On the 15th April, 1912 a ship sank in the Atlantic. Of the 2224 crew and passengers, many of them migrants searching for a better life, over 1500 died when the Titanic went down.

As of the 20th of April, 2015 an estimated 1500 migrants searching for a better life have drowned in the Mediterranean this year.

The former humanitarian disaster etched itself onto our collective psyche. Inspired books, folk songs, films, exhibits, and memorials and resulted in changes in international law to ensure that it never happened again.

History will judge us most harshly if we turn our backs on this one.

For a few more words, here’s Frankie Boyle’s take on things: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/britain-criminally-stupid-race-immigration