Tuesday 20 July 2010

Don't buy the Daily Express if you're an 'ethnic'

Last week the Daily Express printed this headline below.

You may have missed it like I did. If you'd like the pleasure of reading their report you can have a look here.

I've read a few blogs about this story in the last few days. It seems the Express doesn't have much time for 'ethnics' like myself.

That's alright, I've never had much time for this nasty, pathetic, poor man's Daily Mail excuse for a paper!
If it wasn't bad enough that we've had to put up with their obsession for front page headlines about the late Princess Diana, middle class tax rises, and Madeleine McCann stories, they're now attacking ethnic minorities.

Last week the University of Leeds published a report predicting that by the year 2051, one-fifth of Britain's population will be from an ethnic minority.

Notice the word 'predicting' in the last sentence. When it comes to population forecasts these are extremely difficult predictions to get right. Nobody can be completely certain of these figures.

The Express doesn't appear to be bothered about that. Buy using the term 'ethnic' in such a disparaging way they clearly believe that people like myself are 'taking over' and that Britain's culture and identity will be lost forever.

Just to ram home their message further, they included in their story a picture of two Muslim women wearing the Burka. Could they have found a more extreme example of an 'alien culture' in which to strike extra fear into the minds of Middle England?

So why didn't they use a photo of a group of Australians to indicate this population growth? There's thousands of them in London, so it wouldn't have been difficult for them to find some.

If you read the article the Express tries to highlight how this report raises serious questions and fears on how Britain will cope with significant growth in population numbers in the next 30 - 40 years.

There's nothing wrong with looking at these issues, there are important questions to be asked. But this isn't really what the Express is looking at. It's purely a cheap dig at ethnic minorities.

I decided to have a look at the report for myself on the university website which you can read more about here.

The main population forecasts are as follows:

  • UK population could reach almost 78 million* (59 million in 2001)


  • White British, White Irish and Black Caribbean groups to experience slowest growth


  • Other White (Australia, US and Europe) and Mixed to experience the biggest growth


  • Ethnic minority share of the population to increase from 8% (2001) to around 20%


  • Ethnic minorities to shift from deprived local authorities to more affluent areas


  • Ethnic groups to be significantly less segregated from the rest of the population


  • When you look at the figures, what's interesting is that the group predicted to have the biggest population growth are white groups from Europe, America and Australasia. In fact almost half of all foreigners in this country are European, mainly from Eastern Europe.

    The Express doesn't mention this immediately. You have to read through the article to find that bit, and clearly this information doesn't have the same impact as the main headline that's first read.

    Unfortunately for the Express this growth in this white population group doesn't fit into the message that it wants to say to it's readers.

    It's typical tabloid journalism. Newspapers have very specific views on how they see the world, they will then take facts and figures and try and shoe horn and manipulate these facts to fit into their viewpoint.

    One point that interested me were the figures showing the trend of more ethnic minorities moving away from inner city areas and out into the suburbs will continue to grow.

    I've seen this first hand in my hometown of Birmingham, my family moved to the outskirts of Birmingham in the early 80s. When I return home I see much more Afro Caribbean and Indian families living the suburban life.

    You might think this would be a good thing, as more minority groups become more prosperous, and the country becomes less segregated as ethnic groups disperse throughout the country. But no, this isn't good for the Express.

    When you read between the lines of their report, you can't help but feel they're telling their readers that these 'ethnics' are spreading their wings too much.

    They don't even have the decency to remain in poor inner city ghettos like they used to, but are now moving out to the suburbs and the countryside! Oh dear.

    I'm not going to get too upset by this story, I've never had much time for the Express. It only serves the purpose of showing people some of the worst examples of tabloid journalism in this country.

    Whether you're from an ethnic minority or not I suggest you save your money and don't bother with this paper.

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