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The rewards of being the ‘asylum capital of the world’

Matthew Lockwood traces Britain’s long history as a haven for refugees and argues that the nation has benefitted greatly over the centuries as a result

13 July 2024

9:00 AM

13 July 2024

9:00 AM

This Land of Promise: A History of Refugees and Exiles in Britain Matthew Lockwood

William Collins, pp.608, 30

They came on a small, crowded, leaky boat from Calais towards Dover in seas that could turn from placid to treacherous in an instant, around 30 people seeking sanctuary from persecution, unsure of the welcome they would receive. ‘We were seized by horrible vomitings and most of the party became so dreadfully ill they thought they were dying,’ one of the group, a young mother accompanied by her two children, wrote later.

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