This scepter'd, sinking isle

Britain's population is growing faster than Her Majesty's government ever dreamed, or at least ever dreamed of admitting to the public. Most of the increase is down to immigration. (Hat tip: Fjordman.)

The Telegraph reports:

Britain's population is projected to rise by more than seven million in the next 25 years - a far greater increase than official forecasts have previously predicted. More than half the extra population will be the direct result of immigration, according to figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics.

Total numbers are expected to rise from just under 60 million today to 67 million by 2031 and 70 million by the 2060s. Combined with the two million increase since 1990, this means that within a lifetime, the population of the country will have increased by a fifth, the most rapid expansion since the early years of the 20th century.

Last year's net migration to the U.K. was the highest on record, 223,000 according to the official record, which probably vastly undercounts illegals -- or maybe Cool Britannia no longer bothers to make any distinction. "Much of the population increase will be in England, and especially in the South-East," says The Telegraph. That is, in London and its surrounding counties, which already suffer from motorways that resemble parking lots, a shortage of housing, and multi-cultural tribalism.

Either the government belived that discussing the origin of the immigrants was too delicate, or The Telegraph feared being prosecuted for a thought crime if it brought the subject up. Inside sources told me, however, that most of this year's expected 255,000 (only counting legal?) immigrants will not be Yanks, Aussies, or Irish.

But there is something of a counter-current: more British than ever are jacking it in.

The number of British citizens leaving to live elsewhere increased to 208,000 - the highest annual outflow on record.

If present trends continue -- and there is little evidence that either of the U.K.'s main political parties intends to lower itself to mere principle and call for an immigration moratorium -- in 20 years Britain will experience bail-outs like today's South Africa. Practically every Brit who is unfashionably pale, non-Muslim, and prosperous enough will leave the country with whatever of value they are permitted to take with them.

Maybe it no longer matters. Britain is a shadow of its former self, not economically but morally and culturally: a country that no longer cares anything about its history and traditions, believes it owes the Third World subservience, has lost the civility that used to be the first thing visitors noticed, and whose media are in thrall to celebrities.

I have a soft spot for Britain, particularly England (the only part of it I've been to), and nothing would please me more than to see the country sort itself out. One can hope. And urge.