Not sure comparing us with the Japanese works that well. Yes, both Island nations but they have always been rather insular whereas the UK has traded, and colonised, globally.

Just take a look at the Anglosphere. And the dominance of the English language. It is perhaps the cause and driving force of globalisation.

Japan exploits globalisation for its exports whilst attempting to maintain its hegemony by effectively keeping its borders secure. Not sure it is a sustainable model in the long term, given its birth rate and whilst you can argue they are investing in technology to counter that, the truth is that humans are social animals. Who thrive when they are breeding. Japan might still be 99% cruel, heathen and yellow in a hundred years but they will also be lonely old souls.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

To be fair Neil, I did tell you to just be yourself at that interview and that by blacking up and wearing a frock it wasn't a shoe-in.

Living down here does have some advantages. At least you can see them cry.

You are talking trade deals. That doesn't have to come with a inward requirement for migration at all.....As we are currently seeing and as most countries outside Europe are a testament to.

Again, that doesn't require permanent migration.

I don't know why you think these things are related. Do you think you can't get foreign food in Japan for example? Or that they can't afford their food?

With respect, of these arguments don't stand up to actual real world examples.

Edited by Stirlingsays (13 Nov 2019 8.49am)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Crowds are good. That is how humanity thrives. Why so much progress has been made over the last 100 years. But I concede I am a little odd. For me, one of the most encouraging sights I can see is a market just as it comes to the end of its trading day. Rubbish everywhere, rotten produce discarded and generally looking a mess. But a successful day. Plenty of people buying and selling, mingling, arguing. Vibrancy. Life at its fullest.

Then others come along and clear it all up, just in time for the entire show to begin again the following morning.

Beautiful. And if you add some smelly foreigners into the mix then all the better for it. Daft b******s soon start reading the Daily Mail and moaning about the next wave of migrants coming in who are not as hard-working as they are.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

LOL. My Mrs is Croatian (although fiercely defines herself as a Yugoslav Communist which is perhaps the biggest contradiction there is) but I have always, despite appearances to the contradictory, been rather cosmopolitan in outlook.

All I have ever asked for is people to be honest about matters. With declining birth-rates amongst the native population then we need the more feckless foreign types to keep on knocking the sprogs out. What I object to is the all encompassing Welfare state which seeks to smother the entrepreneurial zeal that many foreigns bring with them.

Because lets be honest, if somebody is willing to trek half-way accross the world then risk life and limb to make it accross the channel, they must have something a bit special in their make-up that can be a positive.

I refuse to eulogize about how wonderful migration is because it always brings with it stresses and strains and believe passionately in the necessity for people to be able to express opinions and support political parties opposed to the process but ultimately I believe that globalisation is here to stay and that the role of the Right is to shape how that pans out. Let's get the best ones in. If they are willing to risk it all to get here, then they should be given a chance.

Trust me, the average migrant rolling off a dinghy on the south-coast has far more in common in terms of shared values and beliefs with us than the sort of Progressive morons who onastically cheer on their arrival before doing their best to ensure they remain in poverty.

I might not be initially overly keen on them moving in next door to me or marrying into the family (although that looks more and more like the f***ing UN every year) but I salute their resilience and if I can put my own petty prejudices to one side, be willing to give them a chance to stake a claim in this septic Isle of ours.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

Millions of British men died fighting Hitler.

And just after the War, we were told there were 'gaps in the UK labour market'.....thus the UK imported men, men and more men. It started as a trickle in 1946 and has turned into a tsunami of men ( but not women) ever since.

Many of the 1946 ones started relationships with British women. The opinion of the dead British blokes was not sought.

Wouldn't the world be nicer with no dead war veterans and therefore no poppies ?

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford