Last week, the ONS announced that the UK’s net annual migration had fallen by almost half.

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Populists galore presumably shouted “hooray!” in unison. Our Prime Minister patted himself on the back.

This is just the latest expression of the erosion in our politics and society of complexity and debate, as we decline towards a state lacking any sense of data analytics and evidence-based policymaking. Migration is either good or bad. Tax, AI, regulation – all colourless dividing lines.

Our inability to apply any nuance to the migration debate, in particular, is going to sting all those hooray-ing and back-patting. Because if you look just below the surface, the picture is bleak: the number of visas being issued each year to science, research, engineering, and........

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