Thursday, March 06, 2008

Still Smiling Through

The only thing that surprises me about this is how positive the outlook of the white working class remains (44 percent think immigration is 'a good thing'!) and how little different from the middle class's view of things. This poll is, it seems, linked to the BBC's White season - which begins well, on Friday, with an extraordinary documentary (made by an American film-maker), Last Orders. After that it lapses back into something more in line with the familiar BBC world view. The best account of the plight of the white working class (in London at least) is Michael Collins' excellent book, The Likes Of Us. Bryan will no doubt furnish us with a link to his very fine review...
Posted by Nige at 10:15 am

8 comments:

  1. As a Salfordian of white working class origins, I really do wonder about this. Many councils and government organisations do seem obsessed with minority groups. The amount of languages on their literature and in doctor's surgeries and hospitals can be over the top. It appears to say 'come here, stay as you are and we'll accommodate you'. However, we have so many immigrants because the white communities have done a deal. With 1.6m unemployed, 2.6m on incapacity benefit and 3/4m on income support, many of the old white working class have subcontracted menial jobs to immigrants while a good number (by no means all)have a life of leisure on benefits. Very often they are in the most deprived wards in the country with the most crime, ill-heath and drug problems. In warehousing and general labouring jobs many employers will favour Poles over their white english applicants. Corner shops are invariably run by Asians. Political correctness and BBC 'liberalism' gets up our nose, but we've brought much of the predicament upon ourselves.

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  2. >However, we have so many immigrants because the white communities have done a deal. With 1.6m unemployed, 2.6m on incapacity benefit and 3/4m on income support, many of the old white working class have subcontracted menial jobs to immigrants while a good number (by no means all)have a life of leisure on benefits.<


    Bingo!!

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  3. And why aren't Michael Collins, or Rod Liddle for that matter, to be seen in the entire series since they first drew attention to the issue.....

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  4. http://www.bryanappleyard.com/article.php?page=7&article_id=74

    There you go, Nige

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  5. Well quite, Captain - the whole thing is conducted on the BBC's own terms, except for Last Orders, where an outsider's eye reveals far more than is apparent to the blinkered gaze of the BBC. And the people in that film are treated with respect and affection, whereas in the others they're mostly mocked. (By the way, I've just taken delivery of a book I've been meaning to read - Earthly Powers. Think you might like it...)

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  6. One of the programmes is White Girl, about a Yorkshire lass who gains solace in Islam from her violent, abusive white family. I cannot imagine the BBC making a similar programme about a young person finding peace in the Christian faith.

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