Mugs No More

Jeremy Corbyn's appearance at tonight's debate sees off the BBC's silly stitch-up by some work experience girl doing Woman's Hour during the half-term holiday.

But there was no need to kill off the Daily Mail's latest tired attempt to mention immigration. No one had noticed that, anyway.

These days, no one ever does.

The usual claim is that there used to be some kind of taboo against debating immigration. The rest of us must have been in a coma when that taboo was in operation.

But it has certainly not been in operation for quite some years now.

During those years, however, no party, as such, that went on about immigration has ever won a General Election.

In 2010, the Conservatives made their "tens of thousands" pledge and failed to win outright.

In 2015, they merely repeated that failed target and did win, whereas Labour, which actively played up the other side's lack of delivery and which even put "Controls on Immigration" on campaign mugs, was defeated.

And now, the downright contemptuous repetition of the twice-failed "tens of thousands" is the only reference to the entire subject.

It is a matter of record that no one who has sat in the Cabinet since 2010 has ever supported that target in private. No one.

Not that very many people seem to notice.

And not that anyone at all seems to care.

It will not be some imaginary taboo that will make this the last General Election at which anyone even thinks it worth mentioning immigration.

After all, what is the alternative? "No union card, no job." But we couldn't be having that now. Could we?