Without realising it, Britain has become a nation of immigrants

livemint.com:

Muslim anger over the war in Gaza; an anxious speech from Mr Sunak followed. But Rochdale is atypical. To understand Britain’s present—and future—as a nation of immigrants, it is better to look elsewhere.

Somewhere like Reading, a town of 174,000 inhabitants about 60km (38 miles) west of central London. It has a hugely diverse foreign-born population, amounting to one-third of the total (see chart 2). Of more than 330 local authorities in England and Wales, only six saw larger percentage-point increases in their foreign-born populations in the decade to 2021.

Like many other places in Britain, Reading has experienced three major waves of settlement since the second world war. Immigrants have transformed the town, but they have barely troubled it. People move to Reading partly because of where it is: close enough to the capital to allow for quick commuting, when the trains are running properly at least, but distant enough to make it cheaper and more relaxed.

“People here don’t walk as fast, and they’re not afraid to make eye contact," says Belén Ballesteros, a Spanish-born receptionist who moved to Reading from London. She found that she could rent half of a four-bedroom house, with a garden, for the price of a room in the big city. Another draw is the local economy.

Reading has a large hospital (the Royal Berkshire), a growing university and a clutch of it firms, which benefit from the town’s proximity to Heathrow airport and the m4 motorway. “There was always work here," says Cyrilene Small-Tollafield, who arrived in Reading from Barbados in 1965, aged 11. Her family was part of the first great post-war migration, from Ireland and the Commonwealth.