Thread: British multiculturalism has left a "terrible" legacy

Tory warning on multiculturalism

British multiculturalism has left a "terrible" legacy which has allowed extremists to flourish, shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve has warned.

A type of "cultural despair" has led "long-term inhabitants" and newer arrivals to feel alienated and unsure of UK values, he told the Guardian.
Mr Grieve, speaking on the eve of the Conservative Party conference, argued this had led to support for extremism.
He also warned against downplaying Britain's Christian heritage.
Mr Grieve told the Guardian: "We've actually done something terrible to ourselves in Britain.
"In the name of trying to prepare people for some new multicultural society we've encouraged people, particularly the sort of long-term inhabitants, to say 'well your cultural background isn't really very important'."
'Huge damage'
The vacuum created by multiculturalism has encouraged support for extremists on both sides, he argues.
The shadow home secretary went on to say multiculturalism was inspired by the "understandable" desire to make people feel comfortable.
But he added: "The idea behind it was [to] create the melting pot. But the melting pot needs the ingredients of people's confidence in themselves as they come together. And if it isn't there I think we've done ourselves huge damage."
Mr Grieve also said the part played by Christianity in Britain should not be ignored.
"The role of Christianity is really rather important. It can't just be magicked out of the script. It colours many of the fundamental viewpoints of British people, including many who've never been in a church."
'Outdated' policy
It is not the first time a Tory home secretary has spoken out against multiculturalism.
In 2005, the then shadow home secretary David Davis called on the government to scrap the "outdated" policy, saying that allowing people of different cultures to settle without integrating let the "perverted values of suicide bombers" take root.
Mr Davis said he agreed with Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the then Commission for Racial Equality, who a year earlier argued multiculturalism belonged to a different era.
Mr Phillips said all citizens should "assert a core of Britishness".
Conference start
Asked about Mr Grieve's comments on BBC One's Andrew Marr show, Conservative leader David Cameron said he agreed that "state multiculturalism" had been the wrong approach.
Mr Cameron said: "What he said was that state multiculturalism - the idea that as welcoming people into our country and keep them all in silos, and treat British Muslims as Muslims, rather than as British citizens, treat British Jews as Jews rather than as British citizens - that is wrong.
"I think trying to integrate more, trying to bring people together more, trying to build a strong British identity for the future, I think that's absolutely right."
Mr Grieve's comments come as an ICM poll for the Guardian suggested Labour had narrowed the gap on the Tories.
The poll put the Conservatives on 41%, Labour on 32% and the Lib Dems on 18%.
A ComRes survey for the Independent on Sunday last weekend put the Tories on 39%, Labour on 27% and the Lib Dems on 21%.
The Tory conference will open on Sunday in Birmingham, with a discussion on the economy involving shadow chancellor George Osborne and shadow foreign secretary William Hague.
Leader David Cameron's speech closes the conference on Wednesday.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Tory warning on multiculturalism

Published: 2008/09/28 09:38:24 GMT

Originally Posted by jandajoy

He also warned against downplaying Britain's Christian heritage.

What about our pre Christian Heritage?

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

What about our pre Christian Heritage?

Druids and the like?

Tuesday, Wedneday, Thursday and Friday

Christmas ?

[edit] Pre-Christian origins

Main article: List of winter festivals
A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included less agricultural work needing to be done during the winter, as well as people expecting longer days and shorter nights after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.[6] In part, the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations.[7][6] Certain prominent gods and goddesses of other religions in the region had their birthdays celebrated on December 25, including Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, and war, Sol Invictus and Mithras. Modern Christmas with pagan customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Teutonic feasts.[8] Such traditions are considered to have been syncretised from winter festivals including the following:

Easter, at least the name anyway.

Multiculturalism has been a complete failure for the UK, but the Labour Party will just keep their eyes closed. Bring back Britishness!!

Originally Posted by Christopher

Bring back Britishness!!

what does Britishness mean to you christopher?

i'm interested since you have never actually been there.

Oh fuck. Like a fly to shit. He's in here now.

So which is the real problem Christopher, Muslims or

Originally Posted by Christopher

Multiculturalism

Originally Posted by Christopher

Bring back Britishness!!

You mean bad teeth, bad food, etc.?

sad people

sad indeed
britain in the 70's and 80's was fun in the towns there was noise and a vibrance.
go into many town or city centers now and their is an air of sadness and of the languages spoken english is not the most common as it should be.
we have f'cked up on a major scale with the idea of multiculturism that's for sure.

Hmmm. Seem to be a lot of scared people too. Particularly the elderly.

Originally Posted by meepho

britain in the 70's and 80's was fun in the towns there was noise and a vibrance.

Wasn't that called hooliganism?

Mods & Rockers, Hells Angels, Skin heads, punks, vibrancy and life.........

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Mods & Rockers, Hells Angels, Skin heads, punks, vibrancy and life.........

The Clash came from those days, great band. They were Brits but the music was multicultural.

The Who, The stones.......

^ You're right to a degree but I go back quite frequently and it generally depresses me. Unfortunately.

Originally Posted by pickel

Originally Posted by meepho

britain in the 70's and 80's was fun in the towns there was noise and a vibrance.

Wasn't that called hooliganism?

hooliganism was mainly present at footy matches

now we have multiculturism we do not have hooliganism at footy matches we have black gangs, indian gangs, pakistani gangs, white gangs and they do not focus thier energy at footy matches but at protecting thier so called 'turf' i think they call them post code gangs, and judging by the number of stabbings and shootings intergration is not top of the list for many.
they got rid of hooliganism, is our government going to be able to sort out this mess they have created?

Have you met Christopher? He's a n interesting bloke.

In the '80s there were mostly 'white' gangs terrorising housing estates and the less prestigious city areas. And black gangs, of course, in certain areas.

Maybe you preferred it that way? Have the Pakis integrated too well, perhaps, or where have they copied forming gangs from?

And it's hardly the government's fault, this is a convenient cop-out.

Originally Posted by spiff

Maybe you preferred it that way? Have the Pakis integrated too well, perhaps, or where have they copied forming gangs from?

To whom do you refer?