"The migrants in Calais and elsewhere are not so much ‘innocents’ as people trying to retain control over their lives and making morally complex decisions…"

The migrants in Calais and elsewhere are not so much ‘innocents’as people trying to retain control over their lives and making morally complex decisions about what risks to take, what rules to flout, what lies to tell – including, in a minority of cases, saying you’re under 18 when you’re not. If these details are kept out of the picture then it makes it harder to ask the questions that need to be asked. Why should anyone, for example, from small children to adult women and men, have to put up with these conditions? What set of interests does it serve to regulate their movement and encourage people to fear them? And how likely is it that a state which treats refugees in this way will behave similarly to its own citizens?

Read More | "British Hospitality" | Daniel Trilling | LRB Blog