What Have the Immigrants Ever Done For Us?

Right now, immigration is a central point of discussion in both political debate and cultural discourse. With the growth of right-wing parties in Britain, it seems that animosity towards outsiders is increasing every day - after all, immigrants come to our country, steal our jobs and exploit our public services, but what do they give us in return? In this bold new addition to the Provocations series, Kelvin MacKenzie speaks out about immigration in the thought-provoking, no-hold-barred manner the public has come to expect from him ... but with one crucial twist. Kelvin supports immigration. Indeed, he makes the point that many of the institutions we deem to be quintessentially British - Marks & Spencer, Stephen Fry, the NHS, the Great Western Railway and even Kelvin's former newspaper, The Sun - would not exist at all without immigration. As paranoia and misinformation corrupt British opinion, it is more important than ever to acknowledge the monumental contribution immigrants have made to this country historically, culturally, economically, politically - and continuously. Like Monty Python before us, the time has come to ask what the immigrants have ever done for us - although perhaps it would be more apt to ask what we would do without them.

Auteur

Kelvin MacKenzie has been a journalist and a businessman for more than five decades. He started on a local paper in south-east London, moved on to a news agency and then to the Daily Express, before going to Manhattan as managing editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post. He returned to become editor of The Sun for thirteen years. This was followed by a period as managing director of BSkyB and three years as MD of Live TV. Finally he established his own business - the national commercial speech station Talksport, which he sold for ?100 million - as well as founding the online video aggregator Base79 with his son, which they sold for ?50 million. He now owns the consumer action platform A Spokesman Said and writes a twice-weekly column for The Sun. He has been married twice with three children and has two stepchildren with wife Sarah