The major events shaping the perception by ordinary people in West Asia of western governments
This graphic image identifies the major events that have shaped the perception held by ordinary people living in the West of people who have come to live in Europe from west Asia.
1. Where Did Our Present Troubles Begin?
Was it the birth of corporate capitalism with the Dutch East India Company in 1602, when trade and profit became organised on a global scale and banks were set up to creating capital markets? Or the expansionist reach of the British East India Company, which fused commerce, empire and military force? Perhaps the decisive moment was Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, when European rivalry crashed directly into the Islamic world - and reshaped geopolitics for centuries to come.
We can point to any of these moments as a beginning, although history doesn't really offer such neat starting lines. It moves instead through overlapping cycles: economic expansion and contraction, social cohesion and fragmentation, geopolitical ascent and decline.... And eventually all Empires and in reset. Alongside the phases are natural disasters, which have killed more people than wars, and technological revolutions, which have shifted power more decisively than ideology ever could. The printing press, steam power, oil, electricity, nuclear energy, silicon chips, AI - each altered who led and who followed. Our present “Troubles” are less a sudden rupture and more a predictable phase in these long rhythms. Who knows how or when this particular Order will end.
2. History In The Public Mind
Those timelines we discussed are not merely charts of events; they are reflections of how societies remember. They reveal which episodes we choose as origins and how we connect causes across centuries. History is always a story of push and pull as is individual choice. Europeans went “over there” driven by trade, ambition and opportunity, convinced of their civilisational, shall we call it "confidence" . Others later came “over here” drawn by stability, law and economic possibility, vibrancy, lower taxes, believing they were entering a functioning civil society (and incidentally hollowing out their own societies that they leave behind because as we know it's the ambitious who leave and the top ten percent who generate maybe 80% of government tax revenue) . That is a society governed by institutions and shared rules rather than clan loyalties or arbitrary force.
For both sides, these movements once felt rational. Expansion created wealth; migration filled labour shortages. Yet scale alters perception. What once appeared episodic and manageable can, at higher volumes, feel continuous and eventually the numbers become threatening.
3. Immigration: Then And Now
Immigration into Britain is not new. After the Second World War, the arrival of the Windrush generation from 1948 onwards followed from the creation of the NHS and the rebuilding of industry. Labour was needed, Commonwealth citizens responded. In 1972, the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin brought another distinct wave, many of whom went on to establish successful businesses and professional careers. These were defined episodes, shaped by particular events.
What feels different today is the continuity and scale. Net migration to the UK in 2023 exceeded 700,000, according to the Office for National Statistics, a figure unprecedented in peacetime. The drivers are structural: ageing populations require workers; service economies rely on lower labour costs; instability abroad pushes people outward. Migration is therefore not simply a matter of people wanting to leave difficult conditions; it is equally about advanced economies demanding labour to sustain growth and support welfare systems. This is less a moral narrative than an economic one.
According to the ONS, Office for National Statistics, the number of people moving permanently into the UK is as follows (note this is long-term immigration ie people entering the UK intending to stay for at least 12 months) :
2023 - 1.47 million
2024 - 1.30 million
2025 - 898,000
4. Integration, Multiculturalism And Political Cleavage
Different countries have adopted different responses. France traditionally pursued assimilation, expecting newcomers to adopt a unified civic identity. Britain leaned towards multiculturalism, assuming diverse cultures could coexist under shared legal tolerance. Neither model has been flawless. Assimilation can feel rigid and exclusionary; multiculturalism can drift into parallel communities with limited interaction.
Across Europe, these tensions have fed the rise of populist movements, defined loosely as political currents claiming to defend “ordinary people” against distant elites. Surveys such as Eurobarometer show declining institutional trust since the financial crisis of 2008, suggesting that dissatisfaction extends beyond immigration alone. Yet macro-level political cleavage does not necessarily translate into daily interpersonal hostility. On the ground, most people work together, live alongside one another, manage the practicalities of coexistence, even share the exoticism, with far less drama than vote seeking political discourse click baiting social media suggest.
5. The Individual Perspective And The Question Of Stress
This is where perspective matters. At the level of personal interaction, civility - simple mutual respect in public behaviour - resolves more tension than grand ideological arguments. Global interconnection, driven by technology and trade, is not easily reversible without significant economic contraction. We may debate policy, quotas and enforcement, but the broader system of interdependence is unlikely to disappear even as national interests harden around spheres of influence.
From a personal standpoint, one of the most reliable predictors of longevity and wellbeing is adaptability. Psychological flexibility reduces stress and enhances resilience. Curiosity about differences, or at least tolerance, rather than fear of them, lowers emotional temperature and allows individuals to navigate change without constant agitation, internal and external. It is rarely helpful to approach vast historical processes with permanent outrage. An engineer’s mindset serves better: observe the system, measure its effects, adjust where possible and avoid unnecessary emotional entanglement.... "just get on with it".
We should remember that history will continue its cycles regardless of our preferences. The practical response is neither denial nor despair but temperate engagement. Study the forces at work, act responsibly each within their own sphere of influence, remain civil, and cultivate a low-stress adaptability. In unsettled times, that may be one of the most amazingly radical choices available.
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