Is britain full?

“When Phil Woolas , the Immigration and Borders Minister, suggested last week that queuing should be a feature of the UK citizenship test, it seemed to make sense. After all, we stand nose to nose on the Underground, drive bumper to bumper in city centres, and regard queueing as a national sport.

Yet the irony of his statement that “the simple act of taking one’s turn is one of the things that holds our country together” will not have been lost on those debating whether queues in Britain are already too long. Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, recently argued in The Times that “the sheer numbers of migrants from Europe and elsewhere put the resources of Britain under enormous pressure, but also threaten the very ethos or DNA of our nation”.

According to the latest projections, the UK population will reach 71.6 million by 2033 (Office for National Statistics).  MigrationWatch UK, an antiimmigration lobby group, insists that governments have lost control over national borders, resulting in “immigration on a scale that is placing huge strain on our public services, housing, environment,society and quality of life”.  So how many is too many?  The Times asks demographers, academics and those on the front line the question: Is Britain full?”

To read the full article click on http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article7028212.ece