A neurotic obsession with illegal migration is driving British politics rightwards, trapping the parties in an arms race of escalating harshness towards migrants. Now Tory far-righter Katie Lam wants to cancel legal migrants’ right to stay, evoking the racist “repatriation” talk of the 1970s National Front. Can Britain get out of the migration doom spiral? 

Former head of the Migration Advisory Committee Prof Alan Manning joins us to talk about the “infernal cycle” of migration policy … whether Labour really are just trying to outbid the Tories and Reform… his new book Why Immigration Policy Is Hard And How To Make It Better … and why a good goal would be to Make Migration Boring Again.  

• Buy Why Immigration Policy Is Hard And How To Make It Better through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

ESCAPE ROUTES 

• Ros and Alan are both watching Celebrity Traitors on the iPlayer, as it seems is everyone. 

• Apart from Andrew, who is listening to the soothing German techno on Kompakt Total 25

• Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more 

• If you want to find out more about Energise Africa and register as an investor, visit energiseafrica.com/ogwn

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow 

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ros Taylor. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme music by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. 

www.podmasters.co.uk  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices