LyrArc Article Gist
The huge failure to tackle insulation of British homes in several schemes launched for energy security by first Cameron and then Johnson, are shown here in The Guardian. Many businesses in the insulation industry closed in 2013 with the neglect from the Cameron government. In a recent energy security plan the administration of Boris Johnson failed to show a plan for insulation of British homes. As a result of this neglect over a decade the British homes are among the leakiest in Europe when it comes to insulation. Labor party has announced a plan to insulate 2 million homes in the first year alone in response, and to do this over 10 years at the cost of 60 billion pounds. Italy has a plan where it pays 110% for the cost of insulation, replacing boilers, installing heat pumps, installing solar panels, for Italian homes. It has cost 17.5 billion pounds so far. One or two year programmes are insufficient and likely to fail. The flipflopping of Mr. Cameron on green energy the worst kind of solution. This is because something like a ten year programme is needed to get serious results in energy efficiency for homes in Britain. To retrofit new building 30,000 skilled workers are needed, to install efficient new heating systems 60,000 new technicians. There is a stagnating level of technical skills of this kind in the UK as a result of neglect and lack of a well executed strategy. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
After meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Finance Minister and the Business Secretary Alok Sharma prime minister Johnson is keen on getting things to as normal as possible in the summer to save jobs. About 3 million jobs could be lost, some permanently if businesses cannot open by summer, especially in the hospitality industry. This could push unemployment up from 1.3 million  to 2 million. The Times reports that at one point in the meeting Johnson said "Christ!" In mid March after he had the virus and Britain saw a surge in cases Johnson made health a priority even quoting Cicero in Latin that the health of the nation was the priority. Now this is changing with the jobs situation becoming a major risk. Much of the loss of jobs is likely say experts in the red wall districts that Johnson took from the Labour party in the election, and the prime minister feels a special responsibility to these districts. Johnson also said at one point about youth unemployment 18 to 24 years that is bleak, that he wanted to have an apprenticeship for every young person. The critical R rate is higher in the northwest and the southwest of England, compared to London. In England overall it is between 0.7 and 0.9. It needs to be around 1 to avoid spreading the virus.  As part of the social distancing guidelines ministers are also discussing changing the distancing on public transport so that it is 1 metre instead of 2 metres, so that reopening to get back to close to normal can be done sooner.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Germany is struggling to deal with the 2.4 million asylum seekers entering the country since 2015. It is getting overwhelmed by the scale of migrants even though immigrants are needed in parts of the economy. In Austria and Poland new restrictions are being placed to stop migrant flow. Denmark has a socialist government that is restricting migrants from entering the country. Britain under Starmer and Labour has made cutting migrant flow a major priority, the Tories failure to cut migrants flow led to its defeat in 2024.

LyrArc Article Gist
The general elections of 2015 show a nation divided, with Labor strong in the north of England and the Midlands, the conservatives in the south of England, the SNP in Scotland, and the UKIP competing for votes with Labor in the north of England. The election also raised questions about seats and representation in the voting system when SNP gained 56 seats with 1.5 million votes, half the votes cast for UKIP, and UKIP gaining only 1 seat. The Conservatives won a majority of the seats, 330 seats with a third of the popular votes. Voters distrusted both the Conservatives and the Labor party but distrusted Labor more, says Malik, and decided to stay with the Conservatives. Malik reminds readers that as late as 1992, Conservatives won a third of the popular vote in Scotland, and close to half of the votes till the 1950's. Now there is only one Conservative member of parliament from Scotland. Labor suffered a severe defeat in its base in Scotland with the SNP gaining 56 of 59 seats. Labor also lost the seat that was previously held by former prime minister Gordon Brown. On the EU the election promise of prime minister Cameron to hold a referendum on Britain staying in the EU in 2017, creates more uncertainty. David Cameron put the situation in the right words- " I want to reclaim the mantle that we should never have lost, the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom....

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in The Times shows that from April to October the Tory red wall seats in the north of England have been hit hard by the coronavirus, much harder than the south of England. The infection rates in October are about three or four times in the north of England. The second lockdown came earlier in the north, in Liverpool Greater Manchester and Yorkshire. The result is that instead of levelling up the great disparities in wealth and income that are seen between the south, London and the north of England the gap is widening under the impact of coronavirus. Deindustrialization in the north after their prominent role in Britain's industrial revolution was followed by the same type of decline seen in parts of the American midwestern states. Imports from China and globalization, hit these areas in a sort of second wave, just as America was hit first by the wave of Japanese imports, followed by an even bigger wave of imports from China and complete loss of manufacturing. With it the loss of well paying jobs for workers in manufacturing and the decline of industrial cities. Influx of cheap labor from other parts of the European Union also affected the north. The result is that the popularity of Boris Johnson and the Conservatives with 58% approval rating in April in the north of England is replaced by a rating of about 31% in October 2020. The 40 Tory MP's in the Northern Research Group expressed their serious concern to the prime minister. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Reports suggest voter turnout of young people 18-24 was close to 70%. With most of the new voters, about 2 million 19-34 year olds registered to vote in the weeks before the election according to the Electoral Commission, drawn into politics by the simplicity and style of Labor leader Corbyn. One voter says young people voted because Labor did not sneer at them, recalling the negative tactics employed in the campaign and the likability of Labor leader Corbyn because he refused to respond. The National Union of Students and organizations such as UpRising, Hope Not Hate, Bite the Ballot, pushed young people into involvement. The election for students was more about the impact of Tory cuts to education, health, and other services, and about the future for generations to come. Students were deeply upset about the results of the EU referendum. The result is that in places where students were predominant such as Newcastle East and Central, Manchester Withington and Central, Cambridge and Canterbury, the turnout jumped  to give Labor wins in the north of England, and in London. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Politico magazine says wealth inequality is a worse situation than a country's income inequality. By this measure the situation has deteriorated badly in the U.S. It cites a study by Thomas Piketty of France with Saez and Zucman, showing that a shocking 75% of household wealth, and 97% of capital income-income generated from dividends, interest and capital gains- is concentrated in the top 10% of households in America. More shocking it says is another study showing that nearly 50% of American households could not come up with $400 in an emergency to meet and unexpected expense, while a tiny fraction controls trillions of dollars in assets. Why is this important? Beyond the obvious short term immediate needs there is the need to build a plan for the future, to be resilient in the face of a job loss or major illness, to seek higher education for job retraining,  to save for a home to retire.  In America the history shows that for most of its history since the founding fathers, in the 1750's the situation was that of a rising tide for all sections of society interrupted by the breakdown during post tech boom failures in the 1890's and 1930's. This is embodied in the Declaration of Independence itself the perception of this as something to be taken for granted- "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights ..." One proposal is for a universal income. Others are for employees to have ownership in the business that they work for and contribute their skills. Setting up Permanent Funds that pay dividends to all citizens of a state. Some of these proposals are being considered in Britain by the Labour Party, and Democrats in the U.S. as they forge ways to tackle the rising inequality in Britain after a decade of austerity cuts, and in the U.S. after the tech boom and regional inequality.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This leader in The Economist magazine says a hard Brexit of the sort announced by Theresa May at a Conservative Party conference is clearly bad for Britain. It also point out that half of British people voted to remain. It is not clear that voters have voted for a hard Brexit, a soft Brexit, or voter alienation with elites and effects of years of austerity since the financial crisis have helped tilt the vote to Brexit. It points out that the rhetoric may be damaging Britain's chance of negotiating a Brexit that limits damage to GDP, which the Treasury estimates to be nearly twice the loss in GDP if a member of a single market as compared to leaving it. British government leaders may be overestimating the willingness of leaders of France, Germany and other countries to make concessions. By talking up to their party base politicians such as May may be putting German and French leaders to also toughen their positions on free movement as an integral principle of the European Union, and consequently of membership in a single market. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The question what does the Remain Campaign do to tackle Leave's message of "Tell them again," is essential for the second referendum on Brexit to lead to a way out of the endless wrangling. The Times looks at this and comes up with the message - "Tell it to Stop" to address the growing fatigue with endless infighting in the Conservative Party and in Britain of some Leave voters. Many Leave voters now say they know better. The Conservative Party is more divided on the issue than ever and the infighting is only getting worse, turning off some Leave voters.  At the same time The Times suggests hiring some disenchanted Leave supporters to the Remain campaign, and moving it out of Remain supporting London. New connection has to be made with Leave voters concerns about unrestricted immigration into Britain. Voters who are concerned about Britain's place in the world, and any disconnect with EU leaders in France and Germany should also be addressed in a way that sends a positive image. A new face in Germany with AKK, Kramp-Karrenbauer as chancellor, would also help as the migration issue is made less toxic and a new framework of international relations is emphasized that reestablishes Britain's place in the world.  Remain has to have a strong message to counter "Tell them Again" to offer a way out of a mind boggling mess. This would include the ten or more years Britain would have to work its way through in negotiations related to complex issues, to make Brexit work, by which time much of the world will have moved on. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This view in the Economist shows that president Trump actually represented the instincts of the Republican party base by 2018- anti-immigrant, anti-elitist, and to the right on social issues. As a result it says it is no surprise that he has taken over the Republican party. As the elections for Congress get closer most candidates are trying to get Trump's support and many of the older senators and Congressman from the earlier period of the party are retiring. It cites polls showing Trump has support of 85% of the Republican party base. In 2018 Mr. Trump appointed new members of his cabinet who more closely represented his views on China, Iran, NATO, and business issues. Remaining party leaders such as Mr. Romney running for Senate seat from Utah are now seeking and getting Trump's endorsement. The Republican National Committee is also run by Trump supporters. On issues of foreign affairs Trump has combined alternate shifts between demands and pragmatism in relations with China, Iran, and other countries on trade, politics, coming up with a new way international relations are tackled. Part of the reason for their appeal is the nature of the intractable problems such as the imbalances in trade, nuclear weapons, and the idea that an alternative approach might work when other approaches have failed.  On social issues such as issues facing workers in globalization and free trade the parties to the left in the U.S. and countries in western Europe have failed to deliver, leading to the appeal of Mr. Trump, Brexiters, National Front in France.  The immigration issue has also worked against the socialist parties.  In Britain dissatisfaction with Theresa May and hard core Brexiters is growing, leading to Labor Party getting 40% of the vote in the recent election. Suggesting that the changes induced by the Brexiters and the Trump administration may lead to other changes in the future that may shift the focus back to basic issues and delivery on infrastructure, health and education which are fundamental for the future.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
David Walker, a former official of the central bank and the British Treasury, takes over as chairman of Barclays bank in Britain. Walker was part of British government required reviews of the financial industry and an inquiry into RBS. He has argued for better disclosure, and is well respected in British banking. Walker will have to find a replacement for Bob Diamond, the CEO, who resigned following the LIBOR rate manipulation investigation.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jose de Cordoba of the WSJ provides this excellent story on the nature of the migration crisis in the U.S. that is creating political divisions in the U.S. What is causing this surge in migration to the U.S.? Cordoba provides some useful insights to understand the nature of this problem. Nine out of ten migrants in Guatemala which sends most of the migrants from Central America are moving north from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. for financial reasons, it points out. Only 10% are because of violence in the region, the rest for financial reasons according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration The jump in apprehension of Guatemalans at the American border shows a surge from 15,000 in 2007 to 236,000 in 9 months of 2019, according to U.S. government data. The surge began in 2008 and jumped in 2014 after U.S. court rulings that first required migrant children to be allowed to join relatives in the U.S. followed by a ruling in 2015 that allowed a parent to join the children and allowed court proceedings to take place that takes years. The result was that smugglers advertised on radio and families sold small plots of land to join relatives in the U.S. who had gone before them. The migration is also specific to certain areas hit by damage to crops, including coffee crop from drought, or certain towns that simply sent more people simply for financial reasons advertised openly.  For 8 hours of work a migrant could make at $12 per hour amount of $96 per day, in Guatemala the daily wage would be about $5.  Overwhelmingly it is financial reasons or economic opportunity that sends migrants north. After it became known that kids could help migration the people in family groups apprehended at the border jumped from about 40,000 in 2015 to 390,000 in fiscal 2019. Smugglers charge $8600 per adult and half that for a child and an adult that can be dropped off at a checkpoint. The efforts of president Trump to close the border to this migration include having Mexico sign an agreement to police its southern border with Guatemala using its newly setup National Guard. As a result the migration has actually surged in 2019 with migrants seeing this as their one last opportunity to join relatives in the U.S. or to migrate to the U.S. The Trump administration tried separating families because of the loophole in the law that allows children to be not deported and parents to join their children. But this created a public outcry and the effort now is to close the loophole in the law. It is also strange that as many migrants are coming from one town Joyabaj  with population 100,000 as from Guatemala City the capital population 2.5 million. In fact the economy has grown by 3.4 % a year in Guatemala and efforts have been made to improve conditions with the help of donor countries in the West for several years, though the drought conditions exist. The situation is similar to that in Europe. If one looks at the violence by gangs in central American region after the end of the guerilla wars and compares it to the wars in Syria and Iraq, one can see how humanitarian concerns preceded what eventually turned out tobe a full blown migration for economic reasons. Initially chancellor Merkel adopted a humanitarian stance but failed to recognize that there was another side to his situation that would attract a wave of economic migrants from places as far apart as North Africa to Afghanistan. Poverty has existed in these regions for many many years before the current migration, with drought and lack of economic opportunity going far back in time. Merkel only recently recognized this problem and the new CDU leader Kambrauer has clearly recognized this. CDU policy shifted in 2018-2019 with curbs on economic migration that has reduced it to a trickle. This process is underway in the U.S. at its border with Mexico and for Mexico with its border with Guatemala. In the short run Europe and the U.S. are paying a price. Not just in the way it has divided each country with a far left and a far right eroding the centrist parties that existed before. In some cases centrist parties that were popular on the right and the left now hve leaders from a far right or a far left faction within the centrist ruling parties. Boris Johnson in Britain, Trump in the U.S., leaders in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Or as in Germany and Spain new far left or far right parties causing the centrist parties to dwindle in influence or as in Germany this combined with a shift to the Green Party in Germany and Liberals Party in Britain as a show of disapproval for how the migration issue has been tackled.  The Economist in a July 2019 issue also points out that the country's own citizens have fared worse with migration. It shows how the Conservative Party's austerity cuts for welfare budgets was popular in Britain as long as eastern European migration at high levels in Britain were allowed starting with the Labour party under Blair. This disproportionately hurt the middle class and the poor after the hit already taken from the faulty banking caused recession. With the drop in migration it is now felt by a majority in Britain that the austerity cuts have just gone too far and a mood is set in to restore many of the cuts and fund public services. Meantime some of the damage has been done and will take a decade to correct as the issues that mangled the centrist parties and led to fragmentation on views of what society should look like have taken place with Brexit and high levels of poverty, income inequality in Britain, lack of investment in infrastructure with overallocation to tech with declining productive benefit for every additional dollar spent. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Brexit and Scotland's referendum both have similar consequences economically for Britain and Scotland. This hurts both countries in unwinding relationships built over many years, unwinding 44 year membership for Britain, and 310 year union for Scotland. Britain exports to EU are 45% of total exports, and for Scotland the number is 63% for exports to the rest of the UK.  Scots benefit about 1200 British pounds more for average citizen than a average citizen of UK, and pay 400 pounds less to the government. Scotland would start with a 90% debt to GDP ratio if it takes a proportionate share of UK government debt from the beginning of independence. Fidler correctly points out the economic risks to Britain and Scotland which are being ignored or not fully taken into account by politicians.

LyrArc Article Gist
Gordon Brown outlines Scotland's shared interests with the rest of Britain at the time of a referendum on Scotland's independence. He describes Scotland's key role in the shipping industry and the industrialization of Britain, the period since the loss of the shipping industry, and the search for alternative sources of employment and development in a period of globalization. A key figure for Brown is the average income of people in Scotland, which is similar to that of its neighbors in England, showing that development has kept pace with the rest of Britain. For Brown it is these social and economic rights that underpin the union of different ethnic peoples and heritage of Irish, Scottish and English origins.

LyrArc Article Gist
The vote on the A.V. or Alternative Voting system based on proportional representation is causing a split in the Liberal Democrat- Conservative coaltiion government. Liberal Democrats favor the A.V. because it estimates that under that system it would have won 30 more seats in addition to the 57 it won in the last election. This was also a key condition of the Liberal Democrats to join the government. Now Liberal Democrat Vince Cable and others are saying they see a Labor- Liberal Democrat coalition as a "progressive majority" preferable to an alliance with the Conservatives, which only gives power to " a right wing clique that wants to keep things as they are." This is happening as Britain faces local elections, and the Liberal Democrat participation in the government is becoming deeply unpopular with the rank and file party members.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Times looks at the needs of small business and workers in the West Leeds constituency of Rachel Reeves, Britain's finance minister, before the first Labour party budget in decades.

Issues of higher employer contributions for small business, and higher tax from no change in tax brackets, are cited by the owner of 2 gym locations.

Child care is important for working mothers. A business consultant says the local transport system needs investment. Cheaper funding and VAT reduction for a coffeeshop is he started is important for a web designer. A children's shoe shop owner says a tram system for Leeds like the one in Manchester is needed as the decision for a super bus in Leeds made 25 years back clearly has not worked. A rail or Metrorail to Leeds Bradford airport is needed. He also cites cutting importing red tape.

LyrArc Article Gist
Andrew Lownie's book provides glimpses into the lives of the Mountbattens, Edwina and Dickie. Mountbatten was the head of the British government in India in 1946 as negotiations were started with Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah for independent India. The Cabinet Mission (including Cripps) plan of 1946 was  to setup a federation in India with provinces in A, B, and C categories. A being the Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bombay, Madras and other parts of what is now India, B being the Punjab, Sind and what is now Pakistan, and C being the region of Bengal, what is now Bangladesh and West Bengal.This was rejected by Nehru, Sardar Patel, and the Indian National Congress, leading to  Jinnah's call for action, a civil war, and the partition of India 9 months before the plan date of June 1948, in chaotic circumstances, in a hurried manner. The legacy of that two year period is with us today in the upheavals in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, drawing the U.S. and western nations also into endless wars. The period 1939-1941 is covered when Edwina's rather aimless life upto that point changed completely with service to war wounded and for the Red Cross. She also visited the U.S. in 1941 when Mountbatten was given command of an aircraft carrier at Norfolk, Virginia, visiting 28 states. Edwina made up for he aimless years by relentlessly pushing herself to be an equal to her husband in the war effort. This has given the couple their fascinating character. It was also a period of great change as the Labour party under Clement Atlee winning a post war election made the decision to end the British Empire in India. The war had depleted British wealth and Britain lacked the resources to continue the Empire in India. The job of managing the transition went to Mountbatten, a naval officer in the Royal Navy, coming in the tumultuous years of 1946-48 with the quick partition of India under Mountbatten in 1947. Mountbatten stayed after independence in August 1947 as the first Governor General of India.  Edwina and Dickie Mountbatten struck a friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, and this review in The Hindu shows Jawaharlal, Edwina, Dickie and their daughter Pamela having tea at the residence in Shimla, 1946. Nehru's rejection of the Cabinet Mission plan leading to the appointment of Mountbatten as Viceroy was partly based on his idea that priorities for India post independence was modernizing the economy and reducing poverty. Seven decades later the priorities are still the same, following the experience of Japan, South Korea and China at modernizing the economies in east Asia requiring a greatly accelerated effort.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Gerald Seib of the WSJ says president Biden is coming back with new actions to revive the Democratic agenda after a challenging period in the first year. Yesterday's first formal press conference of 2022 gave Biden an opportunity to respond. Why the WSJ, NYT, did not cover on their online edition front pages president Biden's first formal press conference on Jan. 19, after 1 year of the Biden administration, will remain a mystery. With the American press acting this way it did not take much for Germany's DW.com to run the story with the title "Biden's first year weighed down by disappointment," with a thoughtful Biden at the press conference replaced by a picture of Biden staring downwards.  This is only the first year of the Biden administration. Actions are planned to ease the supply chain situation and bottlenecks at ports. Much is made of inflation, Afghanistan, Ukraine, by Republicans assailing the Biden record. President Biden responded to this by asking at the press conference what Republicans are for. On Afghanistan Biden held firm on not investing billions of dollars every week when there is so much need in America and the rest of the world at this time of the pandemic after a failed adventure for 20 years in "a graveyard for empires."  Biden pointed to the bright spots in 2022- vaccination and testing achievements in the face of anti-vax sentiment with 200 million vaccinated, the job creation in the economy with unemployment way down and wage increases by employers, and the $1 trillion in infrastructure spending tackling much needed projects state by state with immediate impact. Rarely has a president faced so many challenges in the first year as Biden pointed out- vaccination drive in the face of the Delta variant and anti-vax sentiment, the Ukraine crisis with a president Truman period like event of the Berlin Wall coming up just potentially around the corner, and efforts to tackle problems left untackled for a generation in infrastructure, for working families and climate change. Scoring on infrastructure spending, one of the three, with the other two for working families and climate change to be tackled in the remaining three years and beyond.  Biden also told the American audience at the press conference that he was reminded of what his father used to tell him- that if all goals are equally important, nothing is important. In saying this he said help for working families through child tax credit, child care assistance, community college education funding, health care costs, climate change investment were priorities for his administration that would be tackled step by step. And he pointed out from the outset of the conference that only one or two senators were blocking the party's plan for children and working families. All 48 other senators were united in the Democratic party behind his plans for workers and families. As were 5 Republican senators who he said he would not disclose because of confidentiality. In that sense president Biden already has the majority he needs in Congress. This is not happening because of the peculiar situation of the 2016 and 2020 elections in the US and also in Europe- the historical problem of administrations of Democrats in US, Social Democrats in Germany, and Labor in Britain having give up on their working class families and middle class roots. Tech revolution and internet has further complicated the situation with economic changes, tech companies not paying taxes normally due, and tech workers shifting to Democrats yet living in a world distant from working class families fracturing social cohesion. This is changing in Germany with Scholz in Germany with the help of the Greens determined to restore the dignity of working class families, for Biden with a similar coalition, and a process underway in Britain as Labor returns to its roots. In essence Biden was saying- the process of unwinding decades of unwise policy that hurt America as a nation and leader of the free world would take time, requiring a patient step by step approach. To bring America closer to its own roots and Jefferson's immortal words of "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Jefferson went on to say in the Declaration that when government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter it.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This WSJ editorial in September 2014 says Britain plays an important role in the world as a role model democracy. The vote to keep Britain united affirms that there is room for different stories under one nation state. Devolution it says can bring power closer to the local regions, and can be a good thing. The challenge is for the British government to come up with a workable arrangement for devolution of powers. The world needs a united Britain.

LyrArc Article Gist
Both the Tories in Britain and the Democrats in the US were caught by surprise by the sudden surge after the pandemic of illegal migrations flows in 2023-2024 which dropped to all time lows in 2019-2021 with the covid lockdowns. Tories with factional infighting and Democrats falsely believing they were virtuous humane could not take effective decisive immediate action costing them the defeats in 2024. The size of the illegal migration problem to the UK was underestimated in 2023. Tory rhetoric alone failed to convince the British public. In the US Biden not confronting it head on also failed to reassure the American people as the US Border also meant destructive Mexico/China fentanyl flows. Even today the action proposed falls short and new US bipartisan legislation is needed to make it the law of the land, closing three decades of stealth in immigration policies. ONS now estimates that it missed 166,000 people. The real figure for the year ending June 2023 for net migration was 906,000 not 748,000 as previously estimated. In the year ending June 2024 this figure for net migration was 728,000. Labour party under Keir Starmer made setting up the new structures for tackling alarming rise in migration the top priority in 2024. That lesson was not learned in the US and the issue not confronted head on to win public confidence- the Biden support for Republican Senator Lankford's legislation on illegal migrants and the border came late in 2023 and the issue was left to fester for 2 years eroding public confidence. In the US the issue of illegal fentanyl flows at the US Border and from China makes the Border and China relations issues that required effective and immediate action overriding everything else. In the end Tories confusion and internal factions, other controversies, led to lack of vigilance and lack of effective action as net migration deceptively hit lows of 254,000, 111,000, and 254,000 in the pandemic years 2019, 2020, and 2021, only to surge tremendously to 634,000 and 906,00 in the years 2022 and 2023.  Labour's Starmer took action to make it No. 1 priority in the platform going into the 2024 election winning public confidence. A similar surge in migration happened in the US after a deceptive slowdown in the pandemic, compunded by Venezuela and central American states collapsing. ...