The Numbers Game

These numbers are not mine – hell, I’ve not even checked them for accuracy, but why should what’s acceptable to the left not be equally acceptable to the right of the discussion? And the talking point here is all about equality and fairness to our fellow man. The important thing is not whether the facts are correct but whether they feel correct. I believe this is the way statistics are routinely authenticated these days; that and trial by Twitter. Anyways, for what it’s worth, here - of unknown provenance - is why Britain is already doing all it is morally obliged to do to help.

Given the scale of what has been called the ‘refugee crisis’ despite the fact that a majority of those arriving on European shores are neither refugees nor in crisis, having paid good money for entry to the lands of rich pickings, our rulers - Herr Merkel and Frau Juncker - have decreed that all European countries take in their "fair share" of the migrant millions headed in our direction.  All very charitable, given that none of these, mainly muslim, migrants are going to be distributed near the country retreats of our so generous elites.

But how do you decide what a "fair share" is? Merkel and Juncker want to use each country's GDP as a measure of ability to accommodate, which will ensure Britain is required to take a huge proportion, similar to Germany’s already near one-million this year alone. But, given that we regularly hear that our infrastructure is at breaking point, why not use population density as the metric? At 413 people per square kilometre Europe's most densely populated country is England. Surely it makes sense that until other countries achieve parity we start filling them up first?

In order to bring other European nations up to Britain’s cheek-by-jowl intensity of competition for space, Germany would have to absorb another 67 million migrants. Similarly France could squeeze in another 160 million and Spain has room for slightly more at 161 million. Even Scotland, by this measure could take an extra million, which would allow the SNP to do their bit without constantly insisting that we do it on their behalf. A quick estimate suggests that just thirteen European countries could between them accommodate approaching 700 million migrants before reaching the same population density as England. Why, they could house half the world’s estimated muslim population.

No need for this. A couple of taxis should do it.

Using these calculations, it appears England is already doing more than its fair share, but given that the 700 million figure is only approximate and rounded up and not wanting to appear unhelpful, it seems only fair that we round up our figures as well. Taking everything into account it appears that yes, England should take in at least a few of the migrants. I estimate we can handle another dozen, just so long as none of them are called mohammed.