What happens in a country that has insufficient inward migration and a massively declining birth rate (as many, including the UK, are now at risk of having)? The FT has the answer in the case of Japan's skill crisis this morning, where they note:

Take carpenters — essential in a country where a great deal of construction uses wood. Their numbers have more than halved since 2020, while more than 43 per cent of those still working are over 65. Many projects, large and small, are being delayed.

A shortage of bus drivers has caused operators in Tokyo to cut over 200 services.

The military cannot get close to its recruitment targets.

The Foreign Ministry revealed earlier this year that it cannot hire enough Japanese chefs for its embassies.

In some parts of the countryside, home deliveries of certain goods are undertaken by scooter riders in their mid-80s.

There are genuine concerns across industry that companies are going to run into trouble because Japan no longer has enough tax accountants.

That is what happens: the economy threatens to grind to a halt.

AI is not going to solve this.

Nor will migration in the short term in a country with a language that is fiendishly difficult for an outsider to learn.

The reality is that Japan is in a mess as a result. So, too, will we be without serious levels of controlled inward migration into this country.

Forget the thugs, the populists, the racists and the bullies. The reality is that without those coming to the UK from outside, we have no hope of having the skills, the society, the economy, the care, and the well-being we all desire in the future. This is the reality that all those campaigning against migration ignore.

Now, what are we going to do about it, because we have to?