The Big Picture

Vincent Boland: Claptrap that immigrants pose an existential threat to western way of life has to be challenged

As Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh, it’s time to reiterate that properly integrated and settled, immigrants are an economic and social benefit to any country

Refugees on the back of a truck near Kornidzor in Armenia. More than 65,000 Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh which Azerbaijan recaptured last week in a lighting offensive. Picture: Getty

A little over 18 months ago, as Russian forces crossed into Ukraine from the north, east and south, the biggest movement of displaced people across European borders since the second world war began.

By July of this year 6.2 million Ukrainians had been forced to flee their country, not knowing when, or if, they could return. Most of them are in the European Union, with at least one million in Poland and 80,000 in ...