Is it a given that Britain will remain home? Away from the anti-immigrant rhetoric beloved of talk-radio and the gutter press, the aspiring know full well that migration has been a characteristic of the human species for as long as we have walked the earth. If people perceive better opportunities elsewhere, they will naturally move.
My maternal grandmother moved to England to work as a nurse in her youth. Now I hear rumours that my niece, studying medicine, is keen on moving to Germany. Since all we brothers married non-brits, it wouldn’t be particularly surprising if our children consider the world their oyster.
Friends of ours, of Turkish origin, sold their multiple businesses in Old Blighty a few years ago, upping sticks, to move to Germany and start over. Here, they found themselves encountering too much bureaucracy for too little gain. Over there, they now enjoy a high quality of life.
Graduates of all backgrounds, indigenous or otherwise, will now soon be faced by a similar choice. To remain here in the motherland, or to head abroad to seek new and better opportunities elsewhere. Most of my contemporaries from university already grappled with that question, and many of them have spent their working lives abroad.
People will migrate to wherever they find comfort. Everybody’s aspirations are different. Some pursue riches. Some pursue a simpler life. It will be the same for us and our children: in time, we will just have to follow our hearts.
Last modified: 28 November 2022
