Sunday, March 24, 2013

Playing the immigration card and No 82 is infinity

I'm not after winning a popularity contest here -but I  wonder if we are doing the 'right' thing in trying to make our country less welcoming.
Having failed to address the issues of the day the main political parties play to the crowds and bring the immigration card into play.
Typically when times are tough an easy option is to start apportioning blame and it seems that it is not just the errant bankers in the city who are taking more than they are giving but it is also those who arrive here legitimately, generally to work and build a better future who are now in the firing line.
It is not just the Daily Mail (now UK's most read newspaper) that feel we are increasingly playing host to those who are after an easy life.
Well I don't fall for these stories, generally people come here to work and contribute the fact that they do jobs that  many do not want to is a sign of their commitment. Is life easy for those who come here to start anew?
Do countries benefit from young ambitious people - look at places like HK (and the USA founded on Immigration) which has thrived on  those leaving the restrictive life of mainland China.
Many of those now contributing to the UK's life are second or third generation children of immigrants and refugees - consider Somali born Mo Farah and many of the Olympic athletes who excelled in 2013 and let's not bow down to the calls of doom-mongers who preach failure and want to close the doors to new entrants.

So let's look at something less controversial - Infinity (number 82)


Like those other ideas that are coming from a mathematical/scientific direction the issues are conceptual, there are things that are big (like the universe) and then there are those numbers that are inconceivable - infinity falls into the latter - think of the biggest number you can and then keep counting, this'll take you towards infinity - Infinity is useful in mathematical problems as we look at what happens as we 'tend towards infinity'  but what does it mean to us in everyday life?
Apparently Georg Cantor discovered that there's more than one infinity (but be warned he did spend some time in mental institutions, not sure which was the cause of which - probably best to just think of infinity as being unfathomably big, long, hot etc.)