To be staggered that >95% of the population of Wales is White?

[ColeHawlings]

Or, I should say, that it was at the time of the 2011 census (almost 94% White British and Irish combined).

I had absolutely no idea that it was so high.

I vaguely thought that, like Liverpool, parts of Wales had been at the vanguard of multiculturalism, for seafaring reasons.

Am I just thinking too much of Cardiff?

Why is low diversity "shocking"? Surely it just is what it is. Doesn't mean a place is horribly racist

Absolutely.

Someone said to me recently they wouldn't move to Lewes because it was 'too white.' It was said pejoratively.

Surely drawing negative conclusions about a place based on the skin colour of its residents is, apart from being facile and ignorant, is in fact racist?

I hear it from a certain type of person who seems to want to appear cutting-edge liberal. To me, they sound like a silly arse.

there are 90 pupils in my daughter's scottish village school it is 100% white we are rural; in the nearest town it would be about 97%,

however this school has a much higher than average non-scottish children due to nearby military bases

I thought UK was approx 90% white; surely no-one thinks this is uniform in every area, whee I grew up it would have been about 95% at infant level about 80-87% at senior school now maybe 60-75% as in a large industrial area

Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Powys have less than 50 people per square km. Powys less than 30 people. Land mass wise, I'd say those 3 counties make up maybe half of the country, with Powys being the biggest county of all. If you look at it that way it's easy to see why it's not the most diverse in those areas.

Put even though there may not be a high number of non-white children in out school we have a mix of cultures. Polish, Persian, English, Irish, etc and we are a Welsh medium school, in the English medium school there are a greater variety again.

I've raised DD (white British) in rural Ceredigion without her turning into a UKIP voting racist homophobe. You can't really tell anything about an individual from the ethnic variety of their home town, oddly enough...I'm finding the derogatory comments about places being 'too white' or moving to be in a more diverse area a bit odd. As a PP said, some of the most vicious racism is found in diverse areas - I've lived in them.

Rural North Wales here. I don't know a single black person and the only non-White people run the curry house and Chinese restaurants. The only racism I've encountered has been anti-English. I'm staggered that as much as 5% of the population is from ethnic minorities, but yes, I figure Cardiff pushes it up. I'm from NW London so it seemed a bit weird when I first got here but I think city-dwellers falsely assume their ethnically diverse neighbourhoods are standard across the UK and it really isn't the case.

I knew that Wales had very few. That's why immgration issues arent everywhere, for instance if you lived in the Costwolds or Wales you would wonder what people were talking about....

I hear it from a certain type of person who seems to want to appear cutting-edge liberal. To me, they sound like a silly arse.

^
This

And as for this: That's why immgration issues arent everywhere, for instance if you lived in the Costwolds or Wales you would wonder what people were talking about.... Wales is nothing like the bloody Cotswolds! We've already mentioned the ethnic diversity of Cardiff and Swansea. Wales is not a homogeneous mass of mountains, sheep and male voice choirs you know . Some places are actually quite...gasp... modern.

Orlando makes an interesting point about North Yorkshire, the statistics say it's 97.9.% white here. Very sparsely populated in some areas though!

EddieStobbard is right about the nationality of "white" people, though - at DCs old primary school all the children are white but there's at least two Polish siblings, and when the DC were there they were also in the "other" white category with DH being "other" white. I'm white British.

I think the ethnic diversity is infinitesimally better at DC2's secondary school but DC1's is 100% white British - except DC1!

Not sure why it's better to have more ethnic diversity - as has been explained, areas are what they are.

Schools aren't just about ethnic diversity though. As I said upthread, DS goes to a school with children "like him". Similar social background, parents with similar aspirations, less social issues in school etc etc. No doubt reflected in the area of the school.

I have taught in rough areas and there is no chance I would want DS to go to some of the schools I've taught in. The attitude and behaviour of some of the kids and some of the parents as well as the social issues that are brought in from home. Don't really get any of that in his school.

This seems to belong to the thread in chat that's at the same time. But I'll post it here.

A school shouldn't rely on reps from every country on earth to turn out pupils who appreciate other nations and cultures, they should be teaching that anyway in the actual lessons.

Someone said to me recently they wouldn't move to Lewes because it was 'too white.' It was said pejoratively.

I can understand not wanting to move somewhere because it's "too white".

Certainly if they themselves were not white, I can really understand it. It's not that I would assume the welsh are racist, just that they are not as used to having outsiders around as other places. That may or may not manifest as racism, but it will have other fallout too. Services for immigrants me be lacking in a place that only has a few of them.

But the other thing about "too white" is that it's an indication of economic activity and a barometer of other desirable things. if immigrants don't want to go there, there might actually be a reason for that.

But the other thing about "too white" is that it's an indication of economic activity and a barometer of other desirable things

Not necessarily. It could be a very "white" area but be poverty stricken, high unemployment and other social issues. The coastal towns in particular have those issues.

Unless you're suggesting that a mainly white area may actually have issues that would put immigrants off going?

keepit but if someone said to you "I don't want to move to Brixton, it's too black Wouldn't you just think 'racist twat'?

I genuinely can't see the difference - culture, yes, maybe availability of certain shops, preponderance of architecture I like, family, rail link, golf course whatever.

But the colour of my neighbours' skin?

I think that's inexcusable.

silver

The person who said that to you about Lewes. Were they white?

Choosing to move or not to move somewhere because of the ethnic mix seems very odd to me, be it 'too white' 'too black' or anything else.

OTOH nobody bats an eyelid at 'wonderfully diverse'. I'm confused now But it's a bit sinister to attach to overriding importance to the racial profile of an area, no?

Really - after all the talk on this .

You can't see why someone might want to be in a place where there are people from a similar background?

I used to live in Pembrokeshire and never saw a non white person in all the time I lived there.

Orlando, is that relevant on a thread where we are banging the colour blind drum?

Of course they were! And very pleased with themselves too at their huuuuuge broad minds.

They were very cross when I called them racist .

Thanks for an interesting debate all, early start tomorrow!

It depends whether one is speaking as a minority or not Orlando. You seem to assume a minority perspective in most of your posts but leave it unspecified, others are just as steadfastly assuming the opposite and leaving THAT unspoken, which is causing some cross-purpose.

Assuming that one has access to a small community of people with similar experience - AFTER that- it seems an odd thing to obsess about one way or t'other.

I now live in rural England. Just stuck my postcode in and my area is 98.2% white.

North Wales here too. No non white children in dc's school. No polish etc either to the best of my knowledge. the secondary in a nearby university town has a much better mix of cultures I believe. We're a novelty being English living here to be honest.

Sorry, it's actually 99.8% white when I click on the map.