I think that, purely because of media hype, much too much has been made of Brown's 'unintended for public consumption' observation.

One swallow does not make Spring and the observations of one woman and one politician cannot provide the basis of a general thesis about life and politics in Britain.

To attempt to do so borders on silliness!

David G

Nevertheless immigration is shaping up to be an issue in the UK.

From the Telegraph:

Quote:

"A YouGov poll yesterday showed that Mr Clegg remains personally extremely popular,

[…]

But the same poll showed that 60 per cent of voters oppose his policy of “earned citizenship.” [for illegal immigrants]

[…]

Another poll, commissioned by the MigrationwatchUK pressure group, suggested that 57 per cent of Lib Dem supporters are opposed to the amnesty plan.

End quotes

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7669296/General-Election-2010-Liberal-Democrats-immigration-policy-deters-voters-polls-show.html

And from The Atlantic:

"A recent poll showed 77 percent of Britons want immigration cut and more than half want it reduced by "a lot."

See:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/05/in-uk-an-all-too-familiar-immigration-debate/56100/

Not everybody who is uneasy about immigration levels is a bigot. Brown's categorising Ms Duffy as a "bigot" is typical of an elite out of touch with the voters.

The fat lady is indeed beginning to sing.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am an immigrant to Australia. Were I in charge of Australian immigration policy I would not have accepted me.

"In the interests of full disclosure, I am an immigrant to Australia. Were I in charge of Australian immigration policy I would not have accepted me."

Thats just sad.

StevenLmeyer, if your information comes from the UK Tory rag, who are we to comment.

Hi all, thanks for your comments - I'm the article author, and from what I can see, authors don't usually turn up in the forums.

A couple of things:

1. The Telegraph is indeed Tory, but it is also a good newspaper once you account for the bias, just as the Guardian is a good newspaper once you account for its bias in the opposite direction. The right-wing paper to avoid is the Daily Mail, which is a dab hand in confected outrage and - I suspect - only worried about cancer and property prices.

2. I've done quite a bit of election coverage (including this piece) at my blog, which you're welcome to visit:

http://skepticlawyer.com.au/

Kipp

The Atlantic is neither UK nor Tory nor a "rag". It is generally considered to be on the Left of politics.

The Telegraph was simply quoting a poll. Do you have any reason to suppose they were misquoting it? Other media quoted the same poll.

David Jennings

I was two weeks short of 51 when I arrived in 1996. If I were in charge of immigration I would not accept anyone over 40. Under the current system I probably would not have had enough points to qualify for immigration status.

Immigration is also becoming an issue in Australia. Do you want to see 36 million people living here by 2050? It seems that many Australians would prefer a lower rate of population growth.