Politics

It can be difficult sometimes to declare a victor at Prime Minister’s Questions. Exchanges are often hard-fought, even-handed affairs in which neither opponent really lands a blow. But today was not such a day, with Keir Starmer recording the parliamentary equivalent of a three-nil thumping at the despatch box. Rather than dwell on last week’s Autumn Statement, Starmer opted to focus on record migration figures instead – a sensible move, given the very public Tory divides. With polls pointing to its increasing salience as a political issue, the Labour leader laid into the government, repeatedly punching a self-inflicted Conservative bruise. Humour was a favoured gambit, with Starmer’s beginning his exchange

I’m fascinated by the subject of immigration because I’m a sucker for moral complexity. For decades, too, I’ve been an immigrant myself, though I’ve played by the rules (at some cost), and I’ve never been a burden on the state (to the contrary). Besides, I am by nature territorial. Even having perfectly agreeable house-sitters in London during my summers in Brooklyn has been painful, and the first thing this Goldilocks has always done on returning home is expunge every reminder that bears have been sleeping in my bed and eating my porridge. That said, we’re all territorial. Hence the moral complexity. So I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction to reading comment