Multiculturalism has failed, says Angela Merkel. Has it failed in Britain?

[mycounty]

"The Approach to build a multicultural society and live side by side has failed, utterly failed". Says Ms. Merkel. Has it failed in Britain? Particularly when we remember that all of the 7/7 bombers were British born? It appears the bombers had no allegiance to this country.
I think it has failed, just as it has in Germany.

I'm trying not to be judgemental, for a change.

Oh, and the argument that 'one black person says it, so it must be true' assumes that black people only have one opinion... it's a little, well, naive.

I am not harassing MNers. I am simply stating a fact that DP is affiliated to the BNP and therefore has an agenda around immigration.

You can colour me red if you want to (well don't just in case DP gets into power and has me deported back to Redland) but actually y'know I'm not a member of the Labour party nor affiliated to it in any way.

Isn't it like MN? "It" has one opinion?

Yeah, you need to balance what Trevor Phillips says with, say, Kenan Malik

Techlovingdad you ask DP what schools are primarily foreign children, and English is not the first language? well here goes...Argyle in Camden 95 percent of the children speak Bengali, in most classes, there are only 2 white children in the class. In fact google it and find out for yourself!

I honestly think that successful multiculturalism involves spreading immigrant (including second, third and fourth generation) communities across Britain, and out of cities so that people can't 'get away' from immigrants like a certain poster mentioned she had done.

I don't need to google Argyle school, I know it well having taught in Camden for many years. And guess what?

They teach in English!

I wasn't asking DP directly, I was asking anyone.

OK, so that's one. My brother's example is one that counters that, so that's one each.

Not exactly a lot, is it? The inference is that the majority of schools don't have English as the predominant language, which clearly isn't the case. Or is it?

And, complimentary, how do you know this? From a report, from your experience, or a guess? I'm not having a go, I'm interested and am open to hearing about this.

TechLovingDad, the implication was that if English is not the first language of most of the children, then English is therefore not spoken at school.

Which is, frankly, rubbish.

Was it? Sorry, missed that.

How do we teach these children English, then?

Unfortunately, you can present overt or unaware racists with the facts over and over and over again, and usually, they will choose not to listen or hear them. This is because reality challenges a comfortable world for them, in which scapegoats can be blamed for all the world's problems, including their own.

WS;

Stop making this personal. I'm just another M'netter posting on a thread about a particular subject. Stop bringing up threads from the past, it's counterproductive and gets us nowhere.

Fwiw, I get on very well with LG, despite having some opposing views on a certain subject. I am adult enough to treat people as individuals, sometimes with complex personalities. I can agree with someone on one thing but not on another, that's the beauty of human relationships. We are not all the same.

Ahh be we all love a good scapegoat, don't we? They fix all the problems.

I can't remember the debate because it was a few years ago. But Trevor Philllips was very closely connected to the Labour Party and therefore his opinions were probably indicative of what some of the Labour establishment thought and they were big news at the time, because they were a complete volte-face on what he had previously said. Before that he had been critcising the French model of integration rather than the British model of multiculturalism. I can't remember it exactly, but I think the French model was where all immigrants were considered French and part of an integrated France, and therefore had to adopt French customs and adapt to them. the British model of multiculturalism was a much looser model of separate communities living side by side and not necessarily integrating in the French manner. I think in the end, Trevor Phillips said that the British model had failed and that Britain was ?sleepwalking to segregation? between its ethnic communities.

He even "attacked politically correct liberals for their ?misguided? pandering to the ethnic lobby, claiming that they were turning ?a cultural blind eye? to problems because they feared being branded racist."

It was a very significant change and abandonment of what he had previously believed in. It couldn't have been done lightly. It was significant.

QC I think mycounty was saying that even if you were (god forbid) a labour party member and I or others strongly oppose that party, it does not make your views any less valid than others, we cannot dismiss people because they belong to a party we don't approve of.

claig, why don't you have a look at some of the rebuttals to Phillips that have been made by campaigners and academics?

Riven "Yes" to your question.

in my view, being racist DOES make your view less valid than others, actually. Because, I'm sure we'd all agree, that racism is stupid...