This essay, on the historical echoes of current British asylum policies, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 19 March 2023, under the headline “‘Stop the boats’ does echo the language of the 30s – but those words were English”. It has become a familiar political pas de deux. One side draws an analogy between some current policy or practice and 1930s Germany, as if Nazis provide the only measure of moral degradation. The other side uses outrage at […]

Categories: Britain, Race & Immigration • Tags: aliens act 1905, antisemitism, channel migrants, gary lineker, immigration policy, internment camps, jewish refugees, louise london, nazism, rwanda deportation scheme, stop the boats