Distinguished friends

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My book “The Battle of Britishness: Migrant Journeys, 1685 to the Present” opens with the thoughts from black British film-maker John Akomfrah: ‘People don’t make the journeys to come and die; they make them to come and live. And to live, you transform the place.’ I’d add that we need as a nation to embrace the vitality brought by migrants and the process of migration. Britain would be a sterile place without the contribution of newcomers.

Tony Kushner

Tony Kushner is Professor of History and Director of the Parkes Institute for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, University of Southampton. He has written extensively on refugee history in Britain and also the memory of refugees in that country. His most recent book is The Battle of Britishness: Migrant Journeys, 1685 to the Present (Manchester University Press, 2012).