‘NO Pasaran’ was the proud cry of those who fought to defend democracy during the Spanish Civil War. Eighty years on, right wing politicians across Europe seem to have revived the slogan. 

But this time round, the words ‘they shall not pass’ is directed, not at fascist barbarism, but at desperate children and their parents.

After constructing the 21st century version of the Berlin Wall – a 100-mile razor wire fence – the Hungarian authorities are now turning tear gas and water cannons against people whose only crime is to have been born in a war zone.

Yet browse through your TV channels almost any day of the week and you’re likely to see programmes encouraging and advising people how to become economic migrants. “Setting up home in Croatia – six steps to success,” is just a random sample form the website of Channel 4’s ‘A Place in the Sun’.

Bronzed presenters research local housing markets, job prospects and the quality of the schools to show participants how their life might look if the move to Italy, Turkey, France or wherever. Everyone, of course, wants a beautiful view, a pleasant climate, and preferably, a private swimming pool. 

One of the big questions they regularly ponder is the attitude of the indigenous population. Will they be friendly, hostile or just indifferent? And most crucially of all, will they perhaps speak some English?

Those who participate in these programmes are not motivated by desperation. They’re not kept awake at the night by machine gun fire, or forced to beg on the streets to feed their children. And I’ve yet to see any of them climb a barbed wire fence to view the property, never mind enter the country of their choice. Aaaah… But… They’re Brits. 

Another programme – Come Dine With Me Down Under – gets a bunch of ex-pats together to eat and drink the remarkably good value local produce. And talking of ex-pats – why are they never called migrants? 

At the end of last year there were 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, out of a total of 20 million worldwide. That is 0.75 per cent. A pitiful proportion – especially for a state whose role in the world has been a major factor in generating the inequality and instability that underlies the present crisis. In contrast, the developing world accommodates 86 per cent of the world’s refugees. Meanwhile, there are nearly six million British migrants scattered across the world. Instead of worrying about becoming full up, the UK should really be concerned that one of these days, people might become so incensed with our government’s double standards that they start to send British migrants back home. And the question the press and the politicians will then have to address is – can we accommodate another six million people?

Jeremy Corbyn needs to read The National

AS we marked the first anniversary of the referendum, commentators naturally focused on the way it has changed Scotland forever. But equally dramatic has been the impact on the British Labour Party. For decades, the movement founded by Keir Hardie had been locked in the inside right of politics, occasionally soft shuffling to the centre. But thanks to the SNP landslide, Labour members and supporters woke up to the realisation that elections can be won without the backing of big business and the mainstream media.

Jim Murphy, Alistair Darling and Ed Miliband might be easier targets for the pro-independence movement but I welcome the victory of Jeremy Corbyn. With the political debate across the UK liberated from the straitjacket of free market economics, the idea of a progressive, left wing independent Scotland starts to look like a reasonable proposition rather than a reckless fantasy. Then there is the intriguing question of how Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy will develop on Scottish independence. As a rebel who has defied his party whip 500 times, it would be difficult for Corbyn to impose the kind of control freak discipline that has been a hallmark of New Labour. 

Those old enough to remember 1979 will know that Labour in Scotland and across Britain was openly divided, with MPs on both sides speaking for and against devolution from public platforms and in TV studios. So shouldn’t Labour’s new leader at least allow his MPs and party members to argue publicly for independence if they feel so inclined?

Without Labour’s monolithic, rock solid, opposition to independence the 45 per cent could swiftly grow to 60 per cent and more. 

And here lies Corbyn’s dilemma. An independent Scotland would kill stone dead any possibility of resurrecting the Scottish Labour bloc vote in Westminster. But unless Labour ends its relentless hostility to Scottish independence, it’s hard to imagine that that bloc vote ever coming back from the dead. I don’t know if Corbyn reads The National – but he should do, every day, if he wants to understand the mood that has left Labour clinging to the lifebelt in Scotland. So, I’ll take the liberty of offering him a bit of advice, from one radical to another. Come out and state publicly Labour has no burning ambition to hold together the archaic UK. Tell people you’re relaxed about independence, and promise to cooperate with a future post-UK Scottish Government. And instead of becoming obsessed with the Herculean task of winning the next general election, set out a ten-year plan to build a broad progressive alliance from Carlisle to Cornwall capable of winning power in 2025, without the need for Scots to buy into the British road to socialism.