A new wave of migration is coming – Europe is not ready | Simon Tisdall

Britain and the EU responded dismally to the 2015 migrant crisis. The number of irregular entries' is up by 84% this year - and the ways to deal with the issue now range from limited to bizarre

In a week when Russia threatened to annex more territory in Ukraine, gas shortages loomed, and inflation and Covid surged across Europe, it seems almost unkind to remind EU and UK leaders of another crisis that is unfolding, largely unremarked, right under their noses. As Claudius laments in Shakespeare's Hamlet: When sorrows come, they come not single spies, / But in battalions."

As if defeating Russian aggression was not enough of a challenge, Europe now also faces rapidly rising new waves" of undocumented asylum seekers. Given the sociopolitical upheavals that ensued after 1 million refugees, mostly Syrians, arrived on Europe's shores in 2015, the EU and UK might be expected to be better prepared this time.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk