to be shocked that less than half of people in London are white

[Ilovecoffeeandchocolate]

I was reading the article below and was shocked to see how much this country especially London has changed over the last ten years and feel concerned that immigration is too high for what is an already overcrowded island especially in the south east!

//www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/dec/11/census-2011-religion-race-education?intcmp=239

[Nancy66]

she's not 'in a twist' about anything.

[gordyslovesheep]

okay then if we are going to be petty 'shocked and concerned' about the number of none white people ...but still not racist ...if you say so

[Nancy66]

It's a really interesting report. A shame it can't be discussed in a reasoned and intelligent manner. Predictable though.

[bamboostalks]

I was surprised that was the case too. It does make one feel as if London is starting to become an entity separate from the rest of the UK. Its own fifedom really. The population there is no longer reflected around the country and I think that will have long term consequences.
I don't think op is racist, why does everyone have to jump on someone immediately when they express an ambiguous thought?

[Zorayda]

This was being discussed in my office today, and I had to point out that I'm not "British-born" although I class myself as White British as I grew up in Hong Kong when it was a British colony, to British parents (who were born in Britain). However, I didn't emigrate until I was 19, sometime after then handover, so you could class me as an arrival from China. And further to that, my husband is "British-born" and our Polish surname (which causes raised-eyebrows from people who assume we're new arrivals) is a result of his grandfather moving to Britain after the war, when he was released from Auschwitz.

So, one immigrant, one non-British surname, and to meet us you'd assume we grew up locally. Stats are quite clunky.

I'm not sure if the OP was perhaps referring to her perceptions of London, when travelling in, which would include a high number of tourists and commuters who wouldn't be reflected in the survey. Working in London and living in London don't always correlate.

[MrsKwaziipanFruits]

I heard the "minority of Londoners are white british" line on the radio on my way home, and it made me cross then as well as now on here. It doesn't automatically mean that the majority living in London are 'not white' - although the Daily Mail must be rubbing its thighs at the stories it will be able to produce off the back of this.

FWIW, I was born and grew up in London, however I always tick the 'White Irish' box because that is the ethnic background and culture that I grew up in and consider myself to be. There are many people like me who do the same. These things are not always as clear as they're simplisticly painted.

[difficultpickle]

I was in Turkey this week. There the prime minister is actively encouraging the Turkish population to have at least 3 children in order to ensure that the population is not diluted by the growing Kurdish community. I was asked why the same wasn't being done in the UK to counter the influx of immigrants. I pointed out that this was a rather racist viewpoint. I was completely alone with my view of thinking it was racist.

[gordyslovesheep]

it's a shame people can't start from a position of listening and admitting they may be wrong I agree - sadly people who want to approach it in a none knee jerk pro bnp manner are dismissed by those who refuse to see disliking no white being here (even British ones) might be a bit racist :(

[maillotjaune]

A reasoned discussion of this report would indeed be nice.

Unfortunately if you write an OP with the words shocked, immigration is too high and overcrowded island you are unlikely to be looking for get one.

[MrsKwaziipanFruits]

As for the country being overcrowded, I don't think that is necessarily true either. People are concentrated in certain areas - that's true - and not enough has been done to keep up with the demand for housing, jobs and infrastructure. But we're not really bursting at the seams as far as I can see.

Also, people who decry the amount of people coming into the UK to work and/or settle, do you then think that people from the UK should be stopped moving to other countries to do the same? No more life in the sun or moving to pursue the Australian dream?

[DoingitOnTheRoofTopWithSanta]

Especially if you are also pretending to be an immigrant.

[gordyslovesheep]

and what maillotjaune said

[Alisvolatpropiis]

I think people forget how different London is to the rest of the UK,always has been. By population alone it could be it's own country (almost 3 times the population of Wales).

I love London because it is so diverse. I live in Cardiff which is fairly diverse (given it's size). I live in what is historically the most diverse area of the city. But London makes Cardiff seem like a backwater town waiting for the wheel to be invented. Feeling that is a surprise. Never fails to be. But it's not a negative surprise. I don't walk around in shock and horror that the residents of London aren't all white speaking RP or cockney.

[peaceandlovebunny]

we are a strange nation. do you know of any other countries where it would be unacceptable to say 'i'm uncomfortable that the demographic of our capital city has changed'?

[Cozy9]

I'd be happy if we had an immigration system similar to that of Australia.

[AmberLeaf]

DoingitOnTheRoofTopWithSanta

[giveitago]

I think London is way overcrowded.

But London isn't really a UK city, it's an international one (as opposed to provincial like other european capitals) and you can't judge it against the rest of the country. You can't compare it to the rest of the UK for this reason. The statistics only really work for london and don't tell much of story for the UK as a whole.

[Cozy9]

"cozy9 we have a MINIMUM wage in the uk - so that's rubbish"
How does a minimum wage prevent wage suppression?

"lso how do semi skilled people force up house prices if they are one low wages?"
Supply and demand, basic economics. Increase the demand and prices go up.

[CoteDAzur]

bisjo - When I was growing up in Turkey, a Kurdish guy was our building's janitor. He had 8 children, most of them with less than a year of age difference. They lived in a single room, in poverty. My mum once asked why they kept having babies, and the answer was "Because we need soldiers".

There are long-running issues there that are not as easy to label as "racism", in other words.

The current PM is a religious fundamentalist and a bit of a fascist nutcase, but other than stuff he says, if Turkey was such a racist place, they wouldn't open the borders to let hundreds of thousands of Kurds in back when Saddam was gassing them, and again recently due to mass exodus from Syria.

[jeanvaljean]

I'm not shocked because I live here and have seen the massive changes. When I was at primary school in East London there were about 6 ethnic minority kids out of 36. Now the same school is entirely ethnic "minority". That's in 20 years.

Now I live in North London and my area is quite "white" however when you walk around it's all Eastern Europeans and the local school is 90% English as a foreign language (mostly Polish).

Alisvolatpropiis - People think London has always been like this but it hasn't. And because the change has been so massive and so rapid it's clear that the same will be coming for everyone else outside of London, if it hasn't already. I honestly think that give it 10-20 years and "white British" will be a minority in the whole of the country.

[goralka]

It does make one feel as if London is starting to become an entity separate from the rest of the UK. Its own fifedom really
I think that's always been the case. Personally I wish I was back in London away from nosy gossips and casual racism - our little family is all 'white other' btw and consider ourselves Londoners.

[gordyslovesheep]

I don't see why 'white British' being a minority is a problem though - black British, British Asian, mixed race are all perfectly reasonable alternatives to 'white'

[suburbophobe]

The biggest demographic growth is bi-cultural children in UK.

Bring it on, I say!

It's the future, might as well get used to it....

[Cozy9]

I really worry for the future of this country. It seems we are being turned into an "international trading hub", and a lot of our indigenous people are surplus to requirement. British people are too servile and trusting IMO, we should be more prepared to speak up and fight back.

[SaltedCaramels]

Reading that article made my day - as mixed white Asian Londoner, am surprisingly happy to be in the 'majority' for the first time in my life!