Mr S couldn’t help but notice that the Times made for familiar reading this morning. A leader titled ‘Ending the Exodus’ suggested that the government ought to ‘Give Syrian refugees the right to work and they will stay close to home’:
‘It is the apparent hopelessness of life in these camps that is propelling Syrians towards Europe. Over the years parents have seen children receive often skimpy education, their teenage boys drifting back to Syria to fight. Paternal authority is collapsing. Under the circumstances scraping together funds to pay people-smugglers appears a rational choice. The western priority should be to end the sense of hopelessness in the camps. Above all, these refugees from war must be given the chance to work.’
Hear hear! Yet Steerpike had read a very similar — albeit more eloquent — version of the argument in this week’s issue of the Spectator. The cover piece by Paul Collier offered ‘a real rescue plan’ to fix the refugee crisis by allowing war refugees the opportunity to work:
‘So what is wrong with the camps? Having recently visited the largest, Za’atari, I doubt whether it is the standard of living. The UNHCR does a commendable job: people are well-fed and their housing conditions are far superior to the African cities with which I am more familiar. Whatever our duty of rescue to Syrian refugees, improving the material conditions of the camps is not a priority. The problem of the camps is that people have no autonomy: most especially, they are not allowed to work.’
The Times did at least find space to credit Collier in their leader. But Mr S can see no mention of The Spectator:
‘As the migration expert Paul Collier of Oxford University persuasively argued this week, the most pressing question is being framed incorrectly. The critical issue is not so much about the acceptable number of migrants that can be integrated into European society. Rather, it should be about what is in the Syrians’ best interest as they seek refuge abroad after four years of war.’
An innocent oversight, no doubt.
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