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The age of exodus is starting to unravel (Guy Smallman/Getty images)
It’s a slow Sunday in Kukës, Northern Albania and I am trying to convince 40-year-old Bedri in Liverpool House, a local bar, that coming to England might not be such a good idea. “If I had €3,000, I would buy a boat tomorrow,” says the father-of-two. If you don’t drown in the English Channel, you will get deported, I tell him. He smiles. Nothing I say he believes: the Brits who no longer want him; the country that is in decline; the politicians trying desperately to shut its door. Bedri is not alone in wanting to leave. Britain is the obvious escape: locals say four out of five of the town’s residents are related to someone who works or has worked in the UK. Does anyone want to stay? The patrons of Liverpool House shake their heads. I speak to a teacher, a policeman, a 16-year-old boy. All are planning to come to Britain, legally or illegally — by boat, by lorry, by plane. As Britain declines, the myth of its grandeur, its hope, lives on in the far-flung imagination of these men.
I ask if they care about what happens to Kukës, but the question is redundant. It is basic economics — people will move if they are paid more. A decade of unprecedented migration into this country is proof of that. Loyalty to land and community has lost. Still, I try to resurrect that dead idea: is there not more dignity in being a professional in Albania than a labourer in the UK? “I did dignity for 20 years,” says a police officer, smoking behind us, “and now I have nothing.” To prove his point, he takes me out on patrol. “Look,” he says pointing to the streets, “all old people, no future.” Corruption, neglect: this is the story of Kukës he gives me. A place where after the fall of communism, the end of history never arrived. The last major construction work that was completed on time? A nuclear bunker on the orders of the country’s mad dictator Enver Hoxha, finished just as the Cold War was winding down.
Out of town, we head into what has become known as “the exodus zone”: the villages nestled in the foothills of an Albanian mountain range nicknamed the Accursed Mountains, from where most of its men have left to work undocumented in England. Here, the journey across the Channel starts to make sense. In one abandoned hamlet, 72-year-old Zehrito emerges from her newly refurbished house. Three years ago, her son landed in a dinghy on the shores of Kent. He walked into town, jumped on the train and spent the next three years building luxury apartments in London. The money he sent home paid for his mother’s heart surgery. “If it weren’t for him,” she says, “I’d be dead.”
Soon all this may end. Everyone I speak to in Albania, from the Crown Prince to the hotel receptionist, is trying to imagine a future in which half the population does not flee. They know the British Government is trying to close the door. News of Conservative ministers who want to bar Albanians from seeking asylum and fast-track deportation schemes make the evening news. More who leave illegally are being sent home. And for a country where 31% of GDP relies upon money sent back home by emigrants, this is not good news. The economics of the great diaspora are starting to be tested. The population is ageing. In some towns, patients must cross the border to Kosovo or Greece for healthcare. Schools are emptying out. Beyond the capital, large swathes of civil society are virtually non-existent because there is no one to do the jobs required. The World Bank predicts that soon a third of the country may be below the poverty line. This is despite the country’s consistent rise in GDP in the last decade — one largely driven by foreign investment. For those left behind, the age of exodus is starting to unravel.
On Albania’s Day of Independence in late November, the grandson of its last King, Crown Prince Leka, walks me through the capital. The Crown Prince recently broke his ceremonial silence to appear alongside Piers Morgan and Reform UK leader, Richard Tice, and defend his countrymen from Suella Braverman’s talk of an Albanian “invasion” in Kent. When I meet him, the prince is full of hope for the country. Guiding me through the open boulevards of Tirana, he talks not only about the country’s past but the promise of its future. We walk past the national bank being rebuilt, a place that will soon coordinate the growing investment in the country’s tourism sector. Despite the pandemic, visitors to the country generated more income than ever. Cranes tower over half-built apartment buildings.
“Albania has always been on the edge of Great Empires and this is what makes it unique,” he tells me as we near his grandfather King Zog’s old palace. It was the last European colony of the Ottoman Empire, the last under the most severe form of communism. In Albania, history has often happened too late. But now it is at the vanguard of trying to solve the global problem of international exodus. It has become the testing ground for different policies aimed at deterring people from leaving the country. British investments to prop up the country’s local economies and stop the flight have seen £6m poured into the region of Kukës. The money will be used to build infrastructure and kickstart the region’s hopes of making the Albanian Alps a tourist destination. For a country weary of politicians swindling public money, there is scepticism. But the model of investment makes sense, and the £6 million is a trifle compared to the estimated £150m it would cost to find and deport those who have crossed the channel illegally this year alone.
As I read this the news is full of families struggling to keep warm, the homeless trying to stay alive, businesses wrecked through Covid and the resultant jobless looking at eviction and a future stalked by debt. Yet….we feel it’s ok to sack hotel workers so that we can use hotels to put up people illegally entering the country – and give them an allowance for the ‘necessities’. Very hard to accept…..
As I read this the news is full of families struggling to keep warm, the homeless trying to stay alive, businesses wrecked through Covid and the resultant jobless looking at eviction and a future stalked by debt. Yet….we feel it’s ok to sack hotel workers so that we can use hotels to put up people illegally entering the country – and give them an allowance for the ‘necessities’. Very hard to accept…..
Interesting – but I’m none the wiser about why the country is a basket case.
Because it is economically uncompetitive.
I visited once Albania (Southern Albania through Greece). Beautiful but poor.
Most of the villages were abandoned as the people had migrated to Greece or Italy. A farmer (bar owner) told me that his son – a skilled stone mason – had first migrated to Greece (early 90s). After the Greek crisis he moved to Switzerland. Married with children he only goes back for vacations.
Germany has a program to import doctors/nurses from Albania. That is brain drain. The good ones leave and the bad ones are left behind.
With aging populations across the West and need for skilled labor why stay in Albania?!
Long term it will far easier for the British society to integrate Albanians (and Poles and Romanians) than Somalis…but the Farage is to cowardly to say that. They are the good migrants!
Tut tut Jeremy that is a very pejorative remark for you!
You almost sound like a Gauleiter with your comparative analysis of Somalis v Albanians.
Presumably there is a Somali problem in the heart of Quislington?
Somalia has a ‘Somali problem’ and sadly, it’s their biggest export!
Somalia has a ‘Somali problem’ and sadly, it’s their biggest export!
So, Albania is a basket case because it is economically uncompetitive. That is, I believe, a correct example of “begging the question”.
Why is it economically uncompettive?
(?) This isn’t an instance of question begging (assuming the very thing that was to be proved). It’s just an unsatisfactory, or pseudo-explanation, one that itself needs explaining. If someone were to ask you how an animal knows how to do something when it’s never been taught, and you replied, “It’s instinct,” you wouldn’t really have given him an explanation. He’d then know how to use the word ‘instinct’ correctly in an English sentence, but he’d be no wiser than before. All you’d have given him is a black box labeled ‘Instinct’ where an explanation should have been. You obviously understand this; you’ve just misnamed it. It has nothing to do with the logical fallacy of question begging.
It’s a tiny country of just 2.8 million people, with no natural resources and very little inward investment, because what is there to invest in? There is no cobalt, no gold, no fabulous farmland that could be exploited.
It was hardline communist from 1946-1992, which held it back when other countries in the region were developing tourist industries and infrastructure. Albania simply got left behind and it has neither the population nor the money to change that.
But the article says Albania’s GDP is consistently rising, mainly due to foreign investment.
But the article says Albania’s GDP is consistently rising, mainly due to foreign investment.
(?) This isn’t an instance of question begging (assuming the very thing that was to be proved). It’s just an unsatisfactory, or pseudo-explanation, one that itself needs explaining. If someone were to ask you how an animal knows how to do something when it’s never been taught, and you replied, “It’s instinct,” you wouldn’t really have given him an explanation. He’d then know how to use the word ‘instinct’ correctly in an English sentence, but he’d be no wiser than before. All you’d have given him is a black box labeled ‘Instinct’ where an explanation should have been. You obviously understand this; you’ve just misnamed it. It has nothing to do with the logical fallacy of question begging.
It’s a tiny country of just 2.8 million people, with no natural resources and very little inward investment, because what is there to invest in? There is no cobalt, no gold, no fabulous farmland that could be exploited.
It was hardline communist from 1946-1992, which held it back when other countries in the region were developing tourist industries and infrastructure. Albania simply got left behind and it has neither the population nor the money to change that.
If GB spent a fraction of its repatriation budget on real investment (not the usual exploitation / arms sales) it could keep Albanians at home! Join the dots!
Why is it Britains job to make other nations economically competitive?
Why is it Britains job to make other nations economically competitive?
So how would the remnants of this ‘brain drained’, economically gutted country contribute to ours? We are already struggling/unable to cope with increasingly large swathes of people which are neither educated or skilled. We have been busily brain- draining the UK for decades!
Tut tut Jeremy that is a very pejorative remark for you!
You almost sound like a Gauleiter with your comparative analysis of Somalis v Albanians.
Presumably there is a Somali problem in the heart of Quislington?
So, Albania is a basket case because it is economically uncompetitive. That is, I believe, a correct example of “begging the question”.
Why is it economically uncompettive?
If GB spent a fraction of its repatriation budget on real investment (not the usual exploitation / arms sales) it could keep Albanians at home! Join the dots!
So how would the remnants of this ‘brain drained’, economically gutted country contribute to ours? We are already struggling/unable to cope with increasingly large swathes of people which are neither educated or skilled. We have been busily brain- draining the UK for decades!
Most former Ottoman colonies seem to be basket cases. Coincidence?
Islam?
No, they are very moderate in that matter.
Do you mean with FGM?
Do you mean with FGM?
Precisely
Islamism perhaps.. but not Islam per se. Try and get it right Charlie!
Is it raining in Lusitania?
Or have you been hitting the local ‘U-boat fuel’ harder than usual Liam old chap?
Hmm I recall you previously criticised me for making snide comments Charles……
Hmm I recall you previously criticised me for making snide comments Charles……
Erdogan told us there is no Islamism only Islam. But I suppose you know better than him.
Is it raining in Lusitania?
Or have you been hitting the local ‘U-boat fuel’ harder than usual Liam old chap?
Erdogan told us there is no Islamism only Islam. But I suppose you know better than him.
A more likely answer may be Orthodoxy – remember many Ottoman “colonies” never converted to Islam in any large numbers. Of the Albanians who did, many were chased out of their country in successive waves (e.g. by Serbs) over more than a 100 years, and about 5-6 million of their descendants are living in Turkey with a much higher income average than Albania. Incidentally, Ottomans were some of the more, if not most, tolerant occupiers historically who as a general rule didn’t force conversions and had a strict legal framework to guarantee safety of Christians and Jews.
Tell that to the Armenians.
Tell that to the Armenians.
No, they are very moderate in that matter.
Precisely
Islamism perhaps.. but not Islam per se. Try and get it right Charlie!
A more likely answer may be Orthodoxy – remember many Ottoman “colonies” never converted to Islam in any large numbers. Of the Albanians who did, many were chased out of their country in successive waves (e.g. by Serbs) over more than a 100 years, and about 5-6 million of their descendants are living in Turkey with a much higher income average than Albania. Incidentally, Ottomans were some of the more, if not most, tolerant occupiers historically who as a general rule didn’t force conversions and had a strict legal framework to guarantee safety of Christians and Jews.
Islam?
Communism completely destroyed the impulse towards entrepreneurship. It takes generations to be revived. Even in places like the Czech Republic you find the same passivity and risk aversion even among highly educated young people.
To transform the situation you need to give people the sense that success is possible and that failure is not shameful. That means providing lots of unsecured loans to small enterprises and accepting the losses – whilst abandoning the notion that salvation only comes from foreign investment in big projects.
Unfortunately it’s hard to persuade politicians and bureaucrats of this – even in this country, let alone somewhere like Albania.
This is so true, yet very little understood.
Ding-ding-ding-ding!! Correct answer! And the implications of this truth are catastrophic for a woke West culture fast-tracking itself towards socialist dystopia. (If only young people were taught The Political History of The Twentieth Century aka “why the world works the way it does today”.)
Communism may have squashed entrepreneurism under its reign, but they failed to destroy the impulse and it hasn’t taken generations to be revived. The impulse to entrepreneurship seems to be pretty universal. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an explosion of interest in entrepreneurial ventures, large and small, across the former Soviet states and among those who immigrated to the West. However, you are quite right in noting the need for supportive financing and acceptance of the learning curve. I don’t think ideologies like communism can ever destroy fundamental human impulses; that’s why they require such brutal measures to repress them.
This is so true, yet very little understood.
Ding-ding-ding-ding!! Correct answer! And the implications of this truth are catastrophic for a woke West culture fast-tracking itself towards socialist dystopia. (If only young people were taught The Political History of The Twentieth Century aka “why the world works the way it does today”.)
Communism may have squashed entrepreneurism under its reign, but they failed to destroy the impulse and it hasn’t taken generations to be revived. The impulse to entrepreneurship seems to be pretty universal. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an explosion of interest in entrepreneurial ventures, large and small, across the former Soviet states and among those who immigrated to the West. However, you are quite right in noting the need for supportive financing and acceptance of the learning curve. I don’t think ideologies like communism can ever destroy fundamental human impulses; that’s why they require such brutal measures to repress them.
There is a mention of corruption. I have friends from a few other former communist states and corruption is a big problem. It’s tough to start a business up, it’s even tougher if someone demands a cut of your wafer thin profits. They are very pessimistic that this will ever change. They all say Poland is not like this and will succeed. Only the views of a few people but interesting that they all told me the same thing.
I don’t think Poland is like that. In fairness though they are a few years a head and have been EU members for a good few years as well. Good old EU, how we miss it .
Occupied on and off for centuries, millions dead in WW2, its cities & towns destroyed amidst truly appalling horrors, proud Poland has always kept alive its self belief, toughness, bravery, language and the best of its values.
I visited a number of times during Martial Law. I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised that it shot away from the starting block in 1998. It wasn’t the EU that laid the groundwork. It was already there, lying dormant.
EU money undoubtedly has helped. But I’m not in the slightest bit surprised it’s calling for restitution/reparations from Germany. Poland is owed. Big Time.
Plenty of Poles, this one included, want nothing to do with the EU.
Occupied on and off for centuries, millions dead in WW2, its cities & towns destroyed amidst truly appalling horrors, proud Poland has always kept alive its self belief, toughness, bravery, language and the best of its values.
I visited a number of times during Martial Law. I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised that it shot away from the starting block in 1998. It wasn’t the EU that laid the groundwork. It was already there, lying dormant.
EU money undoubtedly has helped. But I’m not in the slightest bit surprised it’s calling for restitution/reparations from Germany. Poland is owed. Big Time.
Plenty of Poles, this one included, want nothing to do with the EU.
Poland is *absolutely* still like this (of course everything is hyper local). My father, just a handful of years ago, had to bribe everybody at a dr.’s office with vodka, chocolate, cash, just to refer my grandmother for an eye exam. :-/
I’ve lived and worked in enough second world countries to appreciate that diffuse corruption in effect forms a kind of grassroots social welfare system.
Interesting counter view, maybe its a matter of degree?
I’ve lived and worked in enough second world countries to appreciate that diffuse corruption in effect forms a kind of grassroots social welfare system.
Interesting counter view, maybe its a matter of degree?
I don’t think Poland is like that. In fairness though they are a few years a head and have been EU members for a good few years as well. Good old EU, how we miss it .
Poland is *absolutely* still like this (of course everything is hyper local). My father, just a handful of years ago, had to bribe everybody at a dr.’s office with vodka, chocolate, cash, just to refer my grandmother for an eye exam. :-/
I recall a huge Ponzi scheme that ruined a lot of Albanians during the 90s. And have been hearing of the place’s post-Communist reputation as a school for gangsters for some years. The yearning for home and community touched on seems to be being consummated, judging by the ethnic solidarity shown among the drivers of flash cars at the pop-up celebrations of National Independence Day in London, and at car washes across the land.
The tone of the piece suggests that the UK govt is responsible for the well-being of Albania, a mantle I am sure its handlers in the commentariat will be eager for it to keep wearing.
Albania trod the road of communism to the bitter end. The mind-corrupting power of such radical totalitarianism can only be repaired by an infusion of an altogether different value system. With the West’s rejection of Judeo-Christianity and its determined embrace of the same totalitarian control measures that took Albania down, what hope for this potentially beautiful land?
Because it is economically uncompetitive.
I visited once Albania (Southern Albania through Greece). Beautiful but poor.
Most of the villages were abandoned as the people had migrated to Greece or Italy. A farmer (bar owner) told me that his son – a skilled stone mason – had first migrated to Greece (early 90s). After the Greek crisis he moved to Switzerland. Married with children he only goes back for vacations.
Germany has a program to import doctors/nurses from Albania. That is brain drain. The good ones leave and the bad ones are left behind.
With aging populations across the West and need for skilled labor why stay in Albania?!
Long term it will far easier for the British society to integrate Albanians (and Poles and Romanians) than Somalis…but the Farage is to cowardly to say that. They are the good migrants!
Most former Ottoman colonies seem to be basket cases. Coincidence?
Communism completely destroyed the impulse towards entrepreneurship. It takes generations to be revived. Even in places like the Czech Republic you find the same passivity and risk aversion even among highly educated young people.
To transform the situation you need to give people the sense that success is possible and that failure is not shameful. That means providing lots of unsecured loans to small enterprises and accepting the losses – whilst abandoning the notion that salvation only comes from foreign investment in big projects.
Unfortunately it’s hard to persuade politicians and bureaucrats of this – even in this country, let alone somewhere like Albania.
There is a mention of corruption. I have friends from a few other former communist states and corruption is a big problem. It’s tough to start a business up, it’s even tougher if someone demands a cut of your wafer thin profits. They are very pessimistic that this will ever change. They all say Poland is not like this and will succeed. Only the views of a few people but interesting that they all told me the same thing.
I recall a huge Ponzi scheme that ruined a lot of Albanians during the 90s. And have been hearing of the place’s post-Communist reputation as a school for gangsters for some years. The yearning for home and community touched on seems to be being consummated, judging by the ethnic solidarity shown among the drivers of flash cars at the pop-up celebrations of National Independence Day in London, and at car washes across the land.
The tone of the piece suggests that the UK govt is responsible for the well-being of Albania, a mantle I am sure its handlers in the commentariat will be eager for it to keep wearing.
Albania trod the road of communism to the bitter end. The mind-corrupting power of such radical totalitarianism can only be repaired by an infusion of an altogether different value system. With the West’s rejection of Judeo-Christianity and its determined embrace of the same totalitarian control measures that took Albania down, what hope for this potentially beautiful land?
Interesting – but I’m none the wiser about why the country is a basket case.
An illegal migrant beating the British system and be able to help to build luxury homes without him being registered to work in Britain. The Tory government needs to get some commonsense in sorting the problem of illegal migrants being able to beat the British system by them the Tories allowing this to happen.
But you did get those luxury homes built.. presumably for rich Tories? ..is there a connection (beating the system?) do you think?
Or rich socialists?
Or rich socialists?
He told his mum he was a builder. In reality he was a coke dealer like the rest of them.
But you did get those luxury homes built.. presumably for rich Tories? ..is there a connection (beating the system?) do you think?
He told his mum he was a builder. In reality he was a coke dealer like the rest of them.
An illegal migrant beating the British system and be able to help to build luxury homes without him being registered to work in Britain. The Tory government needs to get some commonsense in sorting the problem of illegal migrants being able to beat the British system by them the Tories allowing this to happen.
Good job we the British people did not abandon our country in the second world war but stayed to help to build Britain up again.
Unfortunately much of that re-building was both cheap and ugly, and thus blighted some of our finest medieval cities.
Coventry being perhaps the worst example where the Council did FAR. more damage than even Adolph managed.
Of course the big problem here is that Plod are scared rigid by Albanians… hate crime, and speeding is much safer to bully….
Mr Plod is almost beyond reform as the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has recently discovered.
Far easier to prosecute Mrs Mineva for doing 23 mph on the Embankment, than to ‘take on’ Zog & Co with their automatic pistols, as you so rightly say.
22 SAS should deployed to Wellington Barracks as a matter of urgency.
Mr Plod is almost beyond reform as the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has recently discovered.
Far easier to prosecute Mrs Mineva for doing 23 mph on the Embankment, than to ‘take on’ Zog & Co with their automatic pistols, as you so rightly say.
22 SAS should deployed to Wellington Barracks as a matter of urgency.
Of course the big problem here is that Plod are scared rigid by Albanians… hate crime, and speeding is much safer to bully….
A fair few left for Australia and Canada
We Irish filled the gap: up to 50,000 pa!
We Irish filled the gap: up to 50,000 pa!
You had a lot of help from our guys as well: the Irish.. our lads also helped to keep your female population happy given the loss sad loss of GB male lives in the war.. would you have had Owen Farrell and Rooney for example?
Perhaps if the Irish weren’t so cowardly and were prepared to face down the threat to their freedom during the war, rather than letting the Allies powers do the fighting for them, their wouldn’t have been the need for as many of them to keep the female population happy?
Perhaps if the Irish weren’t so cowardly and were prepared to face down the threat to their freedom during the war, rather than letting the Allies powers do the fighting for them, their wouldn’t have been the need for as many of them to keep the female population happy?
Unfortunately much of that re-building was both cheap and ugly, and thus blighted some of our finest medieval cities.
Coventry being perhaps the worst example where the Council did FAR. more damage than even Adolph managed.
A fair few left for Australia and Canada
You had a lot of help from our guys as well: the Irish.. our lads also helped to keep your female population happy given the loss sad loss of GB male lives in the war.. would you have had Owen Farrell and Rooney for example?
Good job we the British people did not abandon our country in the second world war but stayed to help to build Britain up again.
Twice it was mentioned that Britain is a country in decline. That is only true in the areas that you choose. In many many other areas Britain is is forging ahead. Of course we have problems. Every country has problems. But if you only see problems there will only be problems!
What you say is true. What is also true is that GB IS in decline. The two are not mutually exclusive.
I agree – the writer clearly has a chip on his shoulder that destroyed the experience of reading the article
Plus the poor English that makes some sentences possible read as both pro and anti whatever it is he’s wittering on about
The decline is real. Pointing to a few bright spots in the South East is like pointing at Kabul and saying Afghanistan is forging ahead.
Take technology. Relative to Europe, the UK appears to be prospering, but relative to everywhere else it is in modest decline. The rate of innovation has gone into reverse, following the earlier trend of declining commercialisation of innovation.
Infrastructure such as comms networks, energy and transport is decaying in absolute terms.
Culture too: UK cultural influence is dwindling in absolute terms. The audience for our music, media and film is shrinking and we are consuming more of everyone else’s.
GDP per capita, the broadest measure of overall development and capability, starkly points to a country that has stagnated for nearly 2 decades. And stagnation in a rapidly growing world is decline.
This is far too pessimistic. Britain is doing very well in the areas it’s good at – including finance, law, accountancy, professional services and large areas in technology. And there are good reasons for that – while these industries are far from perfect, they’re better run and more trustworthy than in most other countries. They are also high value and generate exports. They just don’t (and can’t) employ enough people. I would also include media and culture here. We’ve generated huge value from things like children’s books over the last 150 years and are beneficiaries from the supremacy of the English language. Or look at rock and pop music.
The fact that we are prospering relative to Europe (where I completely agree) is a sign that despite being located in the ever declining European market (long term relative decline as a share of wolrd market, GDP, technology strength, etc) tell you we do have real strengths.
British people may not like or admire their own country and culture (and I’ve doubted here in the past – it seems to be a national trait). But a huge number of foreigners do.
This is far too pessimistic. Britain is doing very well in the areas it’s good at – including finance, law, accountancy, professional services and large areas in technology. And there are good reasons for that – while these industries are far from perfect, they’re better run and more trustworthy than in most other countries. They are also high value and generate exports. They just don’t (and can’t) employ enough people. I would also include media and culture here. We’ve generated huge value from things like children’s books over the last 150 years and are beneficiaries from the supremacy of the English language. Or look at rock and pop music.
The fact that we are prospering relative to Europe (where I completely agree) is a sign that despite being located in the ever declining European market (long term relative decline as a share of wolrd market, GDP, technology strength, etc) tell you we do have real strengths.
British people may not like or admire their own country and culture (and I’ve doubted here in the past – it seems to be a national trait). But a huge number of foreigners do.
Spoken like a stockbroker! Yours seems to be a different world to the majority of ordinary working people. Perhaps you should throw away the monocle, get your eyes tested, and you will see, with both eyes, whole swathes of the ‘living wage’ population in deep chichifafa!
What you say is true. What is also true is that GB IS in decline. The two are not mutually exclusive.
I agree – the writer clearly has a chip on his shoulder that destroyed the experience of reading the article
Plus the poor English that makes some sentences possible read as both pro and anti whatever it is he’s wittering on about
The decline is real. Pointing to a few bright spots in the South East is like pointing at Kabul and saying Afghanistan is forging ahead.
Take technology. Relative to Europe, the UK appears to be prospering, but relative to everywhere else it is in modest decline. The rate of innovation has gone into reverse, following the earlier trend of declining commercialisation of innovation.
Infrastructure such as comms networks, energy and transport is decaying in absolute terms.
Culture too: UK cultural influence is dwindling in absolute terms. The audience for our music, media and film is shrinking and we are consuming more of everyone else’s.
GDP per capita, the broadest measure of overall development and capability, starkly points to a country that has stagnated for nearly 2 decades. And stagnation in a rapidly growing world is decline.
Spoken like a stockbroker! Yours seems to be a different world to the majority of ordinary working people. Perhaps you should throw away the monocle, get your eyes tested, and you will see, with both eyes, whole swathes of the ‘living wage’ population in deep chichifafa!
Twice it was mentioned that Britain is a country in decline. That is only true in the areas that you choose. In many many other areas Britain is is forging ahead. Of course we have problems. Every country has problems. But if you only see problems there will only be problems!
we should send all the kent immigrants to Albania?
Do you mean the sub-Saharan immigrants?
Why not ?
Do you mean the sub-Saharan immigrants?
Why not ?
we should send all the kent immigrants to Albania?
I only skim-read the Comments as most are a conflicting menage of readers’ own pet viewpoints but surprised that no one mentions the police’s
assertion that 80% of the drugs trade in the UK is run by Albanians.
I only skim-read the Comments as most are a conflicting menage of readers’ own pet viewpoints but surprised that no one mentions the police’s
assertion that 80% of the drugs trade in the UK is run by Albanians.
A curiously moving article. I feel the spirit of Albania woven throughout it. I think the author has been touched by the magic of that ancient land. I feel it too, although secondhand.
Yes indeed. I almost want to schedule a visit to this place. From looking on a map, they must must have beautiful coastline and majestic mountain towns.
Yes indeed. I almost want to schedule a visit to this place. From looking on a map, they must must have beautiful coastline and majestic mountain towns.
A curiously moving article. I feel the spirit of Albania woven throughout it. I think the author has been touched by the magic of that ancient land. I feel it too, although secondhand.
Excellent article. I learned lots from this.
Excellent article. I learned lots from this.
Forcing themselves on a country that doesn’t want them for material gain. Sound like invaders to me.
Forcing themselves on a country that doesn’t want them for material gain. Sound like invaders to me.
Does anyone know if the UK is the main destination for Albanian migrants leaving Albania or do they also settle in other European countries? I know some people say that they come here because the UK is a soft touch but is that true?
It certainly used to be Italy. Now who knows.
Italy! Big in drugs, prostitution and people smuggling and based near Trieste… again, Plod are petrified of them and their Kosovan henchmen
The late, lamented Benito Mussolini made short work of the Mafia in Sicily in the late 1920’s so it should be possible to repeat his performance.
But the USA brought the Mafia back to Italy.
A calumny. Who says it was not merely lying dormant, rather like Barbarossa under his mountain?
A calumny. Who says it was not merely lying dormant, rather like Barbarossa under his mountain?
But the USA brought the Mafia back to Italy.
The late, lamented Benito Mussolini made short work of the Mafia in Sicily in the late 1920’s so it should be possible to repeat his performance.
If you read the piece you’d see that many Albanians actually like the UK, its values and its monarchy.. the respect and the history.. sure the money is better but it’s not all about the money.
So rather like the Irish?
Thanks Liam, I did see that in the piece. I can understand that the UK might be an attractive destination for them for all sorts of reasons but that doesn’t mean that other countries are not. So some come to the UK, some to Germany or France and so on. It might seem to us that they are all coming here but that might not be true.
Perhaps if they are all coming here we should be flattered.
Why would people downvoted this? I don’t know that I agree but it’s a reasonable question. Don’t “choir vote” or eventually all we’ll be reading is choir voices.
Why would people downvoted this? I don’t know that I agree but it’s a reasonable question. Don’t “choir vote” or eventually all we’ll be reading is choir voices.
They like us because they can’t believe how gullible, soft and self defeatingly stupid we are. What’s not to like?
That is indeed what the author claims. But how confident are we that this is generally true (rather than just asserted by a writer or true of a minority) ? I would agree that this does seem generally true for Poles and Slovaks in Britain. I just don’t know any Albanians and suspect that the cultural gap there is quite a lot wider.
So rather like the Irish?
Thanks Liam, I did see that in the piece. I can understand that the UK might be an attractive destination for them for all sorts of reasons but that doesn’t mean that other countries are not. So some come to the UK, some to Germany or France and so on. It might seem to us that they are all coming here but that might not be true.
Perhaps if they are all coming here we should be flattered.
They like us because they can’t believe how gullible, soft and self defeatingly stupid we are. What’s not to like?
That is indeed what the author claims. But how confident are we that this is generally true (rather than just asserted by a writer or true of a minority) ? I would agree that this does seem generally true for Poles and Slovaks in Britain. I just don’t know any Albanians and suspect that the cultural gap there is quite a lot wider.
It certainly used to be Italy. Now who knows.
Italy! Big in drugs, prostitution and people smuggling and based near Trieste… again, Plod are petrified of them and their Kosovan henchmen
If you read the piece you’d see that many Albanians actually like the UK, its values and its monarchy.. the respect and the history.. sure the money is better but it’s not all about the money.
Does anyone know if the UK is the main destination for Albanian migrants leaving Albania or do they also settle in other European countries? I know some people say that they come here because the UK is a soft touch but is that true?
So how would the remnants of this ‘brain drained’, economically gutted country contribute to ours? We are already struggling/unable to cope with increasingly large swathes of people which are neither educated or skilled. We have been busily brain- drain the UK for decades!
So how would the remnants of this ‘brain drained’, economically gutted country contribute to ours? We are already struggling/unable to cope with increasingly large swathes of people which are neither educated or skilled. We have been busily brain- drain the UK for decades!
Just supposing… what if the UK offered to make Albania part of itself?
Good thinking outside the box. Or perhaps it could become part of Turkey.
Perhaps we could swap it for Northern Ireland of even Scotland?
Spoken like a true Englishman
Spoken like a true Englishman
Corfu is rather crowded, and Albania is a quick boat trip, just a few miles. Tourism was the making of many poor Caribbean nations, after all, and Albania’s coast there is not unlike the Costa del Sol or the other Greek Islands in climate. Didn’t know they had Alps. Resort development can lift quite a few boats.
Good thinking outside the box. Or perhaps it could become part of Turkey.
Perhaps we could swap it for Northern Ireland of even Scotland?
Corfu is rather crowded, and Albania is a quick boat trip, just a few miles. Tourism was the making of many poor Caribbean nations, after all, and Albania’s coast there is not unlike the Costa del Sol or the other Greek Islands in climate. Didn’t know they had Alps. Resort development can lift quite a few boats.
Just supposing… what if the UK offered to make Albania part of itself?
Is it the “far-flung imagination” of Albania’s would-be immigrants to Britain that most needs explaining in this peculiar article, or the total lack of imagination displayed by the writer, with his tone deaf, first-world complaints about the diminished “grandeur” the pitiable Brits are enduring?
Is it the “far-flung imagination” of Albania’s would-be immigrants to Britain that most needs explaining in this peculiar article, or the total lack of imagination displayed by the writer, with his tone deaf, first-world complaints about the diminished “grandeur” the pitiable Brits are enduring?
Sam! why have you got two upticks on your original entry and 2 downticks on this? You should have done a better Edit on the first and left it.
Sam! why have you got two upticks on your original entry and 2 downticks on this? You should have done a better Edit on the first and left it.
They all have phones, so they can see: government incompetence, strikes, waiting lists, food banks, hungry children, old people freezing in mouldy uninsulated homes, too few doctors, staff shortages in the NHS, care system and border force, shortage of train drivers, who are demanding too much money anyway, can’t get the staff in hospitality – “hang on, did someone says ‘staff shortages’? What are we waiting for?”
They all have phones, so they can see: government incompetence, strikes, waiting lists, food banks, hungry children, old people freezing in mouldy uninsulated homes, too few doctors, staff shortages in the NHS, care system and border force, shortage of train drivers, who are demanding too much money anyway, can’t get the staff in hospitality – “hang on, did someone says ‘staff shortages’? What are we waiting for?”
Thanks for this I am more sympathetic now especially after reading about defending Christendom. Should there be a little more deference to those who share culture?
Thanks for this I am more sympathetic now especially after reading about defending Christendom. Should there be a little more deference to those who share culture?
If you like contrasts, read a new book called ‘Free’ by Lea Ypi. Ms Ypi is a lecturer at a UK university and specialises in communism.
She tells her story (she says) of her upbringing in Albania during communism. Everybody was poor, her parents were forced to do jobs they didn’t want to do and life was very slow. Permission for anything came from The Party. There was no choice of food in the shops and a lot of queuing. Once, as a young child, she didn’t remember to worship their Wonderful Leader and she was chastised for it. She had the chance to go abroad once, to Italy, but she hated it there.
But despite all the problems, everybody was really happy. Neighbours helped each other through all the trials and people felt safe.
Then came the end of communism and with it came the gangsters with their machine guns, who took over the country. There had always been corruption but it was ten times worse after communism.Neighbours no longer helped each other and everyone wanted more and more.
The moral, of course, is that there are many bad choices for life but communism is the best of a bad lot.
..forced to do jobs they didn’t want to do…There are lots of people all around the world in that situation. I count myself lucky because all of the main jobs I’ve had kept me above the 50% happy level. That doesn’t entitle them to come to my country and live as a parasite, which many do.
I agree with you. I tried to give the impression that the book was intended to give an ultra-cuddly view of communism. I read it and was entertained – I would recommend that others should read it as the other side of the story. If you want to find out anything about Albania’s recent history, this is the book.
It doesn’t mean that I believe communism to be the answer.
If you believe your last paragraph is true, you really do need to edit your first post by removing, or seriously editing, the last paragraph in that one. This shouldn’t need spelling out.
If you believe your last paragraph is true, you really do need to edit your first post by removing, or seriously editing, the last paragraph in that one. This shouldn’t need spelling out.
‘The Gods’ gave us an island, and we have lamentably failed to ‘defend’ it.
Future generations will rightly curse us, if they manage to survive the chaos we have caused.
Which particular ‘God’? There’s rather a lot to choose from/blame.
Correct! I should have said GODS, how careless of me, and my sincere apologies.
Correct! I should have said GODS, how careless of me, and my sincere apologies.
Presumably, future generations will be the descendants of these immigrants and they will think this was a good thing.
Unbelievably there is that distinct possibility, although I prefer a rather different scenario.
Unbelievably there is that distinct possibility, although I prefer a rather different scenario.
Which particular ‘God’? There’s rather a lot to choose from/blame.
Presumably, future generations will be the descendants of these immigrants and they will think this was a good thing.
I agree with you. I tried to give the impression that the book was intended to give an ultra-cuddly view of communism. I read it and was entertained – I would recommend that others should read it as the other side of the story. If you want to find out anything about Albania’s recent history, this is the book.
It doesn’t mean that I believe communism to be the answer.
‘The Gods’ gave us an island, and we have lamentably failed to ‘defend’ it.
Future generations will rightly curse us, if they manage to survive the chaos we have caused.
“Best of a bad lot”, eh? 100 million dead under communism, the greatest catastrophe in human history. You might want to re-read Lea Ypi, whose parents said their country was “an open air prison for half a century”. She goes on: “We had been warned that the dictatorship of the proletariat was always under threat by the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. What we did not anticipate was that the first victim of that conflict, the clearest sign of victory, would be the disappearance of those very terms: dictatorship, proletariat, bourgeoisie. They were no longer part of our vocabulary. Only one word was left: freedom.”
The greatest catastrophe in history was undoubtedly the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Even the nihilistic atrocity that is communism pales into insignificance when compared to this event.
Nonsense. You need to read more widely.
If you want to go back that far in history to claim which catastrophe was the worst, why not go all the way back…..perhaps to the fall of the Dinosaurs?
Nonsense. You need to read more widely.
If you want to go back that far in history to claim which catastrophe was the worst, why not go all the way back…..perhaps to the fall of the Dinosaurs?
The greatest catastrophe in history was undoubtedly the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Even the nihilistic atrocity that is communism pales into insignificance when compared to this event.
Visit ‘the House of Leaves’ and the Block1 museums in Tirana and then come back and let us know your thoughts.
The Hoxha version of Communism was paranoid and brutal and insular in a way similar to N. Korea.
Again, why all the downvotes? He’s clearly describing someone else’s opposing side opinion and reasoning process which tells me something about Albanians. I would ask Ms Ypi if she’s read “The Road to Serfdom” and ask her if she doesn’t want more from life than the safe neighborhood life of a communist serf.
All young adults should have to read The Road to Serfdom, even if it has to published as a graphic novel!
All young adults should have to read The Road to Serfdom, even if it has to published as a graphic novel!
I think this is a seriously deluded view.
Firstly, Communism creates corruption. It’s impossible to earn a decent, honest living in a society where people are promoted based on an impractical ideology and actively punished for innovation. The only thing that “works” in such systems is the black market. That’s the reason for the apparent explosion in corruption after the collapse of Communism.
Secondly, the countries where Communism most strongly took root were those without a history of rule of law and property rights. A higher initial level of corruption and different cultural priorities made it easier to impose Communist dictatorships. Frankly, to some extent there were not enough brave, honest people in these countries to resist.
Thirdly, what were the Communist dicators if not “gangsters with machine guns” ? They just did it as a monopoly, rather than as criminal gangs.
Fourthly, I visited some Communiost countries before 1989 and I’ve never been anywhere where the people were so miserable and isolated (reluctant and scared to talk to Westerners). A total contrast to somewhere like Iran (where they were friendly and curious and far more open). I don’t buy this “we were all one big, happy family back then” view. It is the view of many of the older generation in Eastern Europe who miss the stability of the Communist era. But I doubt it was happiness.
..forced to do jobs they didn’t want to do…There are lots of people all around the world in that situation. I count myself lucky because all of the main jobs I’ve had kept me above the 50% happy level. That doesn’t entitle them to come to my country and live as a parasite, which many do.
“Best of a bad lot”, eh? 100 million dead under communism, the greatest catastrophe in human history. You might want to re-read Lea Ypi, whose parents said their country was “an open air prison for half a century”. She goes on: “We had been warned that the dictatorship of the proletariat was always under threat by the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. What we did not anticipate was that the first victim of that conflict, the clearest sign of victory, would be the disappearance of those very terms: dictatorship, proletariat, bourgeoisie. They were no longer part of our vocabulary. Only one word was left: freedom.”
Visit ‘the House of Leaves’ and the Block1 museums in Tirana and then come back and let us know your thoughts.
The Hoxha version of Communism was paranoid and brutal and insular in a way similar to N. Korea.
Again, why all the downvotes? He’s clearly describing someone else’s opposing side opinion and reasoning process which tells me something about Albanians. I would ask Ms Ypi if she’s read “The Road to Serfdom” and ask her if she doesn’t want more from life than the safe neighborhood life of a communist serf.
I think this is a seriously deluded view.
Firstly, Communism creates corruption. It’s impossible to earn a decent, honest living in a society where people are promoted based on an impractical ideology and actively punished for innovation. The only thing that “works” in such systems is the black market. That’s the reason for the apparent explosion in corruption after the collapse of Communism.
Secondly, the countries where Communism most strongly took root were those without a history of rule of law and property rights. A higher initial level of corruption and different cultural priorities made it easier to impose Communist dictatorships. Frankly, to some extent there were not enough brave, honest people in these countries to resist.
Thirdly, what were the Communist dicators if not “gangsters with machine guns” ? They just did it as a monopoly, rather than as criminal gangs.
Fourthly, I visited some Communiost countries before 1989 and I’ve never been anywhere where the people were so miserable and isolated (reluctant and scared to talk to Westerners). A total contrast to somewhere like Iran (where they were friendly and curious and far more open). I don’t buy this “we were all one big, happy family back then” view. It is the view of many of the older generation in Eastern Europe who miss the stability of the Communist era. But I doubt it was happiness.
If you like contrasts, read a new book called ‘Free’ by Lea Ypi. Ms Ypi is a lecturer at a UK university and specialises in communism.
She tells her story (she says) of her upbringing in Albania during communism. Everybody was poor, her parents were forced to do jobs they didn’t want to do and life was very slow. Permission for anything came from The Party. There was no choice of food in the shops and a lot of queuing. Once, as a young child, she didn’t remember to worship their Wonderful Leader and she was chastised for it. She had the chance to go abroad once, to Italy, but she hated it there.
But despite all the problems, everybody was really happy. Neighbours helped each other through all the trials and people felt safe.
Then came the end of communism and with it came the gangsters with their machine guns, who took over the country. There had always been corruption but it was ten times worse after communism.Neighbours no longer helped each other and everyone wanted more and more.
The moral, of course, is that there are many bad choices for life but communism is the best of a bad lot.