I'm fully aware that when I said Asian, I'm being very broad in using the term as it could mean anybody from a Thai person to an Afghan, and of course religion has nothing to do with Race, unless you make it related.'Divide, Rule, Conquer' - the Tories tried this in the Mayoral election and it failed dismally. London elected a Muslim, son of a Pakistani bus-driver. I don't think his religion mattered to the vast majority of people voting. I would hope that the rest of the country is sufficiently enlightened that they are capable of seeing beyond someone's religion and voting for who they believe in. Priti Patel (I am guessing she is of Indian descent and therefore probably Hindu rather than Muslim) was elected in a very white constituency. Its a real shame that so much debate in Britain is reduced to people's race or EU immigration.
As a general point we seem to use 'Asians' as a very generic term. In my area of north London there are hundreds of thousands of 'Asians' that are well-off, live in good housing, are integrated into UK culture but retain their own identity, they speak perfect English as well as whatever their own language is. They, however, are of Indian descent and have been in the UK longer and have had time to become educated and allowed to prosper here. Likewise in parts of NW London (say Kingsbury or Wembley) or the whole borough of Brent there are larger more established Asian muslim communities and they also thrive. There's another large muslim community in London that also integrates but retains its own identity, as per wiki there are 350,000 Turks in London. Its too simplistic to talk about 'Asians' or 'muslims'.
It seems to me that the better educated immigrants are, the more opportunities they have to work and earn money, the more likely they are to become integrated. Migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Africa are more likely to come from a poor and backward community. People from East London have always moved outwards when they have had the opportunity, the gaps are bound to be filled with recent migrants to the city, and always have done.
End of the day we're all immigrants and times change. Everything changes.
Example being the old timer blokes from the east end making comments about Pubs closing down and how Muslims don't drink...
Well for a start he hasn't been on a piss up then with some Muslim lads I know, they can drink... And many of my white friends who I grew up with hate going in pubs, their parents went in pubs so they hung around at skate parks smoking weed.[/QUOTE]
Nuance? Careful - you'll baffle the likes of Worsley with nuance. They think it's another word for paedophile.
The right-wing NEEDS to have everything explained to them in black and white. They just don't understand shades of grey.
He'll probably bring you up on smoking weed, as he won't be able to attack your argument otherwise.
EDIT
Oh, he did. What a surprise.