HOWZAT

In a follow-up phone interview, Morrissey told the magazine: “I just think that it could be construed that the reason I wouldn’t wish to live in England is the immigration explosion.

“And that’s not true at all. I am actually extremely worldly and there are other reasons why I would find England very difficult, such as the expense and the pressure.”

He said: “My favourite actor is an Israeli, Lior Ashkenazi, and my favourite singer was born in Iraq and now lives in Egypt. So I’m not a part of Little Britain. And by that, I don’t mean the show, obviously.”

Asked about his parents moving to Britain, he said: “It’s different now. Because the gates are flooded. And anybody can have access to England and join in.”

He added: “You can’t say, ’Everybody come into my house, sit on the bed, have what you like, do what you like.’ It wouldn’t work.

“Millions of people leave the country every year because they don’t recognise the place, so I’m not saying anything unusual.

“If you travelled to Croatia tomorrow for instance, and walked around Zagreb hearing nothing but Dublin accents, you’d find it shocking.”

He said “racism” was “silly” and “beyond reason” and that he would be “pilloried” for his comments.

But Morrissey added: “Whatever England is now, it’s not what it was and it’s lamentable that we’ve lost so much.”

NME rounded on the singer, claiming his comments meant that while he was once the voice of a generation “he’s certainly not speaking for us now”.

Morrissey told NME: “I find racism very silly. Almost too silly to discuss. It’s beyond reason. And makes no sense and is ludicrous.

“I’ve never heard a good argument in favour of racism.”

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