Unforeseen Consequences

Politics is the art of the trade-off, and certain policies come with counter-intuitive prices. Who would have thought, for example, that flouncing out of a bloc that was the country's biggest international trading partner might result in complications for the country's international trade? More subtly still, it appears that even good old British racism may sometimes have self-sabotaging consequences, as a former Minister for Profitable Education has warned that over-zealous migrant-bashing in the university sector could lead to an unhealthy reliance on the Yellow Peril. Chris Skidmore, who gallantly endured a decade or so of rolling back the green crap and then resigned on principle over environmental policy just as his constituency was about to be abolished, is worried that restrictions on student visas may impede diversification in the profiteering capacity of British higher education; especially as most Britons are now too poor to afford it. Should Mr Churchill's heirs decide to boost their electoral chances by starting World War III to save plucky little Formosa, a disproportionate number of Heathen Chinee in the student body might even cause some slight embarrassment.