate in traditional Canadian life, but rather they seek to ghettoize with their fellow immigrants."
How is this any different than in previous generations? Immigrants tend to live close to other immigrants from their place of origin. It's human nature to embrace the familiar at least initially.
The difference is that many previous waves of immigration, while distinct from one another, were not really THAT different. Yes, Eastern Europeans didn’t share a common language with existing British or French Canadians but they did share more or less the same system of values. Western Europeans would have been even more similar.
None of this is to say that cultures from other parts of the world are any better or worse, they just have more to adapt to than previous generations did. It will take much more time for these cultures to assimilate into the Canadian mosaic which will naturally result in more concentrated centres for these cultures in Canadian cities.
Yea, I can see JT coming out and saying: "Dear Canadians, due to our insane policies we are broke, and we can't rise taxes anymore without crashing economy. But we have to keep giving out handouts to buy votes, therefore we will keep bringing two millions of cheap labourer every year to keep economy afloat".
Well done, Andrew.
Your penultimate paragraph starts with, "Most of all, the political class will have to stop making promises it can’t keep. It will have to stop lying."
Please allow me a correction that applies to Canada: "Most of all, the political class will have to stop making promises it absolutely refuses to keep. It will have to stop lying." I point you to the most recent promises by Canada's Immigration Minister that they will "reduce" temporary immigration but it has just hit it's largest ever volume. I pick on immigration not to relate it specifically to the troubles in the UK but instead to illustrate the deception and outright lying in our own country.
Ultimately, yes, Canadians can get pretty ornery. At the very least, PP and those around him should learn these lessons; it is absolutely too late for the current regime lead by the Face Painter to learn them and, anyway, no one would believe him even if he said the "right" words and even undertook some of the required actions. Too little - i.e. nothing - too late - i.e. never.
We are sadly not immune to any of this in Canada. I’ve long feared the growing dysfunction of our governments, politics and increasingly complicated social-stratospheres are fostering the corresponding unrest that we are seeing in UK, and can foreseeably lead to similar behaviours in Canada. The UK has struggled to contain and control the situation, and I can only hypothesize that Canada would fail miserably if/when faced with similar circumstances. Unfortunately, I fear we may be nearing that tipping point…
It seems liberal democracies the world over have reached the point of diminishing returns. The best we can hope for is relative stability and incremental change. Note I am saying change, not progress, which is a subjective judgement at best.
I am unconvinced by idealistic movements. Tired of people that fancy themselves the vanguard, the pointy end of the spear, or the true believers and defenders of the faith. Radical moderation and hopeful incrementalism with the willingness to take one step forward and two steps back with our attention on reality as it is. Maybe, just maybe, we can avoid conflagration.