What kind of numerical representations are used by journalists and
politicians to make their argument on this question?
"Does the UK take its fair share of asylum seekers?
Roughly 1000 words

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 05 Mar 2003 08:37 PST

Dear nyajao,

I assume you want us to provide you sources and materials that enable
you to write your extensive paper?

Regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by nyajao-ga on 06 Mar 2003 04:21 PST

Yes i would be very greatful if you would provide me with sources and
materials.
I would particularly be focusing on issues like

What resources does the uk have? How rich are they? ie human resources

What do they need?  

What do the Asylum seekers take and bring?

What is fair - compared to other countries, land, GRP

The type of level market

Politics - Does the Uk have any responsibility?

Do wages reflect fairness?

What kind of numerical representations are used by journalists and
politicians to make their arguments on this question?

<The Home Office publishes figures on the number of asylum
applications made.
In the media the correct figures are generally quoted but they are
often accompanied by misleading statements like ‘flood of refugees’,
‘Britain swamped’, ‘Britain is a soft touch’.
 
British National Party (BNP) publications exaggerate the problem of
asylum seekers. See http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/AsylumSRS03.htm

Nonfactual statements by prominent people which get reported in the
media also create the myth that there are too many asylum seekers.
Shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin, said "Britain remains the asylum
capital of Europe and the asylum system is in chaos.” This statement
was not true as at the time many more European countries had higher
numbers of asylum seekers compared to their populations.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/asylumseekers/story/0,7991,660064,00.html

The British public hugely over estimates the number of asylum seekers
that Britain takes. A poll found that the public estimated that
Britain took 25% of the world’s refugees when in fact it only takes
2%. Young people aged 15-18 estimated the figure to be 31%. Nick
Hardwick, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "Much of the
media inflames the asylum debate with emotive and vitriolic language.
"The public is clearly not being given the facts about refugees... at
least some of this misunderstanding must come from the media focus on
people trying to reach our shores, rather than reporting the whole
spectrum of the refugee
experience”http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2049221.stm
Cost of asylum seekers
The total cost of supporting asylum seekers in 1998/99 was an
estimated £617 million. According to searchlight magazine:
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/AsylumSRS04.htm
In 1999-2000 immigrants contributed £2.5 billion to the British
economy.

Britain ranks 12th in the EU in terms of asylum applications when
compared to population.
Britain hosts just 2% of the world’s refugees.


Wages
Britain has legislation in place for a minimum wage.

How rich is Britain?
Britain ranks number 10 on the Human Development Index which ranks
countries according to life expectancy, education and standard of
living. For the top 10 and bottom 10 countries see
http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/martin_debt.html

What resources does Britain need?
Britain has a shortage of teachers, healthcare workers and  building
trade workers like plumbers and carpenters. Britain has recruited
abroad for both teachers and healthcare workers. It has also spent
money trying to persuade young people to work in the building trade.

The UK’s responsibilities.
Britain has signed the United Nations Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm

<Additional links:>
<http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:saplWiGU9IAC:www.wmlga.gov.uk/asy%2520audit.html+%22asylum+seeker%22+cost&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>


<Search strategy:>

<"asylum seeker" britain number>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22asylum+seeker%22+britain&as_q=number>

<"World's richest nations" ranked>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22World%27s+richest+nations%22+ranked>


<Hope this helps.>

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Request for Answer Clarification by nyajao-ga on 09 Mar 2003 14:36 PST

Thanks alot for the information you have provided me so far.  But
could you please give me some numerical representations that
jounalists and politicians use.
Help me start my essay.  I have roughly 1000 words.

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Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 09 Mar 2003 23:13 PST

<The following are links to the numbers of asylum seekers:

<Official figures expected to top 100,000 for asylum seekers in 2002>
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Refugees_in_Britain/Story/0,2763,889115,00.html>

<An overview of immigration numbers.>
<http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.more.migration.html>

<Number of asylum application in 2000 – 76,040. Number granted asylum
– 10,190
Number of applications Jan-June 2001 – 39,280 Number granted asylum –
7425>
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Refugees_in_Britain/Story/0,2763,547735,00.html>

<Asylum statistics 2001>
<http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2002/08/01/asylumpdf.pdf>

<2002 – 110,700 people sought asylum in  the UK.>
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Britain%20Asylum>

<2002 – 110,700 asylum seekers. Number granted asylum – 19,965>
<http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,904934,00.html>

<Hope this helps.>

Thanks alot.  This will really help me.