This article was originally published in The Courier on 19th July 2014.
Nick
& Margaret: Too Many Immigrants?: Tuesday
and Wednesday, BBC One
The
Great Big Romanian Invasion: Thursday,
BBC One
Paul
Whitelaw
Few would argue that immigration is
at the forefront of the news agenda. That's because organisations
such as the BBC constantly push it there. They were banging this knackered
drum again last week with two documentaries which sought to address
the issue once and for all.
The first was Nick & Margaret:
Too Many Immigrants?, a nauseatingly titled “social experiment”
in which Alan Sugar's Apprentice sidekicks paired five sets of
UK-born citizens with various immigrants to ascertain whether –
ghastly rhetoric alert - they're a “gain or drain” on Britain.
I'm surely not alone in saying that
no one is better qualified to tackle the complex subject of
immigration than two wealthy white capitalists, one of whom lives in
France and presents an afternoon quiz show.
Their baffling involvement aside, the
programme's worst crime was its lazy, reductive, tiresome
predictability. The British-born citizens coughed up the usual Daily
Mail-fed opinions before coming to the conclusion that – hey! -
these immigrants are actually a decent, hard-working lot after all. With
minimum effort, it managed to patronise both participants and viewers
in one fell swoop.
The answer to the teeth-grinding question
posed in the title was always going to be a resounding “NO”. As
pointed out by the qualified experts who popped up to deliver actual
facts and evidence, Britain's housing problem and crime rates
categorically can't be blamed on its immigrant population.
Cheap and manipulative thought it
was, the programme at least had its heart in the right place in that
it sought to present viewers with a positive view rather than
irresponsible conjecture. If it broadened a few narrow minds in the
process, then job done. Indeed, that aspect alone saved it from total
redundancy.
Sadly, however, the likes of John –
one of those paranoid bores who thinks British culture is under
threat of extinction – will always exist. He graciously tipped his
hat to the Filipino care worker with whom he was paired, but it was
obvious he'd never change his mind on immigration. People like him
are immune to reality.
The best participants by far, if only
on account of their ludicrous views, were Ted and Margaret, a retired
couple living in an ethnically diverse part of London. Paired with a
Pakistani couple who run an adult education course for immigrants,
they argued that such schools just encourage people to move into
their area. Yeah, flippin' foreigners, coming over here and having
the audacity to learn our language. They also felt that immigrants
shouldn't have access to the NHS, an attitude almost heroic in its
bone-headed lack of compassion.
Ted had the droning voice of a born
complainer, while Margaret was wearily dumbstruck from years of
ill-informed anxiety. Still, their eyes were opened by a visit to a
local mosque. Ted was pleasantly surprised by how peaceful it was.
“There's nothing sinister going on.” What was he expecting, a
scene from The Wicker Man?
I particularly enjoyed the moment
where Ted complained that, thanks to immigration, traditional suits
and ties are a thing of the past. Cut to his new Pakistani
acquaintance strolling alongside him wearing a traditional suit and
tie. Ted was wearing neither. Beautiful.
Incidentally, I'm aware that by
poking fun at the likes of Ted, I'm guilty of being as judgemental as
he is. That's the manipulative power of television for you.
In The Great Big Romanian
Invasion, journalist Tim Samuels, himself of Romanian extraction,
looked behind those scaremongering media reports about millions of
eastern Europeans swamping Britain.
Adopting a wry yet sympathetic tone,
he joined Keith Vaz and reporters at Luton Airport on January 1st
to greet an expected flood of new Romanian immigrants. Famously, only
one turned up. A bemused pig farmer, he went from being a media
darling to a hounded hate figure in the space of a week. Welcome to
Britain, chum.
No comments:
Post a Comment