{"id":73774,"date":"2015-09-06T19:30:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T03:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=73774"},"modified":"2015-09-06T19:30:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T03:30:36","slug":"peter-hitchens-we-wont-save-refugees-by-destroying-our-own-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=73774","title":{"rendered":"PETER HITCHENS: We won’t save refugees by destroying our own country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Hitchens writes<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Every one of the posturing notables simpering \u2018refugees welcome\u2019 should be asked if he or she will take a refugee family into his or her home for an indefinite period, and pay for their food, medical treatment and education.
\nIf so, they mean it. If not, they are merely demanding that others pay and make room so that they can experience a self-righteous glow. No doubt the same people are also sentimental enthusiasts for the \u2018living wage\u2019, and \u2018social housing\u2019, when in fact open borders are steadily pushing wages down and housing costs up.
\nAs William Blake rightly said: \u2018He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer.\u2019
\nBritain is a desirable place to live mainly because it is an island, which most people can\u2019t get to. Most of the really successful civilisations survived because they were protected from invasion by mountains, sea, deserts or a combination of these things. Ask the Russians or the Poles what it\u2019s like to live without the shield of the sea. There is no positive word for \u2018safety\u2019 in Russian. Their word for security is \u2018bezopasnost\u2019 \u2013 \u2018without danger\u2019.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a thousand years of uninvaded peace, we have developed astonishing levels of trust, safety and freedom. I have visited nearly 60 countries and lived in the USSR, Russia and the USA, and I have never experienced anything as good as what we have. Only in the Anglosphere countries \u2013 the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand \u2013 is there anything comparable. I am amazed at how relaxed we are about giving this away.
\nOur advantages depend very much on our shared past, our inherited traditions, habits and memories. Newcomers can learn them, but only if they come in small enough numbers. Mass immigration means we adapt to them, when they should be adapting to us.
\nSo now, on the basis of an emotional spasm, dressed up as civilisation and generosity, are we going to say that we abandon this legacy and decline our obligation to pass it on, like the enfeebled, wastrel heirs of an ancient inheritance letting the great house and the estate go to ruin?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Hitchens writes: Every one of the posturing notables simpering \u2018refugees welcome\u2019 should be asked if he or she will take a refugee family into his or her home for an indefinite period, and pay for their food, medical treatment … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73775,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73774\/revisions\/73775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}