Women Against the Far Right - Open Letter

[ThisChicPinkRaven]

A collection of prominent women have signed an open letter regarding the far right's consistent, and increasing, 'justification' for their vile behaviour that immigrants represent a sexual threat to women.

It's true that there are some instances of sexual violence committed by migrants, the overwhelming majority - to the surprise of absolutely nobody - is committed by men who are UK nationals and born here.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject, specifically whether your personal politics regarding migrants are coloured by the degree of threat you feel.
I am aware that there are some people on this board who hold views not wholly compatible with the rest of us, so please remember to be kind, patient, and thoughtful in your responses.

Source Links
Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/02/women-stop-linking-asylum-seekers-sexual-abuse
Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/womens-safety-far-right-vawg-government-b2811674.html

You admit that it’s a problem. You believe in the government’s ability to manage that, which is just naive.

Violence from local men is baked in. It’s very hard to reduce due to the nature of domestic violence.

Refusing to allow unvetted males to settle in your country is so easy in comparison. Why not do it?

This.

'Not British so don't really know' - no, you're American, I believe?

If you don't know much about Britain, as you admit, why do you feel so qualified to comment on who is and isn't English?

I'm left-ish myself but happily sign up to all those views.

Re Robinson, I still dislike him strongly due to the string of criminal offences, especially the harassment of the Syrian refugee boy, critical journalist & the mixed raced family (the latter was just this year). Not to mention the shadiness around his trips to Tenerife and Ayia Napa.

I read recently about the roots of the EDL though and it seems he tried to make it a racially inclusive group United by opposition to Islam? So I wondered for a while whether he is racist (obviously he still seems dodgy for other reasons). Otoh he used to be in the BNP & some of the above actions seem to at least possibly be racist in intent.

Either way, I'm not a huge fan of either Farage or Melanie Phillips but I've always been glad that they've urged followers not to get sucked into Tommy-worship.

No, I value thinking of myself as English, though I support the Union. I know almost nothing about Wales, Scotland or Ireland and have never been to any of them yet, though I'd like to know more.

If you believe that a non-ethnically English person can only ever call themselves British, how can they differentiate whether they're from England, Scotland, Wales etc ?

Hmm...well, as the granddaughter of a Polish refugee, I think it could well be more than you might think. It's certainly not unusual in my area to have one or more Polish grandparents.

There was the 1880s wave of Eastern European Jewish immigration which basically created the modern British Jewish community (there was already one ofc but most UK Jews trace their ancestry to this wave). There have been waves of Irish migration fairly recently. There were the children who came on the Kindertransport. Waves of immigrants from over Europe post-WW2. Small numbers by themselves, but it all adds up.

Consulting Grok, which is somewhat dodgy but sometimes useful, estimates around 10% of English people could have a European grandparent or great-grandpparent. Higher numbers if you include Scottish, Welsh and Irish as well.

British is a nationality not an ethnicity so surely there are? Thus you get groups like British Asians.

Otoh English is an ethnicity, though I'd argue it's also a cultural identity.

By 1911, there were over 1000 Chinese people in Britain who often intermarried with locals. So it's possible that some Brits might have fairly recent Chinese ancestry they're not aware of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Chinese

Wikipedia I know,,but it does cite a book as source.

It's all three obviously, isn't it?

You can be English ethnically.

You can be English in terms of, not citizenship, but where you reside.

You can be English culturally.

Many people also have mixed ethnicity. At some point, mixed ethnicity becomes one thing. A Celt/Saxon/Norman might be just "English" now, arguably you might include Caribbean or African these days too, and in 100 years that could certainly be the case.

People who argue that only one of these can be valid ways of using a term like English, or Scottish, or even Indian, are just silly.

There was a post on another thread about how often dead threads were suddenly revied and nearly always at a tangent to the orginal purpose.

But having been alerted to this thread being brough back from the thread, seriously if anyone really thinks that English is an ethnicity please do quote a source that says this.

The inhabitants of England (which is not the same as the Celtic Nations) is mongrel.

Although cross breed sounds more posh.

White English ethnicity

This is the Government source used in the census, by all public sector organisations and many private for mandatory ethnicity monitoring.

The definitions have been used and refined since 1991. The last census was 2021.

www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/ethnic-groups/

There's currently a consultation on reporting on ethnicity pay gaps which will use this.

https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/ethnicity-pay-reporting-guide/#:~:text=While%20ethnicity%20pay%20reporting%20has,to%20publish%20data%20by%20ethnicity.

We do exist. You may well have ticked the white English box yourself!

Why do you keep reanimating zombie threads? What are you getting out of it?

That approach destroys the idea of ethnicity altogether. There are no "pure" peoples.

Ofc English is an ethnicity.

What I don't understand are people who say it's only an ethnicity, and that someone like say, Rishi Sunak can say he's British but can't say he's English.

I think it's reasonable for an ethnically non-English person to say that they're English in a cultural sense. If they can only say they're British, how can they differentiate whether they're from Wales, Scotland etc?

Exactly.

Great post. I wish people would stop ignoring that English can be a cultural as well as ethnic identity. Equally it's annoying and counterproductive to say that there's no such thing as English ethnicity.

I'm sorry, I thought the nationality vs ethnicity thing was an interesting discussion. It's only from mid-September so I thought it wouldn't count so much as a zombie thread. I apologise, I won't do so again.

White english is just one of the sub categories. It recongnises that not all "english" people are white.

If it wasn't so offensive its laughable the efforts that go into pushing this false narrative.

Which isn't about reality but a set of beliefs.

Maybe the census should expand the how do you indentify question to any number of identifies.

So I may give my real age but identify as a teenager.

The government is being offensive?

By setting out ethnicity monitoring definitions in conjunction with ethic minorities themselves they are all being offensive?

Every company I've worked in HR for 25 years has used these definitions, it's certainly never been seen as offensive.

It's all a false narrative?

White english is just one of the sub categories. It recongnises that not all "english" people are white.

The categories are the exact opposite of your claim.

White is the one of five main categories and English is one of the white groups.

There is nowhere in the categories at all that the English can be anything other than white, as that's what we are!

The motivation to claim otherwise is not clear.
Why the big drama about the English being white?

Ancestry say I’m 97% NW England and 3% Welsh and our line goes back to 1066 so very very very English and I’m proud but over the last 20 years have become so disillusioned and so sad - I suppose that makes me a bigot and a racist.

An example of an ethnicity pay monitoring policy based on the standard government groups.

Barclays conducts extensive ethnicity monitoring by collecting ethnicity data from its employees on a voluntary basis and using this data to publicly report on its progress toward specific diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals.
Key aspects of Barclays' ethnicity monitoring:
Data Collection: Barclays asks its employees to voluntarily disclose their ethnicity. In the UK, around 81-87% of employees have shared their ethnicity data, which allows for robust analysis.
Data Usage: The collected data is used to:
Identify and understand ethnic minority representation at all levels of the organisation, particularly in senior roles.
Publish an annual ethnicity pay gap report, detailing differences in average pay and bonuses between various ethnic groups (e.g., Black, Asian, Multiracial, White employees).
Measure progress against specific Race at Work ambitions and other DEI targets.
Inform and evaluate the effectiveness of the bank's policies and action plans aimed at supporting ethnic minority career progression and fostering an inclusive culture.
Transparency and Reporting: As a signatory of the Race at Work Charter, Barclays is committed to capturing ethnicity data and publicising its progress. The bank publishes annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion reports and UK Pay Gap disclosures that provide detailed data and action plans.
Target Setting: Barclays has set measurable targets, such as increasing the number of employees from underrepresented ethnicities at all levels and specifically at the Managing Director level.
Confidentiality: The bank aims to build trust to encourage self-identification, recognising that a high response rate is critical for meaningful data analysis.
Barclays uses this monitoring process to hold itself accountable and drive sustainable change in ethnic diversity and inclusion within the organisation.

It’s very strange people arguing essentially that English don’t exist, saying they are a mix of this and that.

Tbh you could do this with pretty much any ethnicity—for instance Japanese are partially Korean rice farmer immigrants mixed with aboriginal Jomon (you can see the heavier Jomon ancestry in Okinawans for instance) and some later inputs from proto Mongolian sources. The current genetic structure of ordinary Japanese iirc has remained quite stable since 400-500AD. (Genetic studies of ancient families and of the royal family would be FASCINATING but not allowed or anyways published for political reasons … )

But nobody says that Japanese aren’t an ethnicity, and that obviously black or white people can become ethnic Japanese! Incidentally I know someone that naturalized and carries a Japanese passport so technically is a ‘Japanese’ but socially nobody would think he’s Japanese LOL