When you hear musicians talking about their country of origins with impoliteness about its cultural make-up you have to consider that something is not quite right.

Either the person in question has been misquoted or has a misunderstanding of what the make-up and heritage situation / circumstances of the United Kingdom is today.

Times change, migrants become part of a culture and therefore, what is deemed to be British changes.
The UK has one of the highest number of curry houses outside of India.
At our nearest supermarket I can buy a variety of foods, from Polish Bread to Mexican tortilla wraps and also a packet of Bombay mix.

The recent outburst from a musician about his view of the UK cultural situation is not new.  It does however suggest a mockery of what these people attempt to believe in. It has sparked a debate about immigration, e.g.: The Tory’s have expressed a desire to impose quotas.

A quick history lesson.
During the very early settlement of the British East India Company employees in India, there was a acceptance of the Indian lifestyle.
Over time this situation reversed and a segregated attitude prevailed. Although the British left some infrastructure, e.g.: Buildings, bridges and railways, they did not attempt to understand or appreciate the richness of the culture. An apartied society resulted. A fascinating book and movie is The Far Pavilions. The movie depicts a superiority complex within the British institution of the time.

Today the UK has a wide variety of settlers, travelers, workers and they bring with them the desire to enrich the country they now adopt as their home - investing in housing, savings and both public and private employment. The settlers contribute heavily to the economy. In the case of migrant workers, they may enrich the UK and at the same time the UK is assisting them in building their own European countries in return.

Maybe there is something else going on? A sense of scare mongering. A suggestion that to ‘rock the boat’ is healthy rather than considering the optimistic perspective of communities living together and respecting each others customs.
NB There is a separate argument about the combination of ‘white flight’ and repeated poor investment in selective areas.

So what if you, ‘cannot hear a British accent’ on the streets of London. We live in a world where we need to enjoy the cultural mix.

In addition, we have too many issues to resolve, hunger, poverty and global warming. At a time like this we need to unite around common causes, for example: to harmonise the world from a trading perspective or missing children at home.

I have always considered that there is a hidden in danger in flying the flag to the extreme.

It is interesting that the musician that made the derogatory comments about the UK’s current cultural mix is no longer a British resident.
Singing songs of peace and hope is better than apparent discourses of negativity.

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I guess if you are in any country, you may start to become categorised. That is a different debate.
Does categorisation only occur if you are not descended from numerous generations?

Already in the UK we have 3rd and 4th generation descendants from migrants that came, for example from India back in the 1950s. Many in the UK from the old British colonies.

I’m a second generation and I found the following video interesting. The video charts the progress of the only Sikh journalist/presenter in the UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE7xf89NuJE&NR=1

It raises some core points about today’s society, whatever country you may be in:

1. The factors associated with need for respect for each other.
2. The urgent need for role models and
3. The good thing that ITV has done by respecting diversity into their teams. NB Watch out for the fascinating comment in the final few seconds of the video where the gentleman is described as the fashion king of their office!
4. The misunderstanding about each other.

With regard to the latter the UK GCSE syllabus (15-16 year national qualification) in Religious studies suggests that students select a number of world religions and to study them in depth. Discussion questions range from views/approaches to environmentalism and also core beliefs.

This is great for up and coming generations as long as they practice what they preach. However, if society continues to use categories then the natural human reaction is to compartmentalise.
I personally am uncomfortable with the term British Asian. Jews do not call themselves British Israelites or Israelis..!

Disturbingly, Wikipedia defines British Asians as follows,

‘The term British Asian is used to denote a person of Southern Asian ancestry or origin, or sometimes Western Asian origin, who was born in or was an immigrant to the United Kingdom. Britain has a large Southern Asian population due to British India once being the most populous portion of the former British Empire.

The question is also not about acceptance or what is acceptable to call someone. People should be respected for their ability and we hope that each of us accepts each other as equal.

The segmentation definition shown above is confusing and misleading.

If the UK government are worried about integrating communities. Instead of celebrating a day for British ness, whatever that is, the first place to start would be to celebrate our collective heritage. Sure, in many situations this will reveal issues about the way the British Empire abused the people of its past colonies. NB The positive outcome of this activity would be assure ourselves about what part each of our ancestors played in developing the world today.

Our links to our heritage are what made us and this world today. Freedom came at a price. We do not need divisional tactics anymore.
Unfortunately, it is a control strategy and in many boardroom’s today it is still ‘in play’. Ever heard of the term, ‘glass ceiling’!?

By being more aware of this subtle strategy we can lobby for a reduction in these misleading definitions. Can someone please amend/moderate that wikipedia entry as a starter…

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