“To be in favour or against migration is as silly as being in favour or against the economy or the environment. It’s there. A fundamental part of who were are, as human beings, as societies.” 

I spent Monday evening listening to Sociologist Hein de Haas introduce his book at  Science & Cocktails, the monthly pop-science event at Paradiso Amsterdam.

Drawing on three decades of research, the migration expert spent the next hour deconstructing the myths that have made immigration a hot-button issue in both of the countries I call home.

• Global migration is not at an all-time high – it’s remarkably stable 
• Migrants aren’t escaping desperate poverty – a desire to migrate comes from growing aspiration
• Immigration mainly benefits the wealthy – not workers
• Border restrictions paradoxically produce more migration. Economic migrants will travel back and forth, until you make entering harder, when they’re forced to make a choice and stay.

Using a fact-based approach, de Haas showed migration is not a problem to be solved, nor a solution to a problem, but simply part of the human experience.

(lectures are so much more fun with cocktails and a support band btw – universities take note)

This fascinating talk left me pondering for days afterwards about my own migration experience. For the third time in my life, I am an immigrant. But I’m conscious that there’s a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment here, and many see people like me as a problem.

I’m also a child of an immigrant. My dad’s family, like generations of Irish families before them, moved in search of work.

As this St Patrick’s Day message from the Irish Foreign Ministry notes, while there are seven million inhabitants of the Island of Ireland, 70 million people worldwide call themselves Irish.

And I’m one of them. 

Listening to de Haas’ talk on Monday I was struck by how the myths he deconstructed reflect the very forces that bring me to where I am today.

Ireland was historically a country that people left. My dad, grandfather, his father, and generations of great-uncles and aunts and cousins, all forced from home by poverty, famine or religious oppression. 

The statistics de Haas discussed, drawing a correlation between economic cycles and emigration… they are the story of my family too. 

But while Ireland was historically a place people left, it isn’t anymore. Transformed over recent decades, it’s a place people move to. 

Economic migration – on both sides of my family – has (literally) made me who I am. Where my family ended up gave me the resources and education to make my own choices to migrate. While the Irish passport I have as a result now gives me an extraordinary amount of privilege, in global terms, to choose where I live.

As I walked home from Science & Cocktails I realised that at the very same moment, the Parliament of my other nation were voting on the Rwanda Bill, a despicable piece of legislation that guts the UK’s the moral standing, will cost a fortune and inflict misery on a tiny handful of people while doing absolutely nothing to decrease illegal migration to the UK.

De Haas’ closing line rang through my head: “Instead of wasting taxpayer money on failed policies that will only create suffering, we need a new approach that’s based on facts”.

Some things I did this week

• Finished and submitted an intranet discovery/business case development
• Spent a little time with a client to plan how to take the discovery work I did forward through changes to processes and ways of working. Making sustainable change is never just about the technology you have, but about your people and the way they use those platforms and tools. Organisations need to spend time and money on adoption, training and reviewing processes to any tech is aligned with how the organisation works, or investment in tools just won’t be realised. It was encouraging to see how much thought the team had put into how they’ll embed change themselves, and model behaviours for their wider network
• Intranet pilot started digging in to the weeds on branding and design
• MCed an event for Poppulo on aligning Comms with board-level strategic goals (more on which below)
• Saw The Pixies perform the whole of Bossanova and Trompe de Monde. Underrated albums, both, and it was a joy to hear them both in full. Plus a couple of greatest hits tacked on the end.

What I’m reading

Be Funny Or Die. I picked this out partly because I wanted something easier going after the Robin Dunbar book, so I was surprised to find an overlap in themes. 

Comedy writer Joel Morris is an old mate and in this book he unveils the secrets and science of humour. Sharing jokes is an evolution of primate grooming behaviour that cements social bonds. Like tickling, but for your brain.

Evolution is a story of survival of the fittest – and the funniest.

Packed with example gags from some of the top comedies of our time, covering everything from stand-up to slapstick, Be Funny or Die is a deep dive into how our species has honed and embraced this crucial mode of expression, and why some jokes fall flat.

I also started watching For All Mankind, years after everyone else raved about it. Finger on the pulse as always.

The hotel review no one asked for

None. An entire week in my own bed. Joy!

Connections

On Thursday I MCed an event for comms platform vendor Poppulo, including moderating a brilliant panel discussion with four fantastic senior internal comms folks. 

It was my first time Emceeing an in-person event in ages and I genuinely feel like I’ve got loads better at it. I think the comedy has helped me be less reliant on notes/script. I also enjoyed it a lot more.

I haven’t done much networking-type stuff since moving here – what with the old global pandemic putting the kybosh on events – so it was lovely to chat to loads of other comms nerds. I left feeling so energised. I should do more of it. 

Coverage

I wrote a piece for Reworked on the importance of user research and change management in automation programmes, and why we need to look for the spreadsheets and the stories behind them.