Is debate really stifled though? Social media exposure and plenty of airtime for Farage et al and anyone who wants to voice an opinion without a problem. Even on here counts.

Maybe the case has to be made better by those who claim to not be xenophobic when they pursue an anti-immigration or anti-EU argument in order not to be associated with the nastier bigoted lowlife out there.

If they did I for one would listen and take it on board. As it stands they don't seem to able to [argue well]. Which is why, of course, others may see them as having a hidden agenda or being in denial about certain unsavoury views they hold.

Thanks for re-enforcing some of my points

Better to argue the case well rather than looking to blame if one want's to see change.

It's a tricky subject, immigration; plenty of people who have concerns about immigration (and the impact on an ever shrinking body of public services being cut to the bone) don't have a racist bone in their body. Unfortunately, by the same token, plenty of out and out racists cite their concern about immigration when what they really mean is 'too many non British white people' and hark at a return to some sort of imagined, 1950's golden age where minorities knew their place.

A bit straw man if you ask me.

There does seem to be a rather arrogant notion among the liberal left that somehow they have both moral and intellectual superiority over the opposition. Funny really.

I don't think they would listen to any argument, no matter how eloquent, because it would not fit with their deeply entrenched ideology.
It's very easy to be trite when discussing these issues but one has to make allowances for the arena in which these ideological,political debates are taking place. In any case, the average Joe might not articulate their views well on any side of the argument but democracy has never been about pure intellect or eloquence.

Interesting reading:

[Link]

Not want you will hear, or will want to hear, in the Teignmouth branch of Cafe Nero.

I'm not saying that it is imagined that the demographic population was completely different. That's a fact.

Merely pointing out that it was not the golden age of peace and happiness that some would have it made out to be, and that it was a different world.

The very different world we live in now is not just down to immigration, as some seem to believe. The changing nature of modern economies, globalisation, politics and various global conflicts etc has had far more to do with the world we find ourselves in than anything else. Immigration may have played a part, but it is just one part of the puzzle.

There seems to be an attitude (especially, but not solely, amongst older generations) that, if there were less 'foreigners' here, we would somehow magically default to the world of the 1950's again. It's a dangerous attitude to have.