NOW THE YOUNG CONDEMN UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATION

This leads them to the conclusion that such viewpoints will eventually die out to be replaced by widespread support for multiculturalism and the transfer of national sovereignty to the European Union.

So imagine the consternation now felt at the British Council, one of the most politically correct organisations on earth, at the results of its survey of young people in both Britain and Italy.

A large majority felt that excessive immigration was threatening their national identity, many thought it was threatening the jobs of domestic workers and only seven per cent of the British young people questioned felt themselves to be citizens of Europe.

The Council has branded the results “worrying”. They are no such thing. What they actually show are that young people have the same robust common sense as their parents.

Metropolitan liberals still cling to the notion that opposition to large-scale immigration is the preserve of xenophobes and outright racists.

In fact, it is a logical stance for anyone concerned at the decline of community cohesion, patriotism and fellow feeling.

The Left is as wrong about immigration in this century as it was about state socialism and the Cold War in the last.

Why are people who consider themselves to be among the nation’s foremost intellectuals so slow on the uptake?