Share this page!

Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
Twitter logo
5 Oct, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Image
If people who hate Johnson don't figure out how cleverly he is gaming media and social media to then develop an effective meme strategy of their own, then they're going to keep losing
Image
Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alexander Clarkson

Alexander Clarkson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @APHClarkson

Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
7 Oct
"They didn't have as much immigration as we did to begin with" and this is where I find how history of European migration in UK debate is portrayed as only starting with CEE FoM in 2004 distorts analysis. Germany had big waves of Eastern European migration from 1989 onwards
The reason Germany and quite a few other West European EU states opted for the 7 year full FoM delay after CEE accession in 2004 was exactly because they had absorbed so much East European migration in the 1990s and early 00s even without Freedom of Movement
The great East European wave of migration including Ukraine, Serbia, Albania and other non-EU states started in the late 1980s before Poland and other CEE states joined the EU. And because of demographic and income trends it started to ebb even as the UK voted to leave the EU
Read 7 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
6 Oct
Something to keep in mind when comparing UK worker visa systems with German frameworks is what may seem more complicated in terms of coordination on the German side is because decisions are made by local state offices with which businesses deal directly
muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtv…
So while processes on the UK are formally simpler, the power relationships between local corporations and Mittelstands businesses and a local state migration office are very different than between a UK business and the Home Office
migranet.org/publikationen/…
German businesses still need to get confirmation from Bundesagentur für Arbeit as well, but as a Labour Agency it is more inclined to show understanding for business needs than a Ministry of Interior aka the Home Office
Read 6 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
6 Oct
1. How do you make sure this doesn't just shift red tape but genuinely reduces it?
2. When is someone no longer classified as a migrant and employers stop paying the tax? 2 years, 5 years?
3. If workers are bound to a single contract for years how do you prevent exploitation?
Cutting visa fees up front and then imposing a 7% tax for say a 2-5 year contract just stretches costs. It doesn't remove them. It's like paying the state for your workers in installments rather than up front.
Most systems in Europe (Swiss or EU) for non-EU workers have cut off points where after a few years of employment based with a first employer a migrant can apply for permanent residency. UK will provide that option, so this is still a pathway to permanent settlement
Read 5 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
3 Oct
Useful texts for European Britain watchers are John Sullivan's 'As Soon as This Pub Closes' from the 90s and 'Go Fourth and Multiply' from the 80s which chronicled the rise and fall and rise of a whole range of Far Left groups
marxists.org/history/etol/c…

marxists.org/history/etol/c…
Quite a few in UK media and politics belonged or hung around these groups in the 1980s and 1990s. Their ethos echoes even if the concrete ideology withered.

For example many RCP alumnus went on to found Spiked and even ended up working for Boris Johnson
marxists.org/history/etol/c…
Worth taking a look at the background of some of those cheerleading Boris Johnson in newspapers or advising him in government when wondering how in UK politics a certain burn it all down political style drifted from Left to Right
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
3 Oct
There is some electoral calculation in Macron's rhetoric about Algerian history (which is laughably off btw), but don't underestimate how much those views are prevalent in parts of France's policy and political elites.
I'm always struck by how Macron seems such a product culturally of the late Mitterrand era. The difference between Mitterrand and Macron is that social media circulates every one of Macron's takes on France's neo-colonial sphere much faster to a much wider audience
Something weirdly visionary about this Inconnus sketch where the PS candidate could be Macron today. It's from 1989
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
3 Oct
Once UK-EU relations and UK trading patterns stabilise I suspect governments will have to advertise it more systematically as an attractive place for skilled migrants. How the UK quality of life crisis is reported globally is diminishing migration pull factors compared to the EU
It's underestimated how the cultural fascination the "Cool Britannia" era exerted on the rest of Europe in the late '90s was an additional factor that raised awareness that the UK was now an attractive place in which to live and work

After 2016 that pull factor is not guaranteed
Now when skilled or semi-skilled EU/non-EU migrants look at potential destinations, the UK has to compete with other potential destinations across the EU where there is labour demand and which have developed global reputations as interesting places with good quality of life
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @APHClarkson has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @APHClarkson!

Read all threads by @APHClarkson

:(