It's Not About Me, Nor Is It About We...

Even as I was writing my post of yesterday, my more liberal (small 'l'!) self reproached me for sounding so WASPish (more Pagan that Protestant in my case however) !

So I want to give some more personal context to my previous post, but let me say first that I'm always suspicious of the "We" Brigade. Remember Mrs Thatcher's comment : "We are now a grandmother" - We were amused ! The individual counts and I (not being a wee person) don't need to hide behind "We".

Thus in 1983, shortly after Mrs T had secured a second term, and with a few month's work in London under my belt, I decided to migrate to Australia under pretext of a short-term publishing assignment and 12 (or it may have been a renewable 6) month working holiday visa. I purchased a one way ticket to Sydney, with a stop-over in Manila (an experience in itself !).

Arriving in January 1984, I lived near Bondi Beach for a few months before going walk-about up the east coast to see relatives and find casual work of the kind Australian citizens were reluctant to undertake. One job took me into the Queensland Outback (just north of Laura in the Cape York Peninsula) for some months. At that point in time this was both the most secure and well paid employment I'd had, even after "contributions" deducted.

Eventually returning to the coast, I arranged to help crew a yacht to the Solomon Islands, but the skipper turned out to a rather disreputable sort - an ex-pat Brit incidentally ! - and set me ashore in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, where I had a most gracious welcome and very much benefited - spiritually that is as these were good Christian people - from my unplanned stay !

However, when after some time I endeavoured to return to Queensland, Australian border officials prevented leaving Port Moresby on the grounds that my visa did not permit me to re-enter their country. When I did get back and headed to Melbourne, I worked as a tea-lady at the "Institute for Multi-Cultural Affairs" : a rather pleasant job, as I recall.

This was nearly a year into my stay in Australia, which I actually managed to get extended as a consequence of the time out in PNG, and by now it had clicked that whilst my "hard labour" - and it was hard ! - was welcome in the Outback where few Aussies actually venture, sub-urban down under had not really taken to me, nor I to it, which is just as well because it has subsequently been impossible for me to obtain the right to work there !

Now - to get back to the point I wanted to make - "it's not about me, nor is it about we" - in general terms, I actually support the more stringent immigration policies adopted by Australia, compared to this country for instance, although these have actually worked against me. The reason for this is simple : the environment. Although a large country, Australia does not have an environment which can support a high population density, although the government might be more welcoming to people who want to work in rural and outback areas.

The UK also has an environmental capacity, and I, for one, don't want to see any more spread of so-called Middle England in Southern Britain. However, other parts of the country, notably Scotland, but also areas of England, Wales and Northern Ireland have room for more people.

Thus we need more spatial planning at a national, rather than sub-national, level and, strangely enough, I recently heard Lord Heseltine - who was not regarded as "One of Us" by Mrs T - talking about just this subject.