There's an interesting argument made by Helen de Schutter and Lea Ypi in favour of mandatory citizenship for long-term migrants, which is the sort of thing one might reach for in a genuine response to political atomisation.
Pretending this isn't obvious special pleading bollocks for a moment: if this is what he's getting at, why then change the rules on settled status which will incentivise the exact opposite of what he claims to want
Right? Citizenship is a GOOD thing! We should make it easier!
I imagine most Brits don’t realise how insanely expensive and stressful naturalisation is. Mrs G fluent in English (to the point v few don’t realise she isn’t British), married to me, UK-educated to MA level. And it was still a horrible, money-sapping shitshow. And, arguably, we had it easy.
Even some well-educated and globalist friends were shocked when we told them about the process and how much it all cost. One in embarrassed tones said they’d wrongly assumed it wouldn’t be *that* different from a British person applying for a passport at the Post Office.
May 14, 2025 13:49People make judgements of the basis of complete ignorance.
Fully agreed. I should note, I don’t have any close friends who want to make things tougher for immigrants. Many of them are fuming about Starmer this week. But even some of them had no idea how tricky things already are, even for migrants who have it relatively easy.
People mostly do their own thing. It’s not usually malice. But it’s rare for people to go out of their lane and find out things about others. Easier just to assume.
