Happy New Year!
The first week of 2025 and my fourth week into writing weeknotes which - maybe not completely to schedule - are still helping me form some sense of routine. I’m enjoying the challenge and it’s definitely making me reflect more on my work and on what I’m watching and reading, which can only be a good thing.
I didn’t want to get to get bogged down in politics each week or at least not so soon, but given the current climate it’s quite hard to avoid. I’m going to frame this exploration as part of my research practice, which is integral to my work. I haven’t really decided on a format for these weeknotes so I’m going to leave it open week by week so some weeks - like this week - you might get a bit of an essay on one subject.
Dehumanising Headlines
A large part of Canto is the text piece Dehumanising Headlines which features over 800 newspaper headlines collected from 2012 - 2022. It re-presents the headlines en masse to expose the language and narratives employed to marginalise and dehumanise not only Europeans living and working in the UK but also refugees and asylum seekers.
I stopped collecting the headlines in 2022 after ten years but I’m still keenly engaged in reading and digesting current articles on the subject matter. Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph published an article about immigration under Tony Blair. They cite files revealing that Blair was warned about the “influx” of Eastern European migrants but chose to open Britain’s borders anyway.
My first question when reading this article was why is this relevant now? But it’s so easy for the Telegraph and the right wing media to frame all immigration as a problem and blame a figure like Tony Blair for all our current problems, even though he hasn’t been in power for 18 years. It’s also very easy to keep these narratives ticking along to serve the political aims of the Telegraph.
Rather than just examining these articles and headlines my aim for this year and going forward is to present or at least explore the counter argument. What is the other half of this story that isn’t being told? And it only took me a few seconds to find it.
Immigration to the UK since 2000 has been of substantial net fiscal benefit, with immigrants contributing more than they have received in benefits and transfers. This is true for immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the rest of the EU.
This is research from UCL’s Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration. The Telegraph’s article fails to mention this at all and again it’s obvious why, because it simply doesn’t fit the picture that they want to paint.
The other part of the puzzle that is missing here which I can’t answer is what is it like having lived in a country for 20 years, calling it your home, making your life here and still being framed by the media in this way? This is a question I want to explore more deeply and find an answer to.
So here’s to a new year, a new perspective, and hopefully more thoughtful dialogues around migration. I look forward to refining these ideas in future weeks, both in my creative practice and in my writing. I will continue to question the rhetoric around who belongs where—and we need to make sure we remember that people on the move are human beings first and foremost.