Immigrate, integrate, repeat.

Watching the debates last night made me think about my immigration opinion. The rise of parties like UKIP and, more worryingly, the BNP makes it even more important. Writing my opinions down on this will be hard, seen as my views are more coherent than foundational. They don't really rest on one premise, rather my argument rests on history and the lessons we can learn from history. Deciding where to start on this topic isn't easy.

Aristotle saw the birth and growth of the city-states like Athens and Sparta in a fairly natural way. He thought that tribes would come together and form villages, those villages would come together and form trading relationships and as they grew would form towns. Subsequently those towns would grow and those in closest proximity to each other would eventually form the Polis (city-state).

It makes me think about Scottish history. Clans that fought, then came together under different celtic, pictish and other kings. They fight and then they have a common enemy and come together and eventually they form a country which eventually becomes the Scotland we know today.

With all this in mind, I can't help but think borders are completely arbitrary. When UKIP and BNP members and supporters talk about the flood of immigrants taking their jobs, why do they think it is any worse for someone from India to take a job in your area than it is for a local migrant, someone from Glasgow say, to take a job in London? I imagine that not too long ago people in Glasgow might have complained about people coming from Kilmarnock and "taking their jobs".

I expect the answer to that point will be that the local migrant is just that, local. They are from the same country. I would like to ask then, what is so special about being from this country? Does it make you a better person? They can't honestly claim that locals are more consistently morally righteous. The only advantage I can honestly see a local person having over an immigrant is that they speak the language and have immediate experience with the culture.

For practical reasons, easier running of society and for efficiency in the workplace it seems obvious they should speak the language. I can't help but feel ignorant when I go abroad and can't speak the local language, and that's only a holiday. If I were moving abroad I'd definitely make an effort to learn the language.

Who would I stop coming into the country then? Well, I'd be much more liberal than we already are. I would require two criteria be met - they speak English, and have no criminal convictions. We don't want to look after criminals we don't have to, we don't ship our criminals abroad so we should have the right to expect other countries don't try this with us. The language thing for reasons explained above. The culture thing I don't see as incredibly important, they'll come to be familiar with it eventually.