A grown up conversation would not be using percentages to compare figures which are separated by a literal order of magnitude.

In 2023, boat crossings and asylum applications are approximately 68k, whilst net migration was 685k, literally 10x higher. It’s the 685k figure which covers those coming to the UK on visas to work or study, both of which require an existing job or uni place to be granted.

A grown up conversation would also not start with

Has the west turned decisively against immigration? If recent reports are anything to go by, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

Because if anything, the recent election results in the UK and France have actually been a resounding fuck you towards the culture warriors who are demonising minorities.

But if you don’t write it on a bus, who is going to read it?

The conversation should be “it barely affects us like the media says and it should take a backbench to dealing with the cost of living and the lack of taxation of the rich”

a country who spent about 400 years amassing wealth and fame by going to other countries, colonising them, and taking their resources shouldn’t be complaining about immigration.

We don’t need to have a grown-up conversation about immigration. The grown-up answer is we need immigration the whole country’s economy is based on it.

What we need to have is a grown-up realisation of that fact, but that would require those on the hard right to admit they were wrong. It’s an impossibility I’m afraid.