As the usual right-wing shit-stirrers - supported by a cabal of divisive, racist, far-right anonymous troll accounts, & dodgy more mainstream right-wing print & broadcast "media personalities" - distort the census data, the FT debunks the myths.
Godless damaged #neofascist grifter Nigel Farage claimed that “London, Birmingham & Manchester are all now minority-white cities”, & “only 46% [of Britons] now identify as Christian... a massive change in the identity of this country that is taking place through immigration”. 🤥
Unhinged Conservative commentator Douglas Murray, who has previously described London as having “become a foreign country”, echoed Farage in blaming the declining numbers of British Christians on immigration. Others talked of rising segregation & “no-go areas” on social media. 🤪
Almost all of these divisive & misleading claims are untrue, as even a cursory look at the data reveals.
First, there’s the fact that London (54% white) & Manchester (57%) are clearly not minority white at all, & Birmingham (49%) makes it under the wire by a hair’s breadth.
Farage & his fellow broken shit-stirrers must have been looking only at those who identify as both British AND white.
But if identifying as British is the key, why count only white Britons? (I think we all know the answer.)
We have data on the share of people in each region that have a British identity. In London, it’s 78% — & black & mixed-race Londoners are MORE likely to identify as British than the white population!
The dumb & divisive religious claims are even more risible...
The shit-stirrers' bullshit argument here is that “mass immigration” has hastened Christianity’s decline in Britain. Yet that decline has been driven overwhelmingly by white Britons, less than half of whom now say they are Christian, down from 69% in 2011 - a loss of about 7M. 😇
If preserving Christianity is crucial to “saving” Britain, we should examine Britain’s black population: 72% are Christian, half a million MORE than in 2011, & 60% of the NON-British WHITE community are Christian - a million added since the last census!
As for the views of contemporary Christofascists, as far back as 1995, less than a third of Britons thought being Christian was an important part of being British. By 2020, that had fallen to 20%! With cranks pushing Christ knows what twisted version of faith, I'm not surprised.
Finally, we come to the relentless bullshit warnings over “segregation” & “no-go areas”, which again prove unfounded.
While Christianity ranks low on the list of things Britons say one requires to be truly British, speaking the language ranks highest.
Drill down to even the most monoethnic of Britain’s non-white neighbourhoods, & a clear majority speak fluent English in every single one.
Segregation is one of many UK culture war terms terms imported from the US, applied liberally but incorrectly on this side of the Atlantic.
Racial segregation was legally mandated in the US south under Jim Crow, & the policy of denying financial services on racial grounds quietly extended similar practices.
While one in 40 US neighbourhoods are still highly segregated, fewer than one in 1,000 are in Britain.
There is, though, one point @jburnmurdoch concedes: the gobshites are right in implying that they are part of a minority group facing terminal decline: in 2006, only 10% of Britons thought that to be truly British you had to be white. By 2020, that figure had fallen to 3%. 🇬🇧👊
This thread quotes extensively from @jburnmurdoch's excellent article in the FT, linked at the top of the thread, supplemented by screenshots, additional quotes, & candid terminology added by myself for emphasis. 🙏
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Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.
So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?
I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below,
Countering the extreme right’s narrative of feeling "attacked" and needing to "defend" national identity requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that challenges their framing while addressing underlying concerns and emotions.
The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis.
Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.
#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
I reproduce it, below.
Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers.
The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
That attitude is the main reason America was founded, in all its hope and energy and goodness.
A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists.
In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
In England, free speech is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, inciting violence is a criminal offence under several laws which attempt to balance public safety with free expression rights.
In many countries, especially since Musk bought Twitter/@X, underregulated online extreme content has been used to groom and radicalise vulnerable people.
Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.
Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive.
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…