gut reaction - Blunkett on immigrantz

i think he probably means well but phrased it very, very clumsily. in the end it's existing Briton-ers who need more education about other cultures rather than the other way around.

thanx Nick

There's nothing wrong in expressing a greater desire for racial harmony and integration, but in the context of imminent reports on the race riots the timing of such comments are extremely ill-advised and play right into the hands of the far right.

It's extremely irresponsible because it implies that victimisation of Asian communities by far right groups is something these communities have brought on themselves.

Blunkett needs to clarify these earlier comments and quickly, or else the Home Office will be tarnished with an even worse reputation than before, leading to further social unrest.

'Blunkett' always makes me think of some well-meaning handyman who is totally unsuited to his job WITH HILARIOUS CONSEQUENCES!!!!!!!!!!!!

He does have a point, though his attitude to immigration has been one I've been uncomfortable with in the past.

If I had my way, I'd make every Australian in London hang around with at least 50% non-Antipodeans to get some kind of idea of a culture other than their own. Otherwise, what's the fucking point of you even being here?

(though some of my best friends (and most of my colleagues) are Australian, and they're lovely, etc. etc.)

Er, it isn't Australia. The point of people retiring into little communes on the COsta Del Sol is not that its like Spain, but its like Britain but warm. You can take one aspect of a country (geographical, monetary) without necessarily taking the rest.

EE FUCKEN ROIGHT Davie Blanket woulntndve fort of them wordz cumin from a socialist lefty poofy ponce even if he is blind still feel iz way araahnd holoway rd looz in the dark INNEE but them peoplez they cum in an expet to taik our job cos they come in right an work 25 hours a day thats not union regs is it coz we are BRITISH and reserve pat riot right to sit on our arsez and hang ar 'at on a pension like that louie mcnice sed e woz poit poit of ver peepul and then they make us lisen to crap SOLID CRUISE they krap group no tunes cant play no instruments shoot and brake jaw of poor lasses is not on shood only brake jaw of yer MISSUS if she dont ave no dinner on table when youz cum ome from ard day graftin so gerrem all aaht country so we can lisen to propa muzik RUSSELL THE VOICE WATSON ees peoples ero sing songs abaaht opera when weldin and still gaz dahn Red Lion with iz maitz never let em dahn coz e BRITISH not like them IMMAGE GRANTS read the Garden newspaper if u agre u poofy poncey ponces away to lisen to David Craig reel musik i got tyres to iron inni?

DB is ruthlessly determined to be the anyone-but-Gordon candidate when Blair steps down. Thus the heavy-handed, authoritarian anti- Terrorism bill, the (alleged) ‘I’ll make Jack Straw look like a liberal’ approach, but ALSO much needed pragmatism, suppleness on drugs policy and an apparent intent to take on the police regarding desk-bound, self-serving, inefficiency etc (good luck Dave).

Energy in abundance to-be-sure but this clumsy intervention in the race debate is typical of the man. Some of us still haven’t forgiven him for opposing equalisation of the age of consent.

Would like to hear Kodanshi’s opinion on this.

Have to say, the recent proposal to serve skag at police stations is way overdue. There's nothing worse than a suspect on a comedown. They are the whiniest bitches evah.

Blunkett goes mad when he thinks he is being patronised. Unfortunately this happens pretty much whenever he talks to anyone posh (his rants against the Law Lords last week showed him up as a very foolish man). Also a prude who complains about nakedness on TV without being able to see it.

Has not impressed as Home Secretary yet. The Terrorsim Bill is just plain offensive.

Blunkett = essentially a conservative old-school socialist who, as leader of Sheffield's Labour council circa 83-85 was far more conservative (small c) than Thatcher, denouncing the liberal identity politics of other Labour councils as "wishy-washy nonsense" and championing ideas of homogeneity and "identity" that could have come straight from a Daily Mail editorial. Richard Hoggart and Robert Blatchford could have identified with his worldview in a way they simply couldn't with anything Tony Blair has ever said or done.

And this still runs through the man: I understand what he was getting at last night but his turn of phrase was pretty clumsy, and one which to me has only ever seemed to exclude. Perhaps he wants to *reclaim* the phrase "norms of acceptability" from the right in the same way that Skitz and The Aspects have tried to reclaim the terms "countryman" and "correct English" from their cultural enemies, but it still struck me as excessively conformist in some of its implications. But then that's probably a reflection of Blunkett's character: the man has very little in common with a liberal progressive radical socialist such as myself, having only the last of those four attributes.

Can’t entirely agree with your assessment of the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire Robin. It did have its progressive side; public transport was incredibly cheap. Thatcher imposed rate-capping partly because of the electoral popularity of council’s such as in Sheffield.

As to ‘identity politics’ their fulsome embrace by other labour councils, espec in London, left the Tories (+ the Liberals for that matter) able to claim that Labour was only concerned with ‘minorities’. The ‘London factor’ (+ terms like the ‘Loony Left’), and the reputation of Haringey, Brent et al became sticks with which Labour were repeatedly beaten. Sheffield avoided that. IIRC it took the aftermath of the Student Games fiasco (+ the trams) before it went Lib Dem. In the midst of a crumbling steel industry, and a mining industry about to implode, Blunkett was a respected figure in Yorkshire. For all his many flaws I wouldn’t take that away from him.

Oh, I wasn't attacking everything Blunkett did, and I know Sheffield council in the 80s had many progressive policies. I agree with you also that *some* London Labour councils went too far with "identity politics" (obviously the Sun / Mail scare stories were gross exaggerations but they were rooted in the truth nonetheless).

My point was that I don't sympathise with ethnically "authentic" / culturally purist ideas of belonging to a particular place any more in Sheffield than I do in Dorset just because it would be traditional socialists holding those ideas in Old Labour heartlands, not Tories as in the English shires. Blunkett himself isn't really like that, and I know Sheffield council came through the mid-80s with more credibility intact than some other Labour authorities, but he has more echoes of Blatchford's "Britain for the British" rhetoric than with any other New Labour minister.

Certainly ideas of cultural ‘authenticity’ and ethnic purism only deserve scorn, much too close to ‘blood and soil’ for comfort. However, as an immigrant myself I’m struck by how Blunkett’s comments chime in with a recent debate here in the Netherlands over immigration, identity and society. For example the cross-cultural implications of a court case where a Muslim leader is being tried for making homophobic remarks.

Certain ethnic minorities in the Netherlands experience far greater levels of social exclusion, unemployment and criminality than others. The only thing anyone seems to agree on is that for too long the sensitivity around race issues have stopped an open discussion over how deep the problems are.

Only a racist fool would seek to look for solutions that stigmatise ethnic minorities, but, alas, there are more than a few racist fools about and if left-liberals aren’t prepared to address some of these issues they will. That isn't to say I regard Blunkett as a 'left-liberal', I don't.

Are "homophobic remarks" illegal in the Netherlands?

As I understand it, and I'm not a lawyer, the Dutch legal system forebids discriminatory remarks in general, or comments that encourage others to discriminate. What constitutes 'discrimination' is then left to the courts to decide. Thus the leader of a neo- fascist party (then with seats in parliament) was sentenced for using inflamatory anti-immigration slogans such as 'Vol is Vol' (Full is Full).

The Islamic cleric in question had made some remarks about homosexuality being 'an illness', and following an outcry found himself up on related charges.

"Only a racist fool would seek to look for solutions that stigmatise ethnic minorities, but, alas, there are more than a few racist fools about and if left-liberals aren't prepared to address some of these issues they will."

Stevo - nail hit firmly on the head with that one. Brilliant post.