Plus: the right Canadian model for Brexit Britain; the coming trade war over European cars For all her faults, Angela Merkel has done more to help refugees in recent years than any other European leader. So it is incongruous – indeed, shameful – that the German Chancellor’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is in the same political group in the European Parliament as Fidesz, the party of Hungary’s vehemently xenophobic …
Continue readingThe right Canadian model for Brexit Britain
Britain has much to learn from Canada’s modest realism in negotiating with a neighbouring economic giant By Jack Graham “Britain clings to imperial nostalgia as Brexit looms” (Washington Post). “Whatever form Brexit eventually takes it is a rearward step into an imagined past” (Globe and Mail). “With Brexit, [Britain] seems to be embracing an introverted irrelevance” (New York Times). Having moved from the UK to Toronto last summer, I’ve been struck by the fact …
Continue readingOur open world is under threat; the business case for employing refugees; the new global talent race
Trump. Brexit. Salvini. Trade wars. Border walls. The Great Firewall of China. America First. Italians First. New Zealand First. After decades in which our world has become ever more closely connected as people, products, money and data criss-cross borders ever more intensively, resurgent nationalists now seek to close borders and stamp on difference. It is tragic, though perhaps not surprising, that foreigners are increasingly scapegoated for all manner of primarily domestic problems. Immigrants are …
Continue readingThe new global talent race
With Trump’s America and Brexit Britain turning away talented migrants, Canada and Australia are well placed to capitalise By Jack Graham From tech gurus to top scientists, every country says it wants to attract the best brains. Highly-skilled workers are increasingly mobile, and help to stimulate innovation, enterprise, jobs and growth. But while the global competition for talent is nothing new, the contest has recently changed. Two of the leading …
Continue readingOPEN briefing: migrants’ right to vote, Brexit blunders, good news on refugees
Nativists are in the ascendant in many countries right now. Governments are responding by curtailing migrants’ rights. And whether it is Brexit Britain or Trump’s America, immigrants are often powerless to fight back. That needs to change. Giving long-term foreign residents the right to vote isn’t just a matter of human rights, it’s about bringing democracy into the 21st century, argues Iana Dreyer in a must-read new piece for OPEN. Electing the people who …
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