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The sooner Jane Kelley clears off, the better.Found this on the webTuesday, 29 January 2013Reluctant Racists – Or Maybe NotThe appearance in the Maily Telegraph of an article under the by-line of Jane Kelly, titled “I feel like a stranger where I live” – fortunately without the intervention of the comments sewer – brings a predictably Islamophobic tone to proceedings, as she tells how Acton Vale has changed “almost overnight” into “Acton Veil”. The Tel loves this kind of thing. But then you get to the end of the piece.And here, readers are informed that Ms Kelly “is consulting editor of the ‘Salisbury Review’”. Anyone not hearing alarm bells ringing long and loud may not have made the connection. I will explain. The Salisbury Review was founded in 1982 under the editorship of Roger Scruton, and promoted as a journal of “traditional Conservatism” of the small state variety.However, the Review also espoused the concept of voluntary repatriation for those it labelled immigrants (for which read those from the Indian sub-continent and Afro-Caribbeans). But very few people read it, at least for the first two years. Then an article on race and education by headmaster Ray Honeyford was reproduced – not by accident – in the rabidly Conservative Yorkshire Post.The Honeyford Affair looked set to initially damage, but then made the career of, up and coming West Yorkshire politician Eric Pickles, whose later tenure as leader of Bradford Council achieved such popularity that he later became MP for a constituency A Very Long Way Away. When Honeyford died last year, the Telegraph willingly reproduced his Review piece.Put directly, the Telegraph’s staff know what the Salisbury Review is about. When they get its “consulting editor” to pen an article about what it’s like to live in an area of west London where there is a significant Muslim population, they are sure enough about the result that they disallow comments on it. They cannot be surprised when Ms Kelly asserts “mass immigration is making reluctant racists of us all”.Nor can they be surprised at some of the characterisations used: her part of Acton “has been transformed into a giant transit camp and is home to no one”. She says there are “other Europeans in my area who may share my feelings but I’m not able to talk to them easily about this situation as they are mostly immigrants, too”. And she’s read all about what happens with Muslims patrolling Tower Hamlets.She whines that “most of the tills in my local shops are manned by young Muslim men who mutter into their mobiles as they are serving”. Yes, they’re bloody busy having to do several things at once. Welcome to the world of the overworked small businessman. The Telegraph ought to be ashamed of publishing this drivel, yet it went ahead, knowing exactly what its source would write.Not that the Tel is racist, you understand. The thought never entered their heads.

Nicola Howard ● 4977d

Also found this.I am living in a place where I am a stranger', claims 'reluctant racist' at TorygraphDateTuesday, January 29, 2013"The streets around Acton, which has been my home since 1996, have taken on a new identity. Most of the shops are now owned by Muslims and even the fish and chip shop and Indian takeaway are Halal. It seems that almost overnight it's changed from Acton Vale into Acton Veil."Over at the Telegraph, Jane Kelly protests against the Islamification of west London. At least she doesn't bother trotting out the usual excuse that her dislike of Muslims is based solely on cultural differences and has nothing to do with race. She writes that "many white people in London and the Home Counties now move house on the basis of ethnicity" and justifies this on the grounds that "mass immigration is making reluctant racists of us all".Kelly is consulting editor at the Salisbury Review, a publication that achieved notoriety back in 1984 when it published an article by Bradford headteacher Ray Honeyford entitled "Education and Race – an Alternative View" which featured a range of offensive racist stereotypes.Describing a meeting with Bradford Asian parents to discuss education policy, Honeyford wrote: "The hysterical political temperament of the Indian sub-continent became evident – an extraordinary sight in an English School Hall.... A half-educated and volatile Sikh usurped the privileges of the chair by deciding who was to speak."Which only goes to show how little things have changed on the Conservative right over the past three decades.The Telegraph presents Kelly's op ed as "a provocative personal piece". I suppose that's one way of describing an article expressing bigotry towards an entire ethno-religious community. Perhaps the Telegraph might consider following it up with another "provocative personal piece" complaining that Golders Green or Stoke Newington have been taken over by Jews, and see how that goes down.

Nicola Howard ● 4977d

My guess as to the reason why Jane's article does not cite other nationalities as being a problem is, IMO, mainly because those other nationalities do not pose a threat or risk to the English way of life in the way Muslims do.It is Muslims themselves who have created this situation by refusing to assimilate into the country in which they voluntarily came to and importantly, adopting the culture of England as their own.It is highly offensive for any person to reject a host's welcoming and benevolent hand of immigration by not learning the language of the host country & using it in public, learning its customs, its traditions, its clothes, its notions about acceptable behavior, its laws & rules and especially, attitudes towards women as well as general conduct and "ways of being" (when in Rome...).Those who refuse to adopt this country's long standing customs, culture, beliefs and attitudes, are simply a threat to those same things and to the indigenous people of the host country. Those who think otherwise are deluded as the evidence is all around us, if you choose to see it.We have got it so wrong in England and in western Europe and those immigrants who have intentionally altered the fabric of the host countries of Europe simply see the friendly hand of unconditional immigration as a sign of weakness and a hand to be exploited & punished. Unlike their grateful predecessors, many Muslim people simply do not have *any* intention of ever being a part of the English way of life, the one that most western white people knew up until the 70's. This is because they despise The west & England (in this case)t, they see it as inferior to their culture and their so-called religion, they hate white people and they seek to destroy us, principally by a million very slow cuts. These people simply want to import and carry on with their own life/world in another country that they see as easy, weak and can't help them enough.That will not do and it will backfire on England & Europe sooner or later in civil unrest and civil war.I say all these things as an immigrant/foreigner myself, one who has witnessed the slow corrosive effect of unregulated and unconditional non-white skinned immigration of people's who have no historic presence in this part of the world.I also belief that any culture, be it Mulsims, Polish, Syrian, Tunisian, German or any other people, **cannot** supersede that of the host country's culture in the day to day practices, habits and language of those who immigrate to the host country, without a price.The price is that there is massive segregation of peoples, the way they live, with towns within towns, cities within cities, cultures within cultures, no go towns/districts and neighborhoods for white people, and a confused can of worms of laws, attitudes and what is right and wrong.Just look out of your window to see today.But as you all know, the same accommodations do not work in the opposite direction.Just try and go against the customs and culture of a Muslim country and see what happens to you. Yes go on, go there and setup a western home, demand your language is translated into theirs and that you are given all kinds of assistance to accommodate your language, your culture and your beliefs/attitudes. Demand Fish & Chips shops, M&S food stores, pubs, English language TV & newspapers, churches and all the myriad of the old English of everyday life, into that country. Just see what happens to you.You will most likely be dead within a week.You would be dead because everyone would consider your demands and attitudes to be offensive & threatening and they won't stand for it, as they should not. But as we have done for over 40 years, and its no longer a joke.The evidence for Ms Kelly's feelings are to see seen everywhere in Acton. Just look at the various "grocery" stores along Acton high street and how they are kept by their operators - mostly, they are unkempt, shabby, disheveled, dirty, unsanitary, with poor standards of hygiene and food care practiced by the staff and owners, in addition to a general sense of rough "street market" scummyness that is **not** the way of English people's standards that I knew growing up and have expected until recently.The customs, attitudes and habits towards food and customers of non-white people do vary considerably and they are there for all to see, every day, in Acton high street.This country is no longer England and what England is all about - it is a ragbag, a dustbin, a myriad of competing & incompatible non-European cultures, with only the Poles keeping the onslaught of scummyness from enveloping us all into a forced way of living. Many will not stand for it much more.There will be civil war within the next 25 years because the toxic triangle of the failed experiment of multiculturalism, defective ideas about tolerance & help (PC) and unregulated immigration threatens our lives and our way of life.And for the person who said we didn't have riots in Acton must have been living in a cave during August 2011 as we had rioters streaming down Uxbridge Road in W3 and our home was attacked.

P Aaron ● 4976d

Ed Nolan is mistakenly lumping all kinds of unconnected things under the banner of "tolerance".What he and others haven't understood is that this very word and the associated language, which was hitherto not used much in social contexts, has been hijacked by the liberal & PC crowd and forced into the public space and into everyone's minds and mouths and mostly, it only ever means one thing - generally, anyone with a non-white skin must be accommodated, assisted, given preferential treatment and most importantly, excused of all kinds of behavior, actions, attitudes, customs and other things that white people would not be excused from.So riddled are we with the PC language and so much have so many people been persuaded (largely because the identity of England is missing) that accommodating far off foreign cultures and the behaviors & attitudes of those people into our own is a good thing - ***it is not***.Islam, a fascist doctrine masquerading as a religion, & the people from Islamic countries who adhere to that doctrine for example, are not compatible with Christianity or even non-religious English or western traditions/values/way of life, or western ideas about life, women & those people who are not Muslims.Recent history is littered with countless cases of how this is true, yet we are so infested with an inculcated sense of "we must be tolerant to all" that many just don't see it.Where is the tolerance from those who choose to immigrate to the UK, towards the host country's laws, rules, culture and way of life? Answer: there is none because those immigrants do not see it as something they must do. And host countries like England don't make it a rule of immigration that they do or place any other conditions on immigration, such as learning the language and properly so.The sooner we stop pussyfooting around the subject and facing the brutal truth, the sooner we can rid ourselves of the infestations of destructive forces, as many millions have witnessed over the past 40 years.Another writer talks about extreme people being used to point to examples, but where are the moderate Muslims speaking out against the rude and offensive behavior of those who do not assimilate and keep to their veiled lives and segregation, not to mention those Muslims who attack non-Muslim people in the street because they do not approve of their behavior, which is not in a Muslim way?Like the story of the frog that was boiled alive in a saucepan of cold water, by the act of slowly increasing the heat so that the fog doesn't ever detect the temperature change, England and everything that is part of it is slowly being destroyed, but we are not aware of it.WAKE UP PEOPLE!!

P Aaron ● 4976d

I don't agree with the sentiment of the article but there are few things that are factual and do resonate for me.  It's quite noticeable in some parts of Acton, Greenford, West Ealing and Hanwell that some locals no longer make eye contact, speak English or maintain premises that have the *main* signage in English (with secondary signage in anything else). The latter 3 points aren't just confirmed to practising Muslims though - there are plenty of Polish shops where you won't find anything written in English and that's not ok either. I do think that to aide social cohesion it's absolutely ok to expect that the main sign of a shop should be in English, internal signs should be in English and staff be able to speak to English speaking customers. On a related theme, I also think that the prominent use of Halal signs that are only written in arabic or use the halal symbol is unhelpful - people should be given a choice whether to eat halal food or not and the same is true in many other shops and restaurants  outside of Acton and Ealing where the routine use of meat from non humanely slaughtered sources is not mentioned (Harvester, Fullers pubs, KFC, Subway and even Waitrose are all in good company on this one). On this point it's pretty clear to me that many people don't know what halal is, and when told would rather not eat it - more importantly this is an extremely important consideration for people whose religion requires them not to eat foods blessed for another another religion e.g. Sikhs. We should at least be given the choice - just as people who avoid beef and pork on religious grounds are also given a clear choice.I personally have also noticed that it's quite strange walking along pavements where people go to noticeable lengths not to make eye contact and do feel quite upset that it's increasingly common not to be even able to see women's faces. Whether this is by choice or not is actually of no interest to me - it's the fact that this is a barrier to recognising ones neighbours and building relationships with them - I would feel the same way if all my neighbours wore motorbike crash helmets.So whilst the article doesn't represent Acton for me it does highlight a few things that I do agree with and recognise are worthy of further discussion.

mike steer ● 4976d

I've lived in Acton 40 out of my 42 years.  I've been to school here, and my daughter now goes to the same school.  I find the level of anti-immigrants on the forum absolutely disgusting.  Acton, I grant you has a very underwhelming High Street, where you mostly have, betting shops, pawn shops and takeaway shops, but you also have an oasis of shops ranging from the Middle-East to Eastern Europe - where you can buy the most delicious food. Yes, the population has changed, when I was 5 and started school, there were mostly kids from England, but also kids from families from China, India, Bangladesh, The Caribbean, Africa, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, France, Ireland, The Seychelles, Wales, Scotland and Poland.  My closest friend growing up was a different colour to me, and it didn't occur to me that we had any differences.  Now, as my daughter grows up in Acton, her life is filled with much more interesting things than I had as a child.  Long gone are the Nazi/Fascist slogans that used be painted on the sides of houses (Derwentwater Road - had the most obscene one), and the fact you couldn't buy any exotic food (pineapple especially).  People talked to each other,  I still see the some parents of my school friends, and I really like that they are still about.  Foreigners had it tough then (the sound of Paki/Nigg-- thankfully long gone).  Hard working people who set up corner shops, working all hours to give their children a better life than they got.  And now, the new people (English and Foreign) here are desperately trying to do the same - just because they might not speak English does not make them any less a member of society.  Personally I find a some of the Polish community very racist, but more from ignorance than blind hate. Those from the Somali community I have come into contact with are delightful. The press makes out that foreigners are on scrounge. Get off your bottom and go and meet your neighbour or visit the mosque, you'll be surprised what community minded people they are. We are Actonians - no matter where we originate from and if all you do is hate that leave Acton and move to Chiswick, then you'll really think Acton is a much more open, friendlier place!

Jo Poole ● 4972d

Reich Chancellory, Berlin November 28, 1941 meeting of German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseiniin the Presence of the Reich Foreign Minister and Minister GrobbaThe Grand Mufti began by thanking the Fuhrer for the great honor he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuhrer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks of the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches. The Arab countries were firmly convinced that Germany would win the war and that the Arab cause would then prosper. The Arabs were Germany's natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely the English, the Jews, and the Communists. Therefore they were prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts and stood ready to participate in the war, not only negatively by the commission of acts of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of an Arab Legion. The Arabs could be more useful to Germany as allies than might be apparent at first glance, both for geographical reasons and because of the suffering inflicted upon them by the English and the Jews. Furthermore, they had had close relations with all Moslem nations, of which they could make use in behalf of the common cause. The Arab Legion would be quite easy to raise. An appeal by the Mufti to the Arab countries and the prisoners of Arab, Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan nationality in Germany would produce a great number of volunteers eager to fight. Of Germany's victory the Arab world was firmly convinced, not only because the Reich possessed a large army, brave soldiers, and military leaders of genius, but also because the Almighty could never award the victory to an unjust cause.

Nicola Howard ● 4970d

Sarah you’re absolutely right about white flight into Acton.  It’s quite logical if you think about it.  House prices in neighbouring mainly white Chiswick W4 are reaching such stratospheric levels now that would-be buyers are being forced to look at other neighbourhoods that they might not otherwise have considered.  And that’s when Acton comes into play.  Anyway, White flight as we traditionally know it has been going on for years ; there was certainly a White Flight from Notting Hill in the ‘50s, when it was a poor and mainly black Caribbean neighbourhood.  Today you can’t buy a box room there for under £1million.  The things that are happening right now in Acton – e.g. good quality eating places like Creperies opening up, an art gallery set up in the High Street, the regeneration of South Acton, house prices reaching all-time highs, point to a neighbourhood on the rise. OK, there’s still loads to be done ; as Jo says, the High Street is underwhelming and needs some sensitive development.  The only people who’ve ever made me feel uncomfortable about living in my very multi-ethnic (mainly Ugandan Asian, Polish, Sri Lankan, Jewish and Sikh) neighbourhood of Kenton, only 7 miles and one borough away from Acton, are fellow white Anglo-Saxon British C of E people who try to make me feel guilty about living there ; they think I should move out, that I’m almost “fraternising with the enemy” by remaining there.  But they’ve been doing that since 1989 when I first moved there.  Don’t old dogmas die a hard death?  I came here then, and remain here now, for good transport links and decent open spaces, features which Kenton shares in large measure with Acton.  They more than compensate for any perceived disadvantage of being in a minority, demographically speaking.  Not that that’s a problem for me.

David Lawes ● 4970d