The problem with everything like this is simple: left alone the world ticks on relatively calmly. Then, for what nobody will convince me is anything other than self-serving political ladder-climbing, the status quo is thrown up in the air to the tune of a thousand lies.
Despite claims to the opposite, it's obvious to anyone who cares to think about it, that the only winners are, indeed, going to be those capable of weathering and profiting from the disruption that is inevitable. Nobody in power gives a shit about the little guy oop north, never have, from any party. Those voters are just cannon fodder. British voting has been traditional for generations, regardless of how shamefully the punters are treated - it's all about the slogans and enshrined class hatreds. It's partly why we ended up with two major players. Maybe things are about to change with the introduction of a powerful new third bogeyman: foreign nationality hatred. Watch the two major players start to compete on that score.
I have never met anyone able to give me a first-hand example of a European having stolen their livelihood. On the other hand, I know of many Brits who have taken full advantage of Mallorcan health services whilst out here on holiday... from accident victims (plus relatives of Brits who have died on holiday this year) to those international British drunks that have to get scraped off the sidewalks in certain well-known resorts around Palma and even close to here: Alcudia.
Some Canadian politicians have tried to adopt the "stop mass immigration" mantra, despite the face that Canada does not have the problem. I got a mailing once telling me that the current government is trying to take any my right to have a firearm, a right that does not exist here. We seem to be unable to find an osmotic barrier to stop stupidity.
Every survey I've seen in the last 30 years shows that Canada will have labour shortages in many sectors of the economy in the near to medium term, and there is no incentive program that will convince people to have lots more babies, so if we don't let immigrants in, we fall apart. I don't know if something similar applies to the USA, except that anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that most of its immigrants (legal or not) are working and paying taxes, which make them better citizens that the current President who brags about not paying taxes.
The ultimate stupidity about immigrants stealing jobs is that it implicitly assumes that the economy is a zero-sum game, for which Milton Friedman was heard spinning in his grave. The second most stupid comment is that "they are stealing our jobs". Oh yeah, who is "our" in this context. It's nobody's job until you apply for it and get hired. And then you only get to keep it if you do it properly. Country of origin has little bearing on that. If employers can't "old stock" find people to hire, you can't blame them for hiring immigrants, can you?
So instead of having an intelligent discussion about who you let in, how you check them out, how to integrate them, what to do with them if they turn out to be bums, all highly legitimate concerns, we have the current social media sh*t show, aided and abetted by cynical politicians who never seem to be able to solve any problems anymore.
