In his column in The Times today, David Aaronovitch uses Aftershock to buttress his arguments:
Legrain is looking at how to fashion policy after the crisis. And he reminds his readers that Britain exists in a world of constant change, one that demands that we keep up. For example, we speak all the time about “immigration” and whether there is too much of it. But the issue for Legrain is the mobility of people — out, as well as in. Many “immigrants” are in fact transitional, as are many “emigrants”, taking their skills and leaving Britain as well as entering it. Our debate is hopelessly out of date.
Legrain reminds us of a world in which the BEEs, the Big Emerging Economies such as China, India, Brazil and South Korea, are not in crisis and their new middle classes are shaping the future. So is this really the time to grumble about how “too many people are in higher education” as Nick Clegg seemed to at the weekend?