Life in the Aquarium and immigration furore

The mundane tasks of the day involved correspondence regarding past company visits, the initiation of marketing material design for another German client, collating material and organisation of Mr McArthur's book with the printers.

After a quick luncheon of pineapple slice topped with cheddar grilled on toast, it was off to Stansted Airport to collect Master T, returning from Bonn for Easter.

Upon my return, my curiosity about my small aquarium reached a critical point. Set up on Saturday with sea water and sand from Hunstanton, the initially turbid waters had cleared within a day. A small 2mm rod like crustacean had been in evidence on Sunday and Monday but not seen since. My concern was that the incident heat on the sunny days might have caused a tank sterilisation.

Lateral illumination into the tank did reveal the occasional microscopic motile mote, but was there more there? I arranged the tank under the stereoscopic microscope, the water depth in the aquarium being such that the focus could reach right down to the sand layer.

Looking through at the bryozoan skeletons planted in the tank, I was astonished to see at least two sub-millimeter bivalves in the branches. Their long tube-like feet were actively extruded and questing the surrounding environment and the molluscs were actually climbing around the branches! The rod like crustacean also made a brief appearance befor going back into hiding. I was reassured!

The news today reported the apparent disagreement between Mr Cameron, the Prime Minister and Mr Cable, Business Secretary, on the issue of immigration. The comments sent in and made by listeners to Mr Harper's Radio Show, were predominantly anti-immigrant, with accusations of taking jobs and benefits from the resident UK population.

Being more comfortable with facts, I conducted a search for more reliable information on the effects of immigration and found three interesting references:

1. There was no immediate net benefit to immigration according to the House of Lords Select Committee report at http://goo.gl/EjDaw. Benefits would accrue with time due to the overall expansion of the economy, but without affecting the wealth of the average individual
2. Employment & wages for newly arrived ethnic minorities were dramatically lower than for UK and non-UK white individuals, as reported in Home Office Online Report 05/03 http://goo.gl/ZY9k4
3. Four times as many non-UK born individuals gained employment that UK-born in last quarter of 2010. Labour Market Statistics http://goo.gl/LH8QE

Immigration into the UK has actually been falling over the past four years. On average, immigrants are better qualified and better paid (BBC Question Time this Thursday). But if you are from an ethnic minority you earn significantly less and are less likely to get employment. This discrepancy does diminish and disappear as the individuals from ethnic minorities become established, though this takes about 20 years.

The harsh current economic climate has sharpened the more xenophobic feelings towards new immigrants within the general population, portraying the immigrants as job and benefit snatchers. Unfortunately, the solution, which is a better educated UK workforce able to take up available job vacancies, is too remote to impact on these views.