h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

addandum,

Which is not unlike the divide between Protestants and Catholics in the 1970's, and look how long it has taken to get to where Stormont is now, - still arguing!

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Blicky, I really don't need to establish my not-racist credentials here. I lived in Rusholme in Manchester for 4 years - for a while me and my housemates were the only white guys on our street. I loved it.

When I lived in Cornwall my friends had to send me packages full of Indian and Pakistani food, because I couldn't get it down there and I couldn't cope without it. I missed living in a multicultural area - I missed celebrating Eid and Divali and all that lot. It freaked me out working with classes full of white kids - I'd forgotten what that was like.

The situation in Bradford and the other mill towns is different to that - multiculturalism either doesn't exist, or has failed, I'm not sure which. It's also not a case of immigration being problematic - Bradford has had a substantial Asian community since Victorian times, long before my family came across from Ireland. The problem is poorly educated, poverty-stricken people on both sides who are gearing up for a fight and there is constant suspicion and hostility on both sides.

That hostility, born of ignorance and poverty is what needs to be taken head-on, without regards to the wishes of those afflicted. While they'd probably complain, to be brutally honest they aren't capable of making that choice. These are folks who've been failed by the education and welfare systems for generations, all they have is the hostility and tribalism. They need to be dragged out of it. Both sides of the community have to get on, because things aren't going to get better if they don't.

The thing that really winds me up about the situation in Bradford is that the people who are at the very bottom should be fighting against those responsible. Instead they waste their time and energy fighting each other. It's so short-sighted it makes me want to scream. If they stood up together, they'd get what they deserve - a decent education system, a local government that works rather than spending most of its time trying to prevent a riot, a decent local economy. Bradford could be the rival of cities like Manchester or Leeds, but instead it's the poor infighting cousin.

Was I calling you a racist Iago?

I agree with a lot of your sentiments, but I dont agree with riding roughshod over peoples wishes about how they want to live their lives.

Part of the problem is that white flight and racist haousing policy was ignored when it happened and there's not a lot done aboutit now. On the other side of the fence groups that receive support from gov funding do so even when they are deliberately aimed at edging out other ethnic groups. We need to get rid of names like Somali womens swimming classes. If the issue is one of gender then lets target the group at Somali women but make sure all women feel included nd white people in general dont 'feel' like they are being left out.

Its possible to respect diversity without creating more division.

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Very true Blicky, but it has to work both ways.....

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Or "all" ways

10/10 for grammar Big Bad Johnny P

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