First Point at Issue: Immigration

To continue, uninterruptedly (oh the joy of blogging - a conversation with oneself) - Farage and UKIP have made immigration an issue. Their top issue in fact.
Whereas, if we Scots of the political classes were to be believed, Scotland has no issue with immigration.
To quote Macwhirter, Immigration is simply not an issue in Scotland. Or rather it is, but only because increasingly restrictive UK policies are choking off the flow of migrants we need....

I gather Macwhirter (and lets be honest a host of other liberal commentators and politicians) have not actually talked to our labouring poor. They are overjoyed at the cheap labour they provide and long hours they endure alongside their East European co-workers. Hired. Fired. And if you're a bit more up-market, you'll be happily working with your Indian IT colleagues, as they upskill themselves.

Leaving that aside, the question that arises is why are the you-know-whos (English) so obsessed with immigration? Are we suggesting it is an English gene, which is thankfully absent here? Or are they just nasty people?
This commentator has no doubt why immigration is a lesser issue here. It's because there are so many fewer immigrants! When historically, there were upsurges of immigration, they were no more welcomed than anywhere else. Irish? Have you heard about that?
But the current levels of immigration experienced down south dwarf that totally. And guess what, many people don't really care for it. From Brown's 'bigoted woman' upwards, people who find society changed around them, find it a discomforting experience. A woman I know who moved here from Rochdale admitted to me that she moved here as her kids were the only 'white' kids in the class. And she's a lefty.
And ignoring people's individual views, immigration is not always for the best. Social cohesion is something which is a positive force; it reinforces our responsibilities to one another. Immigration, without a doubt, threatens it.
And over time (a short time) society will be changed. Many commentators have described how Israel has politically moved way to the right due largely to the influx of east european who care nothing for the old Kibbutz and socialism. How would Scotland be if 37 per cent of our residents were born abroad, as is the case with London - and not spread across Scotland, but concentrated, as they are in London, in new ghettos?