Historian says he wasn’t condemning black culture, adding that black educationalists defended his comments The historian David Starkey has defended comments he made last week on BBC’s Newsnight – when he appeared to blame the recent riots in English cities on a black “gangsta” culture – by claiming that “the subject of race has become unmentionable, by whites at any rate”. In an article in the Daily Telegraph , he describes the public reaction to his remarks as “hysterical”, and says that a breach in what he calls the taboo on discussing race is “punished by ostracism and worse … the witch finders already have their sights on me”. The article comes after a furore provoked by comments made by him during a discussion on BBC’s Newsnight, during which he said that “the whites have become black”. In his Telegraph article Starkey writes: “But how, then, to explain the black educationalists Tony Sewell and Katherine Birbalsingh defending the substance of my comments on ‘gangsta’ culture, as well as Tony Parsons, who wrote in the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror that, ‘without the gang culture of black London, none of the riots would have happened – including the riots in other cities like Manchester and Birmingham where most of rioters were white’.” Admitting that friends agreed his greatest error was mentioning the politician Enoch Powell , whose 1968 rivers of blood speech attacked immigration , Starkey added that part of the legacy of the reaction to Powell had been “an enforced silence on the matter of race”. Starkey defends comments he made on Newsnight that white “chavs” have “become black”, by arguing that discussion of the successes or failures of integration in Britain is central to any examination of the state of the nation today. Saying that he was misconstrued as condemning all black culture, the historian writes: “I was trying to point out the very different patterns of integration at the top and bottom of the social scale.” David Starkey Race issues UK riots London Daily Telegraph Equality National newspapers Newspapers Hannah Godfrey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Historian says he wasn’t condemning black culture, adding that black educationalists defended his comments The historian David Starkey has defended comments he made last week on BBC’s Newsnight – when he appeared to blame the recent riots in English cities on a black “gangsta” culture – by claiming that “the subject of race has become unmentionable, by whites at any rate”. In an article in the Daily Telegraph , he describes the public reaction to his remarks as “hysterical”, and says that a breach in what he calls the taboo on discussing race is “punished by ostracism and worse … the witch finders already have their sights on me”. The article comes after a furore provoked by comments made by him during a discussion on BBC’s Newsnight, during which he said that “the whites have become black”. In his Telegraph article Starkey writes: “But how, then, to explain the black educationalists Tony Sewell and Katherine Birbalsingh defending the substance of my comments on ‘gangsta’ culture, as well as Tony Parsons, who wrote in the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror that, ‘without the gang culture of black London, none of the riots would have happened – including the riots in other cities like Manchester and Birmingham where most of rioters were white’.” Admitting that friends agreed his greatest error was mentioning the politician Enoch Powell , whose 1968 rivers of blood speech attacked immigration , Starkey added that part of the legacy of the reaction to Powell had been “an enforced silence on the matter of race”. Starkey defends comments he made on Newsnight that white “chavs” have “become black”, by arguing that discussion of the successes or failures of integration in Britain is central to any examination of the state of the nation today. Saying that he was misconstrued as condemning all black culture, the historian writes: “I was trying to point out the very different patterns of integration at the top and bottom of the social scale.” David Starkey Race issues UK riots London Daily Telegraph Equality National newspapers Newspapers Hannah Godfrey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hey African-American men, does your afro make you feel … like a savage? Because Nivea for Men seems to be betting that it does. The company is under fire for a new ad bearing the slogan “Re-Civilize Yourself” over an image of a black man holding the head of his old,…
Continue reading …One Day , which tells the story of two almost-lovers over 20 years, should have worked. But despite great actors and bestselling source material, it definitely doesn’t: The film “seemed so promising given its pedigree,” which includes Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, and director Lone Scherfig, writes Betsy Sharkey in the Los…
Continue reading …At first, scientists were baffled by the orange goo that washed ashore in Alaska. Then they announced it was tiny eggs . Now they’re saying that’s wrong: It’s actually fungal spores, the Los Angeles Times reports. Microbiologists in South Carolina linked the material to the spores that turn plants orange with…
Continue reading …Another sign that rebels are tightening their grip on Moammar Gadhafi: An international agency says it plans to evacuate thousands of foreign workers from Tripoli, reports Reuters . The foreigners are mostly Egyptians who have no easy way out now that rebels have closed in on the capital and shut highways….
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Kazuma Obara became the first photojournalist to gain unauthorised access to the power plant Christine Oliver Mark Rice-Oxley
Continue reading …Kazuma Obara became the first photojournalist to gain unauthorised access to the power plant Christine Oliver Mark Rice-Oxley
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Communities secretary labels proposals for tax on expensive property – championed by Lib Dems – a ‘very big mistake’ Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, has highlighted a rift in the government’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition by describing proposals for a so-called “mansion tax” on expensive property as “a very big mistake”. He said that the idea, which is being actively championed by Liberal Democrats, would hit “many ordinary middle-class families” because of the high property prices in some areas of the country. “We as a government have got to understand middle-class families put a lot into this country and don’t take a lot out. It would be a very big mistake to start imposing taxation on the back of changes in property values, particularly with big regional variations,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “People will suddenly find themselves in a mansion and they hadn’t realised it was a mansion. If it is only going to be mansions, the kind of thing you and I would regard as a mansion, it ain’t going to raise very much.” Before the election the Lib Dems proposed a so-called “mansion tax” worth 1% on homes worth more than £2m. The proposal did not make it into the coalition agreement. But it has not been forgotten and in his speech to the Lib Dem conference last year, Vince Cable, the business secretary, said that, given the difficulty of raising taxes on income in a world of mobile labour, “a progressive alternative is to shift the tax base to property and land”. In his budget in March George Osborne, the chancellor, said the government would be be “redoubling our efforts to find ways of ensuring that owners of high-value property cannot avoid paying their fair share”. Conservative ministers played down the significance of this announcement, but Lib Dems have presented this as evidence that a “mansion tax” of some kind is still on the agenda. Some Tories are in favour too. In an article in the Guardian this week, Tim Montgomerie, editor of the ConservativeHome website, backed the proposal. Liberal-Conservative coalition Tax and spending Eric Pickles Liberal Democrats Tax Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Communities secretary labels proposals for tax on expensive property – championed by Lib Dems – a ‘very big mistake’ Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, has highlighted a rift in the government’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition by describing proposals for a so-called “mansion tax” on expensive property as “a very big mistake”. He said that the idea, which is being actively championed by Liberal Democrats, would hit “many ordinary middle-class families” because of the high property prices in some areas of the country. “We as a government have got to understand middle-class families put a lot into this country and don’t take a lot out. It would be a very big mistake to start imposing taxation on the back of changes in property values, particularly with big regional variations,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “People will suddenly find themselves in a mansion and they hadn’t realised it was a mansion. If it is only going to be mansions, the kind of thing you and I would regard as a mansion, it ain’t going to raise very much.” Before the election the Lib Dems proposed a so-called “mansion tax” worth 1% on homes worth more than £2m. The proposal did not make it into the coalition agreement. But it has not been forgotten and in his speech to the Lib Dem conference last year, Vince Cable, the business secretary, said that, given the difficulty of raising taxes on income in a world of mobile labour, “a progressive alternative is to shift the tax base to property and land”. In his budget in March George Osborne, the chancellor, said the government would be be “redoubling our efforts to find ways of ensuring that owners of high-value property cannot avoid paying their fair share”. Conservative ministers played down the significance of this announcement, but Lib Dems have presented this as evidence that a “mansion tax” of some kind is still on the agenda. Some Tories are in favour too. In an article in the Guardian this week, Tim Montgomerie, editor of the ConservativeHome website, backed the proposal. Liberal-Conservative coalition Tax and spending Eric Pickles Liberal Democrats Tax Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk
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