Published by 'civitas' of [...]- Institute for the Study of civil Society. Short book - about 100 pages. Has endnotes, but is not indexed.
It's unillustrated; this may sound trivial, but it means there are no graphs, maps, photos or other aids. The 'Gumball' video illustrates something like the opposite approach; it can be more effective.
Conway clarifies at the start that the 'nation of immigrants' claim presumably is the claim that a majority of people in Britain are descended from immigrants who entered Britain at some stage, when Britain existed - i.e. not the mists of prehistory.
British history is split into five time zones - up to the Roman Conquest (and its fall)/ Up to the Norman Conquest in 1066/ then to the Reformation/ then to Second World War/ finally, 1945 to the present - publication was in 2007.
He's picked these dates because they represent various types of immigration:
* Up to the Roman Conquest - the view now is that agriculture replaced hunter/gatherer life by diffusion, not invasion. Then of course 'Romans' invaded, tho these were mostly Belgae etc. So his first interval includes the Romans.
* There were Angles, Saxons and so on, and Vikings. And some Jews. Conway adduces evidence that the numbers weren't large.
Throughout there is evidence from DNA studies, some on bones a thousand or more years ago. B Sykes and S Oppenheimer are cited here. The Reformation introduced religious refugees, Protestants mostly. These incuded the Huguenots, whom Conway praises as does almost everyone.
* Up to the Second World War there were Jews round about 1890. Alien Act 1905. And Alien Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919. Their numbers however were dwarfed by the Irish. Conway is good on the reasons for England allying with Scotland, then Ireland - defensive measures against France.
* After the Second World War. Conway quotes official figures illustrating the 'staggering growth', mostly in England. He subdivides the period: 1945-1948 (including Poles left from WW2; and Ukrainians - I met an 82-year old Ukrainian woman who bemoaned men she knew from the next village getting married in UK bigamously); 1948-1971 1948 British Nationality Act (under Attlee, Labour) 'extended a right to them all [i.e. Indians and Pakistanis], even after independence' 1969 Commonwealth Appeals Act p 76; 1971-1997 1971 Immigration Act and 'patriality' (p 76) and where the EU had a problem with the eastern borders when the USSR failed, and 1997 is the start of Tony Blair's disastrously dogmatic 'New Labour' regime; 1997 - present includes the further unfolding of chain immigration, arranged marriages, fake asylum, fake students, movement of labour, and all the rest. [1981 Nationality Act changed legal meaning of 'British' - under Labour]
Conway identifies some influential publications and people:--
* 1996 'Commission for Racial Equality': 'Roots of the Future: Ethnic Diversity in the Making of Britain'. Conway says in effect this was propaganda rubbish promoting the lie of a 'mongrel nation'.
* 2000 Barbara Roche speech on 'UK migration in a global economy'. Conway says this was the start of the odd idea that unskilled illiterates were valuable to the economy and would 'pay our pensions'.
* 2004, R Winder, 'Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain'. Conway, here implies this book is simple propaganda, aimed at an increasingly annoyed white populace.
* 2006 B Sykes and S Oppenheimer publish, says Conway, books with very similar accounts of results of DNA research into Britons, showing small penetration even by Angles and Saxons who were supposed to have invaded en masse.
This book needs to be read several times over, to get the feel for the way politicians have slanted and lied about the issues. 'The relatively high level of social harmony Britain has enjoyed results from the fact that earlier waves of immigrants ... had to adapt... Now our culture, and our nation, are in danger of fragmenting...' Conway doesn't tackle, or I think mention, the possible real differences in races - for example the lack of achievements by Africans.
