Irony Alert! Pravda Touts UK "Brain Drain Disaster"

While Russia itself is in the midst of its own decades-long brain drain, the Russian media outlet Pravda is shining the spotlight thousands of kilometres from Moscow on the United Kingdom. According to Pravda, the UK is facing a serious disaster:

The UK government is seriously concerned. According to statistics, every three minutes a citizen leaves the country. If this trend continues, the state will soon be on the brink of a disaster whose consequences would be nearly impossible to eliminate. According to the analysts at the University of Huddersfield, the reduction in the number of scientists willing to emigrate can only be achieved by an increase in the level of wages, as well as allocating additional funding for research activities.

according to the analysts at the University of Huddersfield, the country is suffering not only from the loss of skilled workers, but also the "brain drain." Every year in the UK each university loses two to three high-level scientists.

Emigration rates are striking. The Telegraph, citing the National Bureau of Statistics, reported that only this year over 400,000 British citizens left the country, which has not happened in the last 50 years.

According to analysts of the British Institute of Social Policy Studies, one in twelve citizens lives abroad, and over a million are seriously considering leaving the United Kingdom in the next two to three years. The Institute analysts argue that those leaving the country are mostly middle-aged professionals who want to find a better place to work. The young British stay in the country. _Pravda

The Pravda piece appears to conflate the idea of a "brain drain" with the very real phenomenon of Britons retiring to nicer climates, or moving abroad to work in lucrative fields.

According to the piece, UK universities lose 2 to 3 high level scientists per year, a very small portion of the 400,000 emigrants. And certainly Russia itself has been losing its top scientists and technologists at a much higher rate for 20 years and counting. But for some reason, Pravda finds Britain's "brain drain" troubling and disastrous.

In Russia, it is the lack of opportunity caused by rampant corruption and massive dysfunction that drives its best and brightest young people out. No one trusts Russia's markets or its government.

One interesting aspect of the UK emigration puzzle -- which is shared by Israel -- is that the UK is often a "stopover destination" for immigrants from poorer nations. These "stopover immigrants" often acquire more education and training in their intermediate destinations, then move on to Switzerland, the US, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.

Complicating the global picture is the fact that the US Obama government -- and other dysfunctional western governments -- are so badly mis-managing their economies and minimising opportunities, that they are driving many highly skilled immigrants either back to their home countries, or to yet another, third country.

So raise a glass of chilled vodka to the stalwart journalists of Pravda, who understand what must be done to keep their jobs and their Moscow residences. Media skanks tend to all smell the same, no matter where they live and work.