THE UNIVERSAL AFFLICTION OF GROWTHISM: Only This Time In a Scottish Brogue

A report by “The British Council” funded by the government to promote British values, its skills base and overseas students published a report recently that served up the same clichés that are dished out in Melboure, Victoria, Vancouver, British Columbia, or Denver, Colorado. We need immigrants to inject vibrancy into a flagging economy and prop up a “stagnating” population base or one that is not growing quite fast enough for the bottom line. Economic claims whose falsehood always seem to need the shield of multicultural propaganda and the self-evident virtue of cultural “diversity” to usher them by scrutiny. The following was my response to the report to Alistair McConachie of “Sovereignty UK” in Glasgow:

Alistair:

Re This report by the British Council. Who are these people? Some quotes from the article Published Date: 29 November 2008 http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Language-key-to-saying-39I.4744837.jp

The report says Glasgow City Council has responded "quickly and positively", recognising that the massive influx of migrants has helped to stem population decline and boost the city's economic and cultural base. Why must they stem a population decline? For Christ’s Sakes man, don’t they know they are living on island with a population density of what, one person per acre, worse than bloody Holland? Is not 61 million enough for these people. Yes Scotland is less dense than England, but is that not a blessing?

The Scottish Government, meanwhile, stresses the link between economic growth and population growth. Really? Tell that to Japan and a few other countries that are doing quite well without population growth thank you very much. Less population growth, more money to spend on productivity and infrastructure. It is not the number of workers that will support the aged that is important, but the productivity of those workers.

"Scotland has specific needs and we are developing policy on migration, Fresh Talent and population growth to help achieve our ambitious target to match average European (EU-15)] population growth over the next ten years and create a wealthier and fairer Scotland," says a spokesman. I think it can be demonstrated that the fair distribution of wealth and economic growth are inversely proportional. Enumerable and current examples abound. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the income gap between rich and poor widened substantially during the boom economy. The homeless slept in the marble entrances of multi-million dollar condominiums. In the run-up to the Whistler Olympics, the city bustles with the construction of monorails, sporting venues, housing developments----and amid the riches, beggars panhandle and menace the tourists. I felt safer in the seedier parts of Glasgow in 1970. There are economists who will back up my impressions with hard numbers. And I think the verdict on economic growth has been in along time in many countries. A rising tide may float all boats, but the flotilla scattered further afield.

PS Why is Scotland in need of cultural “diversity”? Are people not satisfied with the culture they have? Has not the culture they have contributed greatly to the world? So why duplicate the Irish mistake and attempt to smother it in its cradle? Why should people in the Commonwealth countries bother to try and keep Celtic culture alive if you people are intent on diluting it? Why would I or anyone else want to visit Dundee or Aberdeen if looks like a clone of multicultural Toronto or Edmonton? This is the irony of globalism. A diversity of sameness. Every city in the world presents the same boring buffet of cultural diversity. A Chinatown. A little Italy. A Greek town. A Polish section. A South Asian area. But nothing recognizably Scottish or whatever country you came to visit. A diversity of skin colour and language, but a uniformity of politically correct thought and opinion. The cant that these multicultural growthist propagandists spout is sickening.