The communities secretary (wtf?) in Britain is concerned that "Many white working-class people across the country feel their concerns about the impact of immigration are being ignored." Blears was responding to, "A report for the Department for Communities and Local Government based on interviews with people living on estates in Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Thetford, Runcorn and Widnes, found that some people believed that the same rules were not applied to everyone equally."
The report and its publicity by Blears are wholly cynical in nature. (People on the left are often criticised for being cynical. We are not. If anything we are starry eyed idealists - at least in comparison to stuff like this). It has all been designed to show the government is in touch with its roots (it isn't and this exercise merely illustrates the gulf of incomprehension and mutual distrust between the two) , without causing too much of a scandal like the last time Blears blundered into this area, and to try to shore up both the right flank of the Labour Party and the Mail reading middle Englanders at the core of the party's now disintegrating electoral coalition.
The story's cynicism stems in part from the report's superficial nature, its wholly unscientific methodology and from the nature of the issue the report focuses on. The government, or at least Blear's department wanted to highlight immigration and send out the message that "something will be done" and "the government will get tough" on this in order to appease its coalition and media chums. To do this is narrowed the subject down to immigration and sent its little psychological bean counters to set up focus groups and write the questions in order to get the results it wanted.
A hey presto in one fail swoop, Blears can at once say "Look we're onto the problem of immigration we're on your [the white working classes] side." whilst with an almost imperceptible nod to the liberal decents, that says "Look at these working class types and their racist whinging! Imagine them having anything to do with politics?" as a way of reassuring its middle class voters that all the 'return' to' socialism' in the last few months are just temporary tactical measures that will bring about normal service soon and are not going to go any further. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown bought this line and spews for a rancid rant that blames the working class for all manner of ills, the main one being that the white working class is racist - all of her claims being totally unjustified.
If the 'study' had focused on pay differentials, child-care, the NHS or a host of other far more important issues than immigration, then the report might have had some validity. My point being, immigration is not the problem - inequality is. But these are real class issues and, well, fuck off would say the government.
Brown's piece, though, picks up just where Blears wanted it to. The assault on the working class has intensified of late - the depression is having serious economic consequences on working class communities and, on the ideological sense, the state will try everything it can to distract, disparage and divide people whether they are white, black or other.
In truth, the working class has no colour and belongs to no mainstream party.
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