Orwell's Two Minutes Hate looks like amateur stuff compared with our migration discourse

Immigrants are no longer immigrants. They are sex offenders in waiting. We are encouraged to think of them as invaders

- John Crace

What the hell just happened? When parliament rose for the summer recess, the debate about immigration was still - just about - the right side of toxic. There was a pretence at least that the people coming to this country, either legally or by small boat crossings, were human beings. They lived and breathed. Had feelings.

Fast forward six weeks and the public discourse, stirred by Nigel Farage's weekly press conferences, has altered radically.

Forget George Orwell's "Two Minutes Hate". That was strictly for amateurs. If you haven't got in a full half-hour of loathing for foreigners then you clearly don't love your country very much. And this hate is no longer confined to the far right. Even some bien-pensants of the centre-left are joining in. Everyone now has licence to hate. The fightback against foreigners starts here.