In defence of Oldham
30th September 2010
In response to Munira Mirza’s critique of multiculturalism (October), I’d like to point out that Oldham council has never banned the St George’s flag. Since the incorporation of the borough in 1974, the flag has flown from Oldham’s civic centre on St George’s Day, and there are various celebratory events of this day in several parts of the borough. During the World Cup, our website had the St George’s flag all over it. Nor are we in the habit of making “unnecessary” or “meddlesome” decisions.
Mirza quotes Ted Cantle, who coined the phrase “parallel lives” after the Oldham riots in 2001, as saying that white and Asian communities in Oldham still “live separate lives” today. Yet he went on to say that “few towns and cities have done as much as Oldham in seeking to build community cohesion… Oldham has every right to be proud of its record.”
Indeed, Oldham has embarked upon one of the most ambitious programmes to tackle segregation that Britain has ever seen: the relocation, rebuilding or merging of almost all secondary schools in the borough to create new, integrated ones. Focusing on this and similar stories would result in less strident, more nuanced journalism, admittedly, but it would be more interesting than this tired, pseudo-contrarian tale of “political correctness gone mad.”
Peter MurphyOldham council
Munira Mirza replies
Dear Peter
Contrary to your implication, there are no factual inaccuracies in my article. I reported conversations I have had with council staff and Oldham residents about a rumour that the English flag had been banned prior to 2007. I made clear in this, and previous articles, that the rumour may well have been untrue. The point of the example is to show that local people—both Asian and white—felt a ban was believable, reflecting their concern about political correctness in the town.
I don’t doubt that Oldham council has tried hard to build community cohesion; I stated in my piece that there are many well-intentioned people working in the town on this issue. My aim was to analyse a very complex situation across Britain, and the effectiveness of certain policies. I referred to the recent history of Oldham—the town where I grew up, where I still have family, and where I have conducted research. I accept that you may not agree with my analysis, but this does not mean I have false or “pseudo-contrarian” motives.
I sincerely wish you well with your plans for the Waterhead Academy and other regeneration programmes.
Munira MirzaCity Hall, London
Light can also be right26th September 2010
The special feature on multiculturalism (October) was thoughtful and challenging. Yet Munira Mirza introduces the contributors thus: “None of them is white and therefore cannot be easily dismissed as ignorant, naive, or unwittingly prejudiced.” Does this mean that a lighter skin tone implicitly denotes a degree of ignorance, naivety, or prejudice?
John BoyceEdinburgh
“No brain” Willetts10th October 2010
It was good to see David “two brains” Willetts (October) admit he was wrong. He has now “come to the view that what people have relative to others does matter.” But the degree of obtuseness required to argue, as Willetts did in 1986, that what people have relative to others doesn’t matter is staggering. There are not that many things in life that are blatantly obvious, but recognising man’s propensity to compare himself with his fellows is surely one that requires not two brains, or even one, but no brain at all.
Richard MeierLondon N8
Getting Colombia wrong16th September 2010
Tom Streithorst’s portrayal of Colombia as the “one success story of the war on terror” (September) is absurd when civilians are still murdered on a massive scale all over the country. It is the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade union member (nearly 3,000 assassinated, with the numbers going up each year); a human rights defender; student leader; community activist; and one of the most dangerous for journalists. The UN high commissioner for human rights recently accused the Colombian army of a “systematic and widespread” campaign of murder against innocent civilians, on a scale that constituted a “crime against humanity.”
Streithorst fails to mention the former President Uribe’s well-documented links to drug traffickers and paramilitary death squads. Forced displacement, extrajudicial executions and the paramilitary infiltration of the state all multiplied under Uribe—and the country remains the world’s number one cocaine producer.
Having recently met with many of the victims of Uribe’s regime, we agree with Streithorst’s proposal that “those hoping to pacify Afghanistan could do worse than study Colombia”—Colombia being a very good example of what not to do.
Madeleine Moon MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Eric Joyce MP and Jim Sheridan MP
The sound of a doodlebug23rd September 2010
David Edmonds (October) writes of the V1 flying bomb, nicknamed the doodlebug: “it buzzed like a deranged bee.” Well, not the ones that flew over or fell near us. They sounded more like a small motorcycle. “Deranged” they were not; they flew very steadily until the noise ceased, whereupon they quickly fell to the ground.
It did not occur to me that the name “doodlebug” was childlike; it seemed strangely accurate. They were bearable. You could hear them coming, watch where they were heading and sometimes observe their fall. The real frighteners were the V2s. With them, there was no warning whatsoever. I was only ten at the time, but I distinctly remember trying to imagine what it would be like to be alive one minute and blown to bits the next. Fortunately, I never had to find out.
Ian SheppardStockton-on-Tees
Glenn Beck’s no Christian5th October 2010
It is a mistake to identify Fox News pundit Glenn Beck (Diary, October) with a “strongly influenced Christian agenda.” Beck is a Mormon: his religion denies the basic Christian doctrines of the trinity and the Bible, and instead believes that a man called Joseph Smith came across a book given to him by the angel Moroni, written in an unknown language called ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which he was able to read because he was given a special pair of magic spectacles. And lo, it was discovered that Jesus Christ visited America!
Mormonism is a “made in America” religion—a weird mix of Biblical texts, the occult and American folk mythology. As such, it is probably ideally suited to the more eccentric forms of right-wing Americana, but please do not taint Christianity with its tarred brush.
David A RobertsonSolas Centre for Public Christianity
University challenge8th October 2010
Jean Seaton and Chris Goodall’s items on universities (October) are curious for their neglect of the sciences, and their enthusiastic support for subjects that furnish the preoccupations of chatterers. Seaton claims that Sheffield University was almost miraculously invigorated by research grants to its humanities departments—the same university that has been ranked tenth in Britain and is one of the Russell Group’s 20 leading universities with strong research records.
There is a strong correlation between the flourishing of science and the flourishing of society—and no amount of chatter can compensate for their decline.
JB DeregowskiUniversity of Aberdeen
In response to Munira Mirza’s critique of multiculturalism (October), I’d like to point out that Oldham council has never banned the St George’s flag. Since the incorporation of the borough in 1974, the flag has flown from Oldham’s civic centre on St George’s Day, and there are various celebratory events of this day in several parts of the borough. During the World Cup, our website had the St George’s flag all over it. Nor are we in the habit of making “unnecessary” or “meddlesome” decisions.
Mirza quotes Ted Cantle, who coined the phrase “parallel lives” after the Oldham riots in 2001, as saying that white and Asian communities in Oldham still “live separate lives” today. Yet he went on to say that “few towns and cities have done as much as Oldham in seeking to build community cohesion… Oldham has every right to be proud of its record.”
Indeed, Oldham has embarked upon one of the most ambitious programmes to tackle segregation that Britain has ever seen: the relocation, rebuilding or merging of almost all secondary schools in the borough to create new, integrated ones. Focusing on this and similar stories would result in less strident, more nuanced journalism, admittedly, but it would be more interesting than this tired, pseudo-contrarian tale of “political correctness gone mad.”
Peter MurphyOldham council
Munira Mirza replies
Dear Peter
Contrary to your implication, there are no factual inaccuracies in my article. I reported conversations I have had with council staff and Oldham residents about a rumour that the English flag had been banned prior to 2007. I made clear in this, and previous articles, that the rumour may well have been untrue. The point of the example is to show that local people—both Asian and white—felt a ban was believable, reflecting their concern about political correctness in the town.
I don’t doubt that Oldham council has tried hard to build community cohesion; I stated in my piece that there are many well-intentioned people working in the town on this issue. My aim was to analyse a very complex situation across Britain, and the effectiveness of certain policies. I referred to the recent history of Oldham—the town where I grew up, where I still have family, and where I have conducted research. I accept that you may not agree with my analysis, but this does not mean I have false or “pseudo-contrarian” motives.
I sincerely wish you well with your plans for the Waterhead Academy and other regeneration programmes.
Munira MirzaCity Hall, London
Light can also be right26th September 2010
The special feature on multiculturalism (October) was thoughtful and challenging. Yet Munira Mirza introduces the contributors thus: “None of them is white and therefore cannot be easily dismissed as ignorant, naive, or unwittingly prejudiced.” Does this mean that a lighter skin tone implicitly denotes a degree of ignorance, naivety, or prejudice?
John BoyceEdinburgh
“No brain” Willetts10th October 2010
It was good to see David “two brains” Willetts (October) admit he was wrong. He has now “come to the view that what people have relative to others does matter.” But the degree of obtuseness required to argue, as Willetts did in 1986, that what people have relative to others doesn’t matter is staggering. There are not that many things in life that are blatantly obvious, but recognising man’s propensity to compare himself with his fellows is surely one that requires not two brains, or even one, but no brain at all.
Richard MeierLondon N8
Getting Colombia wrong16th September 2010
Tom Streithorst’s portrayal of Colombia as the “one success story of the war on terror” (September) is absurd when civilians are still murdered on a massive scale all over the country. It is the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade union member (nearly 3,000 assassinated, with the numbers going up each year); a human rights defender; student leader; community activist; and one of the most dangerous for journalists. The UN high commissioner for human rights recently accused the Colombian army of a “systematic and widespread” campaign of murder against innocent civilians, on a scale that constituted a “crime against humanity.”
Streithorst fails to mention the former President Uribe’s well-documented links to drug traffickers and paramilitary death squads. Forced displacement, extrajudicial executions and the paramilitary infiltration of the state all multiplied under Uribe—and the country remains the world’s number one cocaine producer.
Having recently met with many of the victims of Uribe’s regime, we agree with Streithorst’s proposal that “those hoping to pacify Afghanistan could do worse than study Colombia”—Colombia being a very good example of what not to do.
Madeleine Moon MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Eric Joyce MP and Jim Sheridan MP
The sound of a doodlebug23rd September 2010
David Edmonds (October) writes of the V1 flying bomb, nicknamed the doodlebug: “it buzzed like a deranged bee.” Well, not the ones that flew over or fell near us. They sounded more like a small motorcycle. “Deranged” they were not; they flew very steadily until the noise ceased, whereupon they quickly fell to the ground.
It did not occur to me that the name “doodlebug” was childlike; it seemed strangely accurate. They were bearable. You could hear them coming, watch where they were heading and sometimes observe their fall. The real frighteners were the V2s. With them, there was no warning whatsoever. I was only ten at the time, but I distinctly remember trying to imagine what it would be like to be alive one minute and blown to bits the next. Fortunately, I never had to find out.
Ian SheppardStockton-on-Tees
Glenn Beck’s no Christian5th October 2010
It is a mistake to identify Fox News pundit Glenn Beck (Diary, October) with a “strongly influenced Christian agenda.” Beck is a Mormon: his religion denies the basic Christian doctrines of the trinity and the Bible, and instead believes that a man called Joseph Smith came across a book given to him by the angel Moroni, written in an unknown language called ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which he was able to read because he was given a special pair of magic spectacles. And lo, it was discovered that Jesus Christ visited America!
Mormonism is a “made in America” religion—a weird mix of Biblical texts, the occult and American folk mythology. As such, it is probably ideally suited to the more eccentric forms of right-wing Americana, but please do not taint Christianity with its tarred brush.
David A RobertsonSolas Centre for Public Christianity
University challenge8th October 2010
Jean Seaton and Chris Goodall’s items on universities (October) are curious for their neglect of the sciences, and their enthusiastic support for subjects that furnish the preoccupations of chatterers. Seaton claims that Sheffield University was almost miraculously invigorated by research grants to its humanities departments—the same university that has been ranked tenth in Britain and is one of the Russell Group’s 20 leading universities with strong research records.
There is a strong correlation between the flourishing of science and the flourishing of society—and no amount of chatter can compensate for their decline.
JB DeregowskiUniversity of Aberdeen
