Immigration bursting
The UK is following Canada is gunning for net migration of 1 million over the year, according to the latest estimates.
The UK Daily Telegraph reported this week:
For such a small island, this seems like a breakneck pace of immigration - actually, it is a breakneck pace - which makes a mockery of some earlier predictions of a 'falling' UK population. Lol.
The National Health Service is famously already under chronic pressure, but according to a position paper from the Social Market Foundation, an immigration intake of 1 million per year could become the 'new normal' for Britain, due to an ageing population and skills shortages.
I don't believe people in Britain realise just how lousy a state their health service is in, as compared to a country like Australia, where the system is light years ahead, infinitely more efficient, and just...works.
Unfortunately the UK is heavily weighed down by government debt, with the pandemic lockdowns undoing years of austerity and resulting in another enormous borrowing binge.
Some of the UK immigration boom is being driven by refugees from Ukraine, as well as a surge in international students.
Australia is going down a similar route, with the Federal Budget forecasting enormous net overseas migration for the next 5 years, though Australia is in an admirable fiscal condition compared to many other developed countries.
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Driving down the east coast this week, I realised two things.
Firstly, it's great to see unleaded fuel prices coming down, and secondly, Brisbane prices area rort.
CommSec reported fuel prices as down -9 per cent from a year earlier, helping to drive disinflation in Australia's economy in 2023.
