ABSTRACT
A spate of books and articles appeared which predicted, with enthusiasm or regret, the end of 'British' history. Some observers found it paradoxical that the United Kingdom should be disintegrating at the very point when it was struggling to find a place in a Europe which was believed to be uniting. Macro decisions should be taken on a European Community basis while 'micro' decisions should be taken at a lower level than that of the United Kingdom. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) could only hope that the continuing level of casualties sustained by the British Army in Ulster and terrorist activity in Britain, would lead the rest of the United Kingdom to abandon Ulster. The 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act introduced an entry system based on employment vouchers. Ministers suggested that the measure represented 'control rather than a stop' and the Labour party was still apparently committed to its total repeal.
