Having declared himself a “One Nation” politician at his party conference last Autumn, Ed Miliband was bound to have to say in his speech today how he would promote integration, and common citizenship in a diverse society.
Jessica Ennis has been the face of Britain in 2012. She could stake a fair claim to be “the face of […]
I’m a white girl from an academic middle-class Russian family and he is a black French man, born in France to Senegalese immigrants. When I told my mother my boyfriend was black, the first thing she said was: “Will you be able to put up with what the world will think of it?” “It is a different world,” I replied. So far, I have been (almost) right, writes Liza Bel, a radio journalist who now lives in London with her boyfriend.
The 2011 Census results show that those of mixed ethnicity are among the fastest-growing groups in the population. But how will this change the way we think and talk about race in Britain?
Bristol University’s Professor Tariq Modood, Runnymede Trust’s Omar Khan, and writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik offered their answers to this question.
When the parents of Olympic champion Jessica Ennis, who are from Jamaica and Derbyshire, met in Sheffield in the 1980s, a majority of the public opposed to mixed race relationships. This is no longer the case, shows the new report from British Future The Melting Pot Generation: How Britain became more relaxed about race.
Twenty years ago Time magazine put a composite photograph on its front cover. It was generated by an IBM 486 computer and fused together the phenotypical features of the world’s six main racial groups. The face that emerged was that of a woman with a striking, yet blended, appearance. The purpose was to sneak preview a mid-twentieth century future in which growing global migration and cross marriage would produce Global Woman, writes professor of political science at the University of Sussex Shamit Saggar.
As a senior leader in a secondary school I have become used to schools and the education of our young people being used as a political football, as part of a tiresome debate about standards, that rarely acknowledges the tremendous work of most teachers and young people, writes Jonny Uttley, Head of South Hunsley School in Yorkshire.
How does class affect British identity? What do the Conservatives have to say about immigration now? And how can ethnic minorities feel like real citizens when their parliament and judiciary aren’t representative? These were some of the questions put to the panel at British Future and Bright Blue event The New Patriotism: Beyond the Spirit of 2012.
Where have the events of 2012 left British patriotism? British Future and thinktank Bright Blue held an event talking about whether the Olympics, Paralympics and the Jubilee have left us with a strong new sense of national pride, or whether the hype of 2012 was just that, and we’re still just a country unable to deal with its history.
British Future reports examine public attitudes and make recommendations for change on topics ranging from future immigration and integration policy to how communications can help combat prejudice."
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