Dick is always grumbling about all the immigrants in our little town, and indeed, for some people who live in areas that have been overrun by people of other cultures immigration is undoubtedly a bad thing.
It is all about numbers and the concentration of numbers. As an ethnic Englishman I don't particularly want to live in an area of what until recently counted as England, with a bunch of Italians or Russians or Japanese.
But, of course, I do like the easy travel and the chance to live in some exotic location. That is surely a good thing. Just this pat few weeks I have met Bulgarians, Turks, Irish, Albanians, Italians, Germans, Austrians, and Israelis.
This is very cool.
Not so long ago a culture was largely confined to a particular area, but not so these days. Culture adapts and grows or it stays the same and dies.
No, I don't want to live in a neighbourhood of foreigners either. I like to travel to meet the alien. But travel is getting easier and will continue to do so. And with the internet we can keep in touch with others around the globe.
For all the parochialism of nationalists in Scotland, Catalonia, and elsewhere, the day of the nation state is going fast.
We are returning to the era of vast empires with local administrations.
So welcome the foreigner in your midst, because one day you might want to be one too.
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