From the new Brexit sequel to The Life of Brian:
Theresa May: If you want to join the parliamentary front benches, you have to really hate foreigners.
Jeremy Corbyn: I do.
TM: Oh yeah? How much?
JC: A lot.
TM: Right, you’re in.
I don’t know if it’s better or worse that he probably isn’t really xenophobic. But as I observed when I first arrived in this country,
In the U.K. context, it’s barely controversial to bash legal immigrants, much less illegal immigrants. In the most recent prime ministerial debate, the one thing David Cameron and Gordon Brown agreed on was that the Liberal Democrats’ proposal of an amnesty for long-term illegal residents was simply insane and indefensible. They didn’t even have to respond to his counter-arguments, pretend that they had an alternative solution for the problem. It’s the putatively left-wing party in power for the past 13 years in the U.K. that can’t think of enough new ways to attack foreigners, that they have to invent bizarrely creative ways to attack foreigners, like the law banning foreigners from marrying without Home Office approval, or instituting new proposals that immigrants need to perform “volunteer” work to earn citizenship.
Common Infirmities 