Miss Dickson Wright - what a nasty vicious racist woman she is!

[vivizone]

Well she fits in very well with the DM ethos.

Disgusting person

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233958/One-Fat-Lady-race-row-Muslim-ghetto-jibe-The-Islamic-area-Leicester-frightened-says-TV-chef.html

[pigletmania]

We are not white Anglo Saxon, my mum is Cypriot, husband Italian . What is British? It has changed from the traditional sense and fortunately moved forward

[pigletmania]

Rabid who do you think taxpayers are, white Anglo Saxon, some are, but they are a mixture of races. Take away people who originate from different countries and this country would be in dire states. It would not survive

[BelleDameSousMistletoe]

Bloody hell, Rabid.. Do you know anything about the history of this country? Do you have the first idea of how vile those posts sound?

[HappyTurquoise]

Agree, piglet. I am proud of our local Muslim community, and Clarissa's comments reminded me of the comic line I heard recenty 'I'm not sexist, I know some women, I call some of them friends'! Despite her claim to knowing a bit about Muslims, she is clearly ignorant and knows very little.

[missnevermind]

CDW is a result of her upbringing.
She has not had to mix with people that are below her (Upper) class.
She is entitled to her feelings and has freely described them, as though she is talking to somebody with the same insular upbringing as her.

I like her, she seems like an old aunt who has been at the sherry and is trying to be jolly but isnt quite sure of the world any more.

[pigletmania]

I agree happy, it's quite sad. Wonder if rabid has changed user names and dh used to be called daftpunk who held similar views on here

[OpheliaPayneAgain]

Many of the people in to use your example asian ghettos will be the same. Born in britain, holders of british passports = british.

The test there would be who do they support during a sporting even? Holding a passport doesn't make you view yourself a British.

If you have been living in this country for two or three generations, refuse to integrate, still have Nanna at home speaking Bengali, not knowing a word of English, and your spouses are selected from a rural village and sent over purely to gain a British Passport, and Bengali is still spoken at home by the children - then I would say that those people have not integrated into the country they have moved to, neither do they wish to, and I think I would use the term 'ghetto' in it's pure sense - part of a city predominantly occupied by a particular ethnic group not in its pejorative sense.

Doesn't make me racist, makes me aware that other people choose to live differently in a way that I may or may not agree with, given we are supposed to be multi cultural. But integration is the key to a multicultural society. In some areas it doesn't happen.

[pigletmania]

I agree missnever, I don't think it was intentional just misguided and she is a product of her time and upbringing

[SoupDragon]

I think what she said has some truth. Her response afterwards about no one being able to complain because they can't read English was completely uncalled for and racist though. References to "ghetto" were also unpleasant.

If multiculturalism works, which I have always been rather dubious of, surely it must be multicultural and not monocultural.

I can only hope that in generations to come there will be a merging of the cultures and not the exclusion zone that is the ghetto.

I think it can be uncomfortable finding yourself unexpectedly surrounded by a culture you don't understand - especially one where there appear to be fairly strict rules about who you can talk to and one which receives so much bad press.

[pigletmania]

Of course they will speak teir mother tongue, you cannot tell people to forget about their past and origins. My grandma lived independently and did speak enough English to get by quite well

[flow4]

It's obviously a bit of cheap publicity for her book... But if you look at the 'best rated' comments, you'll see Clarissa and Rabid are saying what many are thinking. :(

[TandB]

It's pretty normal for people to build little communities based on shared ethnic background or religion. There are ex-pat communities all over the world where white British people live together, often in gated developments.

The problem arises, in my view, not from the existence of these communities, but from the way they are treated by those living nearby. If they are viewed with suspicion and subjected to abuse and discrimination then they are likely to batten down the hatches and become more and more isolated and ghettoised. If they are treated as just another part of the wider community then the boundaries between the different communities are likely to become blurred and people will be comfortable going backwards and forwards.

There have been ethnic communities in Britain for generations. South Shields, where my family are from, had all sorts of ethnic areas, including Yemeni and a lot of Eastern European. They had some problems over the years, but overall they were considered to be one of the best examples of an integrated town in Britain at the time. People still grouped together but the communities got along pretty well.

Some of the comments on this thread are staggering.

[flow4]

Hecate, 25 years ago I lived in Singapore, where the government used (uses?) race-related housing quotas to deliberately mix up people of different races and make sure 'ghettos' don't arise. I used to think that kind of social engineering would be intolerable in the UK, but I'm getting less certain...

[OpheliaPayneAgain]

enough English to get by

Well I hope she was a little more fluent than my friends Panjabi mother, who after 60 years manages, Hello, dog, birthday - and I don't understand how, because English is spoken at home, has been for at least the past 50 years by her children and grand children. But a different culture of course, these are professional aspirational people who have moved away from the 'ghetto's' and integrated.

But that doesn't alter the fact there are areas of the UK where immigrant populations wish to recreate their home country in an exclusive enclave and do not wish to integrate.

It is a certain mindset that does this: I will argue this point to the death. Britain has always been very accommodating of refugees - I don't see Polish/Russian/German Jew communities still speaking Yiddish after explusion by the pogroms and. Fully integrated (yes there are some orthodox communities long established but they are different). We've always welcomed in and absorbed people of all nationalities for the past 1,000 years. We've been marvellously enriched by immigration

[HappyTurquoise]

To Hecate and others wondering about why there are close knit communities of Muslims...It is so they can be together to fund a mosque to walk to to worship, support halal shops and fund schools and religious tuition, support one another through observances such as Ramadan (but there's millions of examples.)
I'm invited to work in a Muslim homes in our town's Muslim community. I feel priveleged, as my upbringing has been similar to CDW's (well, the state school equivalent).

There are also many more British Muslims who don't live in the same communities (often because the imam is of a different branch/denomination) but their children might go for Arabic & Islamic tuition.

It might surprise Clarissa to know that the women she encountered probably did speak English well, and were likely multi-lingual, but they chose to not speak to her because of her blatent rudeness and ignorance of their culture.

[sashh]

What we need, instead of denying this happens, is to find out WHY it happens.

We know why it happens. People like the sense of familiar. If you go to Spain you will find areas where a lot of British people live.

A lot is about family, social life and food.

Authodox Jews have to live within walking distance of a syngogue as they have to walk their on a Friday. It then makes sense for Kosher shops and cafes to be in the same area.

When immigrants move to a new country there are things they want, food is one. It is much easier to go to a shop where you can buy familiar food in a familiar language.

The test there would be who do they support during a sporting even? Holding a passport doesn't make you view yourself a British.

Have you ever asked a Scot who they want to win the world cup? The answer is usually, "anyone except England".

My Hong Kong born, brought up in manchester housemate of many years ago was watching a China vs England mach, he swapped his support at half time.

And have you ever watched the commonwealth games? The comentary is something like this.

John A is representing Scotland, he got a gold medal for England in the last games. His twin brother Fred A took a silver for Australia in the same games but is now representing New Zealand.

OK I exagerate, but only slightly.

[flow4]

"It might surprise Clarissa to know that the women she encountered probably did speak English well, and were likely multi-lingual, but they chose to not speak to her because of her blatent rudeness and ignorance of their culture" > CHEERS AND CLAPS < Hear hear Turquoise!

[OpheliaPayneAgain]

Have you ever asked a Scot who they want to win the world cup? The answer is usually, "anyone except England".

I'm giggling at that - same goes south of the boarder - except Scotland never qualify so the problem never arises

[frantic51]

Happy, genuine question, what is blatantly rude about asking for directions? Ophelia, good posts.

[squeakytoy]

"But that doesn't alter the fact there are areas of the UK where immigrant populations wish to recreate their home country in an exclusive enclave and do not wish to integrate."

That ^^ is very true.

Has anyone ever been to Southall??

[hellsbells76]

Jesus. When did MN get invaded by Stormfront?

[CunningPlan]

Oh the irony of CDW saying she felt like an outcast and a pariah in her own country

With the media demonisation of Islam, effectivley tarring all Muslims with the same brush, how does she think they feel also in their own country

You move here, you work and raise your family here, it's your country in my book.

[snooopy]

I have never found any of the Islamic countries I have lived in very scary. I bought my Christmas tree in M and S Dubai yesterday and stocked up on ham and alcohol. I didn't find any of the people in Islamabad very scary when I did a recruitment campaign there last year for male technical workers either. Last Christmas I fucking shat myself on Poole High Street when I got chased by a group of toothless yobs because I asked them not no gob on my car. in fairness I haven't experienced any UK highly Asian populated areas but I do recruit many British 3rd generation Pakistani couples who are making the choice to leave their home town and family in the UK in search of a more liberal lifestyle. A lifestyle where they can both wear what they like and have jobs. I would say about 30% of my workforce fit into this category at the moment.

[WiseKneeHair]

I'm at both CDW's comments and some of the comments here.
Yes, she is racist and she obviously isn't the only one.
FWIW, I lived in Leicester for about 12 years and DH lived there got about 30. Yes, there were some areas that have a large Asian population, but so what?
One of the things I loved about Leicester was the general lack of racial tension ( I'm not naive enough to think there was none, but there was generally very little).

[CindySherman]

She is entitled to her opinion. I didn't find it racist personally. She was describing an experience.