Even among progressive-minded people, there are reservations about those who have fled horrifying circumstances in Syria, Eritrea, Darfur, Afghanistan and other countries terrorised by war or dictatorship. Why don't they simply seek refuge in countries neighbouring their own? What compels them to travel thousands of miles, across multiple borders, in order to make a new life on British soil? François Hollande's France is hardly a war-torn dystopia, so why not stay there? 

The first point is that the vast majority of refugees don't come anywhere near western Europe. Indeed, as the UNHCR points out, 86% of all refugees are in developing countries. That's a dramatic surge from 70% just a decade ago. About one in four refugees are from Syria: 95 out of every 100 of them are in a neighbouring country. Turkey - whose GDP per capita is about four times less than that of Britain - hosts nearly 1.6 million refugees, more than any other country. Lebanon, which has a population of less than 4.5 million, has up to 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Countries with far fewer resources than Britain are taking in many more refugees.  Read more: Owen Jones, Guardian, 07/08/2015