"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.