When Suella Braverman talked about an “invasion” of immigrants, she was using the language of othering. The word is only one step away from “infestation”: the idea that some alien force is taking over.
That is pretty much how the humans think of the Borrowers in Mary Norton’s children’s classic. These diminutive creatures live beneath the floorboards and make use of the matchsticks, teacups and biscuit crumbs discarded above. They could hardly be more peaceable, but to their mighty human adversaries, they are a threat.
