Forget Orwell’s ‘Two Minute Hate’ – the immigration debate shows real loathing | John Crace

Since the summer recess, the public discourse, stirred by Nigel Farage’s weekly press conferences, has altered radically

What the hell just happened? When parliament rose for the summer recess, the debate about immigration was still – just about – the right side of toxic. There was a pretence at least that the people coming to this country, either legally or by small boat crossings, were human beings just like us. They lived and breathed. Had feelings.

Fast forward six weeks, in which government ministers have been putting their feet up doing not very much apart from intermittent attempts to stop the wars in Ukraine and Gaza – that went well – and the public discourse, stirred by Nigel Farage’s weekly press conferences, has altered radically.