Simply Sue: Taking Us All Back Home
Sue Papworth points out that every last one of us living in these British Isles is a migrant.
Economic migrants are a brand new phenomenon, and clearly a Very Bad Thing at that, invading our land looking for a better life the way they do.
They’ve only been around since – well, since man first stood up on his hind legs, peered around him, and made for the better looking cave on the hill he spotted over there.
When he got there, our distant ancestor (Homo Sapiens, his name was, because for some reason somebody thought our species was wise, and we’ve been disproving it ever since) spotted an even nicer cave a bit further on – and before you knew it, there were people all over the globe chasing the good life.
If we all had to go back where we came from originally, Africa would sink, because we all started out, way back, in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, and we’ve been on the move ever since.
Every last one of us in these islands is a migrant from somewhere else – the first lot walked in before the North Sea was wet, and the rest of us arrived by boat in a constant wave of invasions.
The main difference between the people arriving now and the rest of us is, they’re not landing waving swords, or shooting the incumbent monarch in the eye.
Instead, they tend to open restaurants.
The heroes of fairy tales all set out to make their fortunes – which usually involved slaying the giant, dragon or evil king next door (who clearly had rotten spin-doctors to be so badly remembered) and nicking their treasure and/or kingdom.
That was seen as A Good Thing, and they generally got rewarded with the hand of the princess in marriage and all manner of other goodies.
Tales start off with “Once upon a time there was a handsome prince (well, he was probably a thug on the make with a good publicity agent, but this is a fairy story….)”, and end up with everyone living happily ever after.
Except for the dragon.
A bit closer to now, young chaps in recent centuries set forth for the Americas or the colonies, also to make their fortunes, which was noble, heroic and enterprising of them.
That also involved slaying the inhabitants of the kingdom next door, or at any rate driving them off into the kingdom next door to that (or a reservation) – and nicking their land, livestock and anything else that wasn’t nailed down.
America is a land peopled almost entirely by economic migrants, and the colonies bristled with young Anglo-Saxons with names like Dashwood and a damn’ fine batting average who weren’t content with having invaded GB from Germany, and fancied keeping up the family tradition.
I have the uncomfortable feeling that the reason the most recent arrivals are seen as a shabby bunch rather than as folk to be highly commended for enterprise is, the beggars are not supposed to barge in on us!
That’s our job.
When the next lot of ejected refugees arrives here from Zimbabwe, skint, and having been told to go back where they came from, I wonder where we’ll expect them to go – Cheltenham, Saxony or Tanzania?
It depends how far back we’re looking. Or, to put it another way, how far forwards.
