Numbers can be manipulated, but the numbers quoted in this analysis by the Telegraph's Philip Johnston are quite impressive. One has to read carefully, but the general trend suggests that the Government needs to be razor sharp at differentiating the cases and analysing applications of different sorts that are coming thick and fast. The fact that they're not is, according to David Davis the Shadow Home Secretary, dangerous:

'from the security-service point of view, the more there are, the easier it is to hide amongst them. So, if you have got one terrorist, it is easier to hide amongst 200,000 than 1,000 - and you have just got to focus on that." '


And dangerous too when both Government and media are happy to collude in massaging the public understanding of this. The BBC, needless to say, is guilty of playing, shall we say, the 'Right Wing Card' on this issue