Yesterday I went to my son’s school for the annual Prize Giving ceremony. In all there were 134 prizes awarded to boys from all years in the school. What struck me was the number of pupils who were not from white British ethnic stock.

According to my own amateur stab at the maths (and judging only from what I could see) 31% of the children getting prizes fell into the category of 2nd generation immigrant and of those getting the prize for best academic performance in each form, more than one in five fell into the category.

Britain, and the rest of the West, has a major challenge finding its competitive place in the world in the 21st century and it seems to me that we will need all the help we can get from new, ambitious, eager blood arriving on these shores. It was immigration (added to resources and opportunity) which propelled the US to the top of the global league table. Bringing down the shutters is about the worst thing we could do.