Exodus: The Tide Of Emigration

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware...
...that one in 10 Britons are now living overseas, according to a think tank (Institute for Public Policy Research) estimate just out.
In a recent column, syndicated writer Cal Thomas says that between June 2005 and June 2006, nearly 200,000 British subjects chose to leave the country for a new life elsewhere. During the same period, 574,000 immigrants entered Britain; and that doesn't include the illegals. And now a BBC survey, published two weeks ago, reports that another 13 percent of people say they are hoping to emigrate in the near future.
The think tank says that approximately 5.5 million Britons currently live overseas. It goes on to state what they have discovered about those Britons; such as numbers migrating, where they chose to go; who they are and why they went. Australia is the first choice, with the U.S. coming close behind.
What is clear is that they comprise mostly of the young and highly skilled, with a dollop of retirees who can afford to invest in foreign property.
But, if one were to read between the lines, it appears those emigrants think that Britain, and probably most of Europe, is going downhill - fast.
I am one of those statistics in that think tank analysis. I left Britain, Scotland specifically, to come live in the U.S. but I didn't leave because I thought Britain was going to the dogs. An opportunity was offered and I grasped it. It was just another in a line of many prospects presented that required living overseas. In fact, I have lived and worked in a number of countries around the world - the U.S., France, Italy, Thailand, Australia and now back to the United States. All of them special in their own inimitable way. But I do have to say that the quality of life here is not that much better than in Scotland.
Having said that, I left nearly 14 years ago and as Cal Thomas comments, Britons give many reasons for emigrating but they all agree that life in Britain today has become unbearable "...they fear lawlessness and the threat of more terrorism from a growing Muslim population and the loss of a sense of Britishness."
Although I have been in the U.S. for 14 years, never intending to stay quite this long, I keep up with the news in Europe and read the online newspapers every day. Keeping my finger on the pulse over there, along with regular dialogue with friends and past work colleagues and a few trips over to Scotland, France and Italy, has helped me make the decision never to go back and live in Europe. If, and when I move on, Asia, Thailand in particular, seems a much more desirable destination.
I often get homesick and I miss my birthplace of Stirling in Scotland, but during my last visit, to London and Oxford, I saw startling changes, not just in the big towns but in small villages too, where ethnic groups are flourishing. It was apparent to me that the floodtide of new immigrants continues, many of them Muslims, lured by plentiful jobs and easy-to-get welfare benefits.
Muslims make up just over 3 percent of the U.K. population but their birthrate is three times that of non-Muslims.
What is really scary is that millions of asylum seekers there are about to be granted amnesty, allowing them immediate access to benefits, with taxpayers footing the bill.
Sound familiar?
It's similar to the Amnesty Bill that President Bush tried to push through and he may well try it again.
If it were to be approved, it would allow millions of illegal immigrants to claim benefits in the U.S.
Something to think about.