We and our political leaders should do all in our power to negotiate a fair burden of responsibility - through music and hot chocolate.

There is an intensifying debate around immigration in the UK. In May 2015 the Office for National Statistics estimated net migration to be +320,000 last year, the highest since records began. Yet between June 2014 and June 2015, the UK took 166 Syrian refugees.





How does this all tie in with Reading Festival?

Well, while getting the train back from the from Notting Hill Carnival I got chatting to a few festival-goers. I learned that one of the headline acts had been banned from entering the UK for using the word “Faggot” in a song lyric..

But what was the biggest highlight amidst the loud music, muddy tents, and expensive food?

Hot Chocolate.

Yes, a cup of £1 hot chocolate from a stall run by the Faith Christian Group.

Then I compared the relative size of Reading Festival (< 100 k) to the ‘swarm’ of people trying to escape the Syrian war zone (> 10m). If we count in “Reading Festivals” that’s around one hundred, two hundred would be the upper limit.

The scale of evacuation required is almost unfathomable, and we do not want to encourage shanty towns to sprout up on the outskirts of major Europe cities. However music festivals are uplifting, temporary, and somewhat well organised.

We and our political leaders should do all in our power to negotiate a fair burden of responsibility - a musical, hot-chocolatey burden of responsibility.





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