His name was Alan Kurdi and he was just two years old. In September 2015, Alan, his parents and five-year-old brother left their home in Turkey and boarded a small boat heading for Kos, their ultimate destination Canada, where a new life awaited.

Alan, his brother and mother never got there. The boat capsized minutes into the journey, tipping the family into the water. Alan’s body was washed ashore, his brother nearby. Images of “the boy on the beach” as Alan came to be known, flashed around the world and cries of “something must be done” went up.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel was doing something. Faced with the growing number of deaths at sea as the people smugglers plied their grisly trade, she opened the country’s doors. More than a million people took her up on the offer of starting a new life in Germany. On arrival, some were met by Germans offering flowers and chocolate. “We can do this,” Merkel told her fellow Germans. Later, those early migrants would be joined by 1.2 million Ukrainians.

Almost a decade on, Germany is making history again, albeit for very different reasons. From next Monday, the doors that were thrown open in 2015 will be all but closed.

Tighter controls will be introduced at all the country’s borders and entry refused to those deemed illegal migrants. Anyone rejected will be sent back to the country where they first entered the EU. The neighbours are outraged, with Austria the first to say it will not accept those turned away. Other countries are watching what is happening with increasing concern.

The imposition of stricter controls, which will last for six months initially, follow a number of attacks in Germany linked to Islamist terrorism, and successes in regional elections for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Meanwhile, the news bulletins in Germany, in common with countries around the world, have been showing footage from the recent riots in English cities and in Belfast.

In the USA, border controls are second only to the economy as an election issue, with Donald Trump threatening mass deportations of up to a million illegal immigrants if he wins a second term.

The debate over immigration made it to our part of the planet last weekend with pro and anti demonstrations in Glasgow’s George Square.

I say “debate” but there was little of that to be had on Saturday. Glasgow was praised on social media for showing solidarity with those seeking refuge and a better life here. But the atmosphere was tense at times, with people turning back from the square as soon as they clocked the sights and sounds. You could hardly blame them.

Even if it had been an event where views could be exchanged, one wonders how many would have turned up. People are reluctant, scared even, to talk about migration for fear of being called racist. They are unsure what to say, or even how to say it, so they keep quiet.

Into the space where open debate should take place come the far right and the hard left, each flooding the information market with disinformation and misinformation. It has happened in Germany, in France, in America, and other countries, and it is happening here.

Should you ever have a spare half hour on your hands, pay a visit to some of the television channels currently trying to pass themselves off as mainstream broadcasters. Ignorance and bile and sheer nastiness, the kind of stuff you thought was kept off screens by law, are flourishing unchallenged. And let us not even get started on what used to be Twitter.

Outwith election periods, the main forum for debate on UK television is the BBC’s Question Time, which returns a week on Thursday. Now, having a go at Question Time and its host Fiona Bruce has become the closest thing some people have to a hobby. Both programme and host are regularly attacked for perceived bias in audience and panel selection.

The thing which gets most people’s goat, including my own, is the way the programme has provided a home for many years and on multiple occasions for Nigel Farage, now leader of Reform UK. Despite only being elected to the Commons this year, he seemed to be on the show as often as your average cabinet minister.

However, it seems this is not the case. Says who? Says Fiona Bruce. In the new edition of Radio Times, the presenter writes: “There’s a really common trope that Nigel Farage has been on Question Time more than any other politician in recent times. Untrue. Since 2019 he’s only been on a standard Question Time once and then in two general election leadership programmes.”

Once? I’m surprised. The website IMDB lists him as appearing in 32 episodes from 2000-2024. That would mean all bar one of those appearances took place between 2000-2019. An analysis by the School of Journalism, Cardiff University, published by The Conversation, has him appearing 10 times from 2014-23.

Whatever the precise number (perhaps BBC Verify can assist?), broadcasters and other parts of the media have paid Mr Farage a lot of attention over the years. The extent to which that has publicised his right-wing views on migration, and skewed the debate in general, is open to question, but it’s difficult to argue it has had no effect at all.

It remains to be seen whether Mr Farage will appear in the new series of QT. Since he has his own show on GB News he may feel he doesn’t need the BBC any more, but I doubt it.

Where are the voices in favour of migration? At the General Election it seemed as though the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn was willing to speak out. His cannot be a lone voice, particularly as we move towards the Scottish Parliament elections.

Nor should it be left to Question Time to be the main forum for debate. Other platforms are available and QT could do with the competition.