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?

With my minority hat on (not ethnic minority) I always think in terms of my support network and friends NOT about trying to match myself perfectly to the wider community. I've relocated several timees. I don't NEED urban cosmopolitan diversity to be ok.

Ok - so from a minority perspective, you can see that you would probably want to be in area with people from a similar background. So that probably goes a long way to explain the 5% non white people in Wales and the undoubted regional variation within that.

From a non minority perspective, the ethnic make up of an area shouldn't be an issue. Some people have no choice in the matter and it's where they can afford. But then again, if you were white and middle class, would you want to live in an area made up mainly of poor, deprived people from an Afro Caribbean background - just to show your "Liberal credentials"? Having worked in a school in that kind of area - and worked in schools in affluent, white, middle class areas - there are some differences.

But then again, if you were white and middle class, would you want to live in an area made up mainly of poor, deprived people from an Afro Caribbean background - just to show your "Liberal credentials"?

I wouldn't do anything to 'show my liberal credentials'

The racial profile wouldn't matter to me one bit as I don't see how the ethnicity of my neighbours impinges or affects me.

OTOH I probably would play safe and avoid being the only English speaker in an area reputed to be hostile to us, or the only protestant in a very sectarian area. Or indeed, the only gay in the village. A bit of pragmatism is worthwhile.

I HAVE spent quite a bit of time lately checking crime figures. Crime and ASB being a way that deprivation can translate into conduct that DOES have a drastic effect on the neighbours.

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'?

are they saying that because they don't like black people?

I think the difference is that when people say a place is "too white" they aren't saying that because they are racist about white people, they are saying that for the reasons i mentioned. whereas, if a person was saying brixton is 'too black' they are likely conveying racism.

Point: while "too white" and "too black" sound the same, the latter is more likely to be motivated by racism.

I live a 40 minute train ride from central birmingham and a similar drive to handsworth one of the most ethnically diverse area in the country.

My kids go to an almost completely all white school and our area is almost exclusively all white.

People naturally settle around people who are like them. Like ex pats in Spain.

London/Leicester etc isn't really diverse either. It has pockets of people of different religions and skin tones and varying ethnic origins living in their own areas. As the Trevor Phillips documentary pointed out.

Not suprised really op.

Point: while "too white" and "too black" sound the same, the latter is more likely to be motivated by racism.

You can't just reverse the phrase and expect it to mean the same thing, while ignoring the historical context.

London/Leicester etc isn't really diverse either. It has pockets of people of different religions and skin tones and varying ethnic origins living in their own areas

Forgive me, but that's nonsense.

The last London borough I lived in had a population that was less than 40% White British (and not at all alone in that), there was not much in the way of 'pockets' (maybe some), our street was very diverse (and not at all unusual in that).

Ethnic diversification is at an extremely advanced stage in much of London. London is different from most of the UK in that respect.

I do realise that other apparently diverse cities are more ghettoised for various reasons.

I must go and look for Trevor Phillips' documentary

Point: while "too white" and "too black" sound the same, the latter is more likely to be motivated by racism.

They both sound unpleasant and critical of someone else's community, though, which is probably a good sign that there is something wrong with saying either of them.

cole

A poster on here clearly said that Leicester had pockets of people from different backgrounds. Leeds has the same.

I've lived in London - and can associate some areas with certain backgrounds. Brixton, Woolwich. Greenwich. Harrow, Wembley etc. But there are also areas that are more diverse.

London is very different to the rest of the country - as you've said.

Is it wrong to say:

"Too poor" a place to live in
"Too full of old people"

"Too full of working class"
"Too middle class"
"Too gay" an area
"Too full of people not like me"
"Too studenty"

These are all things people think about when moving to an area.

Yes, Leicester, Leeds, Bradford spring to mind at mention of 'pockets'.

But even places like Brixton are re-diversifying (if that's the right way of describing it), you might have been able to consider them ghettos twenty years ago (maybe even 15-10). You really couldn't now.

Orlando

It is quite ill mannered to announce to the resident of an area that that area is 'too' anything, I'd have thought (as in the Lewes example).

The whole business of race is much more fraught and serious though and the competitively 'liberal' Greg Dyke type remarks ('hideously white') - often overlooking the fact that white areas may be otherwise deprived, in fact - are tedious.

I'm in Cheltenham - edge of the Cotswolds, the supposed bastion of white posh England - we have over 10% non-white. To be fair nobody really notices any more do they? Language difference is noticed more nowadays - there are a lot of Mainland European in Cheltenham because of language schools.

(I was raised on a Scottish island and I was 16 before I saw someone of a different skin colour than "pasty white".)

They both sound unpleasant and critical of someone else's community, though, which is probably a good sign that there is something wrong with saying either of them.

I don't see anything wrong with criticising another community.

I don't see this as shocking. it is what it is.

Living in one of these awful overly white Welsh places I have found the only prejudice was from someone moving to the area who presumed we would be racist towards her children. She's admitted this has never happened in all the years they have been here though so we let her off! This is the most accepting area I have ever lived in and I've lived all around the country including London. All races, creeds, colour and sexual orientation are treated exactly the same. The only thing deemed not acceptable is getting too big for your boots! We don't have a Chinese takeaway though so I am now very jealous of everyone else's villages. If we want fast food we have to prod the dragon to heat it up for us .

My nephew was born in the UK and has a Polish father.
He describes himself as white British and looks white British.

A friend, who was born in the UK has a West Indian father and a white British mother. I haver no idea what he puts on his census form.
His children have a white British mother, one child has darker skin than the other.
At what stage do they describe themselves as white British?

I haver no idea what he puts on his census form.

isn't mixed british/indian an option?

@MrSlant are you in a position to judge? I don't think anyone said these places are awful because they are "too white".

West Indian would be 'Black Caribbean' keep, so someone of dual heritage could tick 'white and black caribbean'.

(Or, indeed, self-define as anything else)

1. why are you surprised !
2. does it really matter people will congregate/want to live where there are others similar to them

1) why are you surprised !
2) does it really matter

I think we're going in circles now

Can't say I understand the obsession with diversity and multicultualism. Non-white cultures group together and doing their own thing and that is that. We managed to survive as a nation before the multiculturalism boom.

I live not far outside Cardiff, a few months ago I picked DS (who was four at the time) up from school and he was staring at someone. I looked around and saw a black family. I asked him what he was looking at and he pointed and said 'he's a funny colour'.

Where I live is really white, but I was astonished that DS has seen so few black people that when he does he finds it amazing. I tend to see a much more diverse range of people through my work so I forget that where I live isn't like that.