pdotb reviewed Hostile Environment by Maya Goodfellow
Really good explanation of UK attitudes to immigration over the last 70 years
5 stars
The first half or so of the book provides a narrative, since the end of the second world war, showing that May's hostile environment may have been an unsubtle bit of messaging, but was far from being an outlier. New Labour were perhaps marginally less awful than the governments that preceded and followed them, but few politicians (with the notable exception of some of the members of Corbyn's front bench) seem to have been willing to do anything but pander to anti-immigrant sentiment. The second half of the book discusses where 'legitimate concerns' come from and why so much of the 'common sense' about immigration is so flawed. I found myself highlighting more than not as I went through this part of the book (which perhaps reduces the utility of the process, but is still a sign of how much thought-provoking material there was). Not perhaps as much discussion of …
The first half or so of the book provides a narrative, since the end of the second world war, showing that May's hostile environment may have been an unsubtle bit of messaging, but was far from being an outlier. New Labour were perhaps marginally less awful than the governments that preceded and followed them, but few politicians (with the notable exception of some of the members of Corbyn's front bench) seem to have been willing to do anything but pander to anti-immigrant sentiment. The second half of the book discusses where 'legitimate concerns' come from and why so much of the 'common sense' about immigration is so flawed. I found myself highlighting more than not as I went through this part of the book (which perhaps reduces the utility of the process, but is still a sign of how much thought-provoking material there was). Not perhaps as much discussion of the role of the media as I might have expected, but overall it's an excellent guide to British attitudes to immigration and asylum.