Immigration

[vernonk]

On today's Jeremy Vine Show, David Cameron said immigration has been good for Britain. Can anyone tell me in what way(s) this is true?

[Hypognosis]

Well, your closing remark, NewJudge is a truism about any society: the only jobs available (I should qualify this by specifying "to those new to working life") are the sh-tty jobs which the rest of the workforce has either put themselves through and merited themselves out of or bypassed completely by getting themselves into the more esteemable jobs, using their qualifications or years of experience.

Spot any job ads, lately, which do not specify 5 years' experience in a very narrow field of experience or a knowledge nugget which only an insider could possibly possess (EU law forces even blatant internal promotions to be wafted in front of the wider public in an advert, if I recall correctly).

What I can't get over is this thing about the unfilled jobs not engendering esteem. The same people who want the unemployed forced into these jobs never lead by example by quitting their own job and doing it themselves. It's hypocrisy, in my book.

We need to talk up the shelf stackers, cleaners, care staff and anything else people look down their noses at. But we need to go further than that - these need to stop being dead-end jobs, with no hope of promotion. Imagine having your whole lifestyle cramped by a job which you didn't freely choose.

Why do the unemployed not deserve freedom of choice of career, such as you or I enjoyed?

So, we're not a dictatorship, nobody can force the unemployed to work. I think it's down to these "wealth creators" we hear so much about to switch from trickledown to gushdown and create the kind of jobs which the higher-educated graduates *want* to do (nay, expect). This will free up the kind of jobs where qualifications are nor asked for which will suit the less academically gifted.

If schoolkids could see their own fate a bit more clearly, maybe they'd behave better, be more attentive, hard working and -competitive-. No more of this "all must win prizes" stuff. Life isn't like that.