White Heat

Janet Daley at the Daily Telegraph has picked up on the Hazel Blears (known as the chipmunk) news story about the "immigration fears of the white working class" (funny: I thought we were pale pink rather than white, but never mind). This turns out to be interesting for several reasons...

First, it shows that the government can and will speak about "taboo" subjects — as Ms Daley indicates that this topic has been, reminding us what happens if one dares to speak about it, and the accusations flung at one as a result. I am very well aware of this, as I have been branded a "Nazi" myself by the same brand of Lefties.

Yet when it suits themselves, then such Lefties have no problem saying the words that they believe will benefit their own careers (or perhaps even preserve their parliamentary seats). Not that there is usually any intention of doing anything constructive about the issue, only finding talking-shop ways of defusing the real-life concerns of those who are suffering in the present climate in the country, recession and all. The real aim is to try to stem the tide flowing from Labour to (most notably) the BNP, and that is apparently all that is behind this.

Next, Janet D reminds us of something we all know: the actual queue-jumping for housing, because of a statutory requirement to house immigrants as emergency cases. Here in Kent this is handled by a separate agency, who had for years failed (deliberately?) in their obligation to notify Local Authorities of all housing placement of immigrants within each Authority's area. By bringing this to public attention, and by sending Council staff to inspect that agency's records, we were able to ascertain that the numbers being housed here were orders of magnitude higher than we had been led to believe.

All part of the great deception that is anything sensitive under a Labour Government. Some things never change...

I agree with the idea of a "safety valve"; and it was of course my own concerns about another formerly-taboo topic — that of benefits scroungers — that prompted my own (imperfect!) attempt to bring that discussion into the open, again before deteriorating conditions in the country sparked real civil unrest problems. This did happen, and it has helped reduce tensions (from reports I have received, and from reading the more open discussions on this matter) so Ms Daley is absolutely correct here.

However, I disagree with the wording of the article's final sentence:

"There may just be time - before the recession makes these problems even more acute - to save Britain from a really nasty bout of neo-fascist activism."

...as have several of the commenters. That isn't the right way to describe those who are sufficiently concerned and backed into a corner of joblessness and poverty to act. It won't be just BNP members who will be out on the streets or otherwise acting to protect their families — it is very likely to be much bigger than that.

Looking at the comments (and there are a lot of them), I cannot help but notice that a wide range of related issues have come out, as well as different nuances regarding the primary topic. It is worth going through at least some of them, to gain a flavour of what the public response has been to this article. It is quite illuminating, and generally useful besides.

One of the most useful contributions comes from regular contributor (and Telegraph blogger) Mrs Trellis, who has pointed out that this whole Blears exercise was for a specific purpose, as follows:

"Facts first, people:

Blears has been wheeled out to the meedja to respond to a report issued by the National Community Forum. Link:

www.communities.gov.uk/co...

Their 'spokesperson' (who looked very 'leading beyond authority Common Purpose' to me) was given a free run on BBC Breakfast TV this morning to explain that these white working class fears - based on a whopping 43 personal interviews in four deprived white areas - were myths (her word) that could be solved by having open dialogue and transparency.

Think of it as pre-election research and campaigning for the Labour Party, paid for by the tax-payer."

Note the possible Common Purpose connection, as well as the other implications of this valuable contribution.

The link is interesting, not only for the information on the specific page; but also if one looks around the site, one finds that nearly all the "example people" in the various photographs are from ethnic minorities. Apart from one street scene candid, there are hardly any "whites" as examples of our communities. That in itself tells us something about that (unrepresentative?) Ministry: it gives a strong impression of a very specific and heavily-slanted agenda...

In conclusion, then, this article has led to quite a lot of useful imformation and conclusions that one might draw, simply by paying attention to what is going on and a high standard of commenting. This has been a worthwhile exercise all round, and if this is how 2009 is starting, I just hope that similarly revealing material will continue to come into the public arena as the new year progresses.