"An iron law of history is that birds of a feather will flock together"

Faisal Bodi in the Grauniad says the things that white men can't say.

About "Asian values" and the collapse of the white working class. If a Tory MP said this he'd be accused of 'demonising the poor' :

"Frenchwood, on the southern tip of the town (Preston) centre, was a Muslim area when I left it, but it is even more so today. It has grown both in terms of population and geography. Most of the friends and acquaintances I had left behind are still in Frenchwood. Many are busy snapping up the few properties that appear on the market so they can pass them on to their children. The neighbourhood itself has improved. Doses of regeneration finance and the self-help business ethic of the mainly Indian Muslim community has lifted the areas economically and socially. It's not exactly Harrogate but it is clean, safe, and contains all the amenities needed for a modern sustainable community.

For Muslims it's a far more desirable place to live than the white working class estates that ring town, where house prices are lower, fire engines attending emergencies are routinely stoned, and dependency culture is passed down from one dysfunctional one-parent family to the next. Although these residents are my socio-economic counterparts I don't have enough in common with them to embark on the shared enterprise that is building a community."

About community :

"Communities are organic entities, built around the magnetic pole of common values and interests. If there's one thing that history, particularly the failure of communism, has taught us it is that the expression of these values cannot be suppressed or engineered out of existence. Just as the early industrial era, characterised by low geographical mobility and a shift away from agrarian modes of production, produced communities centred on the workplace, the shape of today's communities is driven by a new range of imperatives, such as good schooling, transport links, and low levels of crime.

In the case of Britain's Muslims, major criteria are also the presence of an extended family, local mosque, and other co-religionists amongst whom they can express and nurture their identity without all the problems associated with being perceived as outsiders.

Without a doubt white flight facilitated Muslim community building in the areas they moved into. But they also took on a desirability for Muslims, which exacerbated the process of segregation. Manningham and Sparkbrook could not have remained Muslim-majority areas without the active participation of the people who live there. Despite the onset of a second and third generation the character of these areas has changed little. Knowing why allows us to understand why Cantle's social cohesion project was always doomed to failure."

Talking of white flight - take a look at these two items.

One on British Asian demographics.



Well over 96% of all Asians in the UK live in England itself - over 2 million

Over 43% live in London and the South-East alone

Less than 4% (under 75,000) live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined

About 2.5% (under 49,000) live in Scotland, 1% (22,000) in Wales, and less than 0.1% (2,500) in Northern Ireland

Compare that graph with this Times piece, which I commented upon here.

"A new divide is developing in Britain’s housing market as house price increases in the West of the country outstrip those in the East.
The “West-East tilt” now rivals the North-South divide as the defining character in the country’s booming housing market.

More than two million people have moved away from London in the past ten years, whether to escape the frantic lifestyle or simply from a desire to retire to the countryside. And the West Country is proving to be one of the most popular destinations.

Eighteen of the 20 counties that have had the biggest increases in property prices since 1996 are in western Britain, according to figures from the Halifax, the country’s biggest mortgage lender."

Which areas had the highest price rises ? Wales and the south west. Take another look at that graphic.

Goodbye Murder ....

Hello non-voluntary euthanasia !

"Len Doyal, of the British Medical Association's ethics committee, said doctor-assisted deaths were already happening and needed to be regulated."

This England

From the Derby Gripe.

Josephine Rooney, who was commended for her community work by the council in March to mark International Women's Day, faces three months in prison after refusing to pay her council tax in protest at the state of her street. She stopped payments to Derby City Council in December 2004 and owes nearly £800 but she insists she will not pay up.

Miss Rooney, who is angry at the anti-social behaviour and litter in her area, said she has been campaigning for six years to put a stop to drug-taking and fly-tipping in Hartington Street, where she has lived for 20 years.

"Nowadays Hartington Street in Normanton is known as Smack Alley, but it was still prosperous and middle-class when Josephine moved here 20 years ago, a parade of grand three storey terraces just a few blocks away from the centre of Derby.

Then a "halfway house" hostel for homeless people and addicts on rehab opened at one end of the street, and one by one the old residents moved out. In 10 years, the street's decline has been so rapid that out of 50 houses, only eight are now owner-occupied, the rest have been bought up by absent landlords and converted into cramped bedsits and flats. The last family left more than a year ago. "It became too dangerous, as simple as that," said Josephine. "

Trouble At Mill

Bolton.

"It was revealed today that the fighting broke out around Hawthorne Road in Deane on Saturday after a woman was racially abused by a gang of white teenagers.

Up to 60 men and boys then took to the streets armed with clubs, bats and swords leaving residents who witnessed the fighting terrified."



Families feared for their safety as gangs of white and Asian youths fought a running battle outside their Bolton homes.

Up to 60 youths carrying iron bars, clubs and even a sword were believed to have been involved in the brawl in Hawthorne Road, Deane, on Saturday night.

One woman, who asked not to be named, gave first aid to a white man who had been injured.

She said: "I rang the police and told them to get an ambulance here.

"The man was badly beaten, and was bleeding. I tried to help but was forced go back inside because paving stones were being thrown in the street.

"It was really frightening. Nothing like this has ever happened here before.

"People were too scared to leave their homes. One woman was trying to get a message to her children, who were out, not to come back to the street."

These kind of reports need to be decoded nowadays, rather like the Lidget Green disturbances. An educated guess might be : White lowlife abuse Asian woman. Asian gangs come onto streets. Whether what followed was a 'battle' or, as in Lidget Green, a series of attacks on anyone with the wrong colour skin, remains to be seen.

A Few New Links ...

On this 62nd anniversary of D-Day, and 11th anniversary of the inspiration for Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Non Imprimatur - another blog monitoring the Clash of Civilisations.

The Mild Colonial Boy - reactionary stuff from Queensland. Entertaining. 'Fear God and Honour the King'.

Don't seem to have David Duff on the sidebar either - tsk tsk.

Mr Grumpy - I pinched a story from him only the other day.

Vented Spleen - says it all really.

Umbungo. Opera and other things.

Albertus Minimus. Catholic, interesting. Posting hiatus at present.

The Uncommon Man. Posting's certainly uncommon on this blog.

Arthur's Seat - one of the best-known blogs of the Land O'Cakes.

Michael Cadwallader. How could I not link to someone with a name redolent of the Britons of old.

Mr Eugenides. Doesn't link to me, but he's good.

I Suppose It Was Bound To Happen ...

Young entrepreneur Axolio and friends have found a way to make money from blogging. Not terribly work friendly. Are there lots of people doing this sort of thing ?

He could have enabled the comments.

Climate Change Threatens 'Vital' Deserts

I thought the headline must be a joke.

Not so.

"The deserts of the world are threatened by a combination of human exploitation and climate change that could, within decades, wipe out many unique habitats and rare species, an authoritative study has found."

Never mind. Like the family, the deserts aren't being destroyed - just changing.

It's Cognitive Dissonance Time ...

Type 'knife crime' into Google News and it's currently returning 2,450 stories like this.

I've posted before on young people carrying blades. In my youth a large minority of boys over primary school age carried blades. Every toyshop sold them, every newsagents had a "Richards of Sheffield" display of knives on a large card in the window. The difference is we weren't carrying them for the reasons they're carried now.

So there's a big (and not unmerited) flap about blades at the moment.

The kids are next door watching 'the X-factor'. Cheery Bath rugby chappie Matt Stevens is wowing them. His stage persona is remarkably like that of George Melly. What's he singing again ?

"Just a jack knife has Macheath dear,
And he keeps it out of sight.

When that shark bites with his teeth, dear,
Scarlet billows begin to spread,
Fancy gloves though has Macheath dear,
So there's never, never a trace of red.

On the sidewalk, one Sunday morning,
Lies a body, oozin' life,
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner,
Could that someone be Mack the Knife."

And the audience are loving it.

You'll Tak' The A Class And I'll Tak' The B Class

"A school has changed the names of its primary one classes after complaints that they left some children feeling inferior, BBC Scotland has learned.
Bonnyrigg Primary School had called its classes 1a and 1b but some parents of children in 1b said it left the youngsters feeling second best."

Is this the spirit that skinned Hugh Cressingham ?

'We're firing people left right and centre'

Just to recap ...

the 'asylum for sex' immigration officer was an illegal immigrant.

Guy Goma turned out to be an illegal immigrant.

Abu Hamza was an illegal immigrant.

It's not just foreign prisoners who walk free at the end of (i.e. after half of) their sentence - it also applies to foreign loonies.

You can buy a pass in the citizenship exam.

Zimbabwean 'homosexuals' turn out to be heterosexual.

And now it looks as if the Home Office is handing out residency at £4,000 a pop. Cheap compared to a peerage.

"Officers are currently conducting around 50 'live investigations' relating to corruption allegations involving Home Office staff, a proportion of which involve asylum applicants buying residency status to remain in Britain. So far this year alone, six IND staff have been dismissed for giving applicants 'leave to remain' status in the UK without being able to justify their decision to investigating officers."

Observer Discovers Disturbing New Trend

Remember the old days, when white people traditionally attacked black people ? The Observer does, but says that this no longer reflects reality.

" ... stories about violence in school come as no surprise to Modqtar and Mustafa, nor to their Asian counterparts. Their school lives have been punctuated with fights and aggression, some involving knives, many more without. Often gang clashes are sparked by unfounded rumours. One 'riot' began because of a whisper that a Somali boy had beaten up an Asian girl.

This is not just indiscriminate violence between frustrated youth. It is a new form of vicious racism that breaks down the traditional notion of white on black violence. Now there is hate and distrust between ethnic groups: white, Asian, Afro-Caribbean, African and those from the Middle East."

But surely, we're a nation of immigrants, so this can be nothing new. I'm sure there was friction between the Huguenot and Flemish communities.

"Comments once associated with far-right white groups can now be heard among the long-established immigrant communities."

But the Huguenots said bad things about the Irish when they came over. And the Irish said bad things about the Jews.

"Rob Beckley, the spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers on police and faith community issues, said that a form of inter-ethnic violence had developed, with newly arrived immigrants the most targeted and most vulnerable.

'There is at least one incident a week of serious disturbances based around schools among groups, sometimes inter-ethnic, sometimes gangs. It is an issue significant enough to merit substantial police intervention on occasion.'"

This is just moral panic. If you look at a typical Victorian school you'd see there were frequent stabbings and gang fights.

"Beckley, also assistant chief constable of Hertfordshire, said that some school-based gangs were adopting an aggressive stance based on religious and cultural identities."

So ? It's always been that way. I remember at primary school that the C of E kids couldn't walk past St Peter's Catholic Primary without being ambushed by the Junior Warriors of Christ The King, whose punches and kicks would be punctuated by cries of 'that's for St Wulstan !' or 'you martyred John Wall !'.

I don't know what the Observer's up to with this sensationalist reporting, which has a distinctly tabloid feel to it. The problem with such reports are that a reader might conclude from this that multiculturalism isn't working that well. And that would be ridiculous.

Venice

We spent a weekend there a couple of years ago, and before we left I looked around the shops for a souvenir.

I was looking for a small portrait of Alviso Mocenigo I, the Venetian ruler whose fleet of over 100 galleys formed the nucleus of the Christian forces which defeated the infidel at Lepanto, in the last great battle of oared vessels.

At last I spotted one in an art shop window - a print of Andrea Vicentino's "King Henri III (1551-89) of France visiting Venice in 1574, escorted by Alvise Mocenigo I"

As I entered the shop another customer came in, and reached the counter before me.

"Excuse me", he said, "how much is that doge in the window ?"

Cumbrian World Cup Sheep Video

It's baaaaad !

Not Tonight, Darling

I'm interested in what is revealed about our brave new world by the writer's assumption, evidently shared by 'Julie' and her dates, that postponing sex beyond the second date is conclusive evidence of pathology. Surely Aldous Huxley would have been astounded at his own prophetic powers.

Mr Grumpy on the newest medical invention. From the people who gave you Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, could you put your hands together for 'Sexual Anorexia' !

Amsterdam

BBC television news has an item about "legal highs", which reminded me of a trip I took to Amsterdam a few years back.

I was amazed to find that some of the 'head shops' sold small-dose tablets of various drugs which you could buy for your pet - the idea being that you and your dog or cat get off your heads together.


I went inside to look around and heard a young customer at the counter.


"Excuse me, man" he said, "how much is that dog 'E' in the window ?"

Then They Came For The Students ...

Student Ben Berger told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is the university breaching my human right to fly the national flag of my country.

"The university have treated us with contempt. They originally told us we weren't allowed flags at all because flags might create an opportunity for violence.

"International students have chosen to come to this country so I don't think they will have a problem with the English flag."

Flags have been physically removed from halls of residence by university officials.

In a statement, the university said: "The university is saddened by this behaviour, but if somebody prefers petulance to common sense and give-and-take, the best thing to do is to leave them to wallow in that petulance and watch to see if they continue with that approach to life when they leave."

MIAAAOOOWWW !

Happy Birthday !

To the "respect agenda" - one year old. As we've seen, it's been a great success.

To repeat myself :

"I want to send a very clear signal from Parliament, not just the government, that this type of disrespect and yobbish behaviour will not be tolerated any more"

And how exactly will you do that ? The prisons are full. Your client groups don't think people should be sent there for stealing, or indeed anything apart from racism, hunting and domestic violence.

I know. You'll send a guy with a stud in his tongue and a bag of skunk in his back pocket to talk to them. And when that doesn't work ? He'll talk to their parents. And when that doesn't work ?

He'll talk to his peers, agree that the Smith family are 'very difficult', and blame globalisation or the Daily Mail.

And happy birthday to tracking on this blog, installed two years ago. 280,000 visits - up from about 80 a day to 6-700. 20,000 in May. Thank you for visiting.

Things Haven't Got Worse ....

Knowle, Bristol, where "People don't feel unsafe walking the streets of Knowle, at least in the day time".





"Warden patrols commenced in July 2002 in response to fears and worries among residents about crime, anti-social behaviour, drugs and litter and dumping"





"Long term and second generation unemployment has taken hold of the communities and many parts of the area are now caught in a downward spiral. It is difficult for existing businesses to survive, the poor image renders them unattractive to inward investors, aspirations are low and disengagement has become the norm. High levels of poverty and unemployment are related to a whole range of additional problems including educational underachievement, health, disaffection, drug abuse and anti-social behaviour."





'Knowle Safe' is the community safety arm of the Knowle West Development Trust and aims to reduce crime and fear in one of Bristol's most troubled neighbourhoods.





With 35% of the local population under the age of 15, the project was created to address issues on the Knowle and Filwood estate of South Bristol in:

high arrest rates

school truancy

drug problems

Quote Of The Day

Gary Hopkins, Liberal Democrat councillor for Knowle, Bristol, on the latest stabbing.

"Knowle has its problems with drugs and some types of crime, but this will come as a big surprise to the community.

"People don't feel unsafe walking the streets of Knowle, at least in the day time - which makes this so out of character and shocking."

Eh Bien !

They're at it again. To celebrate the recent BBC "World Cup Stories" edition about the French team - how Zidane and co. abolished all civil strife and produced multicultural Nirvana in 1998, the rioting season has kicked off early in Paris.





PS - I missed this last year. Talk about the revolution devouring its own children.

"Dolls were being evacuated from the creche in Fives, a rundown district of Lille near France's Belgian border, the day after a petrol bomb burnt out the empty sleeping area and scorched activity rooms.

Little remained of the public nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris, other than the snapshots of toddlers stuck to a wall after fire brought down a roof and devoured rooms in the night.

When a blazing car was rammed up against the nursery in Mirail, in the southern city of Toulouse, the rioters did more than trash a building - they shattered a small community"