Southport and the inescapability of politics
by Ben Sixsmith, Artillery Row:
There is nothing essentially wrong with talking about immigration.
I sympathise with people who find it ghoulish that in the aftermath of the horrific murder of three young girls at a dance class in Southport discourse has surrounded not the victims but the killer and his heritage. This seems doubly true after anti-immigration protestors left dozens of police officers injured after violence erupted when a balaclava-clad man with a flick knife was arrested near a vigil.
Yet a question must be asked. When is it okay to discuss immigration in the context of an event? When is it okay to discuss immigration following the brutal stabbing of a uniformed soldier in Kent? When was it okay following a Moroccan refugee’s savage killing of a Hartlepool pensioner in the name of Palestine? When was it okay following the Afghan refugee Abdul Ezedi’s alkaline attacks? What about Valdo Calocane’s triple murder in Nottingham? Mohammad Farooq’s attempted bombing of St James’ Hospital? Bear in mind that I’m only talking about events from the last couple of years.
The answer, of course, is that for left-leaning politicians and commentators there will never be a good time. To draw a link between violent events and immigration is considered unacceptable not just in certain contexts, or in certain forms, but as a whole.
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