Of all people, Piers Morgan has reduced me to tears this morning. It doesn’t take much, given my somewhat dubious mental state at the moment, but to hear something positive about the current Covid-19 Shit Show, from someone with, shall we say, a somewhat populist attitude to most things – well, it came as a pleasant shock. Morgan praised migrants.
For many years, we have been told by certain politicians that migrants were all bad. They came here, claimed benefits as well as taking our jobs at the same time. Not only that, some of them had dark skin, too. Anyway, our country was full. As chief populist Nigel Farage put it, Britain was at breaking point. Now, our loved ones and friends’ lives depend, at least in part, to migrants.
Something like 140,000 NHS employees come from overseas, representing roughly 15% of the work force. My experience is that whilst populist right wing politicians gain applause from people when foreigners are blamed for all our ills, the same people don’t seem to be that indisposed to them when their lives depend on it. Funny that. Suddenly, that Pakistani doctor, that nurse from the Philippines, that Somalian cleaner don’t seem so alien.
Whilst it is true that there are still people who announce that they do not wish to be treated by doctors and nurses of colour, the overwhelming majority of people welcome the best efforts of anyone suitably qualified whose only aim in life is to make people better.
Two years ago, I went through a minor procedure at Southmead hospital and the operating theatre was like the United Nations building. An Asian doctor, a Kiwi anaesthetist and nurses from Spain were all administering the finest care. The colour and accents of the medical staff were of zero concern to me. Anyway, I always like the idea of the world in one place, which is why I love London so much.
Every Thursday night, many of us applaud our wonderful NHS staff and I doubt very much whether we are thinking that we are clapping only for ‘true Brits’ and not those wretched foreign people, saving lives and putting us back together again.
You see, migration can be a wonderful thing. Although I was born in Bristol, my paternal grandfather wasn’t. He came here with this brothers to set up the Mustad nail factory in Portishead and later worked as an office clerk well into his seventies. My mother came here from the Netherlands, always worked in retail and never once claimed benefits. When my mum was incapable of managing her own affairs, she went into residential care run and owned by a wonderful man from Mauritius.
I hope that, when this awful crisis is over, we will rethink so much about our lives, to focus on the things that bring us together and not those which divide us. And to put behind the last five years when politicians and various media outlets have told us foreigners are bad people and we should have nothing to do with them.
When it comes down to it, we are all equal when we are born. It’s what happens along the way that shapes and defines us. And under the skin, we are all Africans.
