Channel 4: What British Muslims Really Think

How Rise of 'White Flight' Is Creating a Segregated UK: Study Reveals White Britons Are 'Retreating' from Areas Dominated by Ethnic Minorities

MAIL ONLINE: Census figures show white Britons are leaving areas where they are minority / Think-tank says survey reveals 'spiral of white British demographic decline' / Ex-Human Rights Commission chair says findings should make us 'anxious' / Nearly half of ethnic minorities live where whites make up less than 50% / Just 800 of 8,850 council wards where population is 98 per cent white

White Britons are 'retreating' from areas dominated by ethnic minorities, a study has revealed.

Analysis of census figures shows that white Britons are leaving areas where they are in a minority and are being replaced by immigrants and other ethnic minorities.

As a result, nearly half of ethnic minorities – 4 million people – live in communities where whites make up less than half the population, the study by the Demos think-tank found.

Demos said the survey showed a 'spiral of white British demographic decline' as white Britons choose to leave minority-dominated areas.

Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the findings should make us 'a little anxious', and were 'not good news for the cause of integration'.

He said: 'What ought to make us a little anxious is the “majority retreat” it has unearthed – white people leaving minority-led areas and not being replaced.'

In 2005, Mr Phillips warned Britain was 'sleepwalking into segregation' as the UK was dividing into 'ghettos' of particular races and religions. Read on and comment » | Jason Groves, Political Correspondent | Monday, May 06, 2013

Equalities Chief: 'Fatuous' to Deny Race Factors in Rochdale Case
BBC: Racial and cultural factors cannot be dismissed as playing a part in the Rochdale sex grooming case, the out-going head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said.

Trevor Phillips told The Andrew Marr Show it is "fatuous" to deny racial and cultural factors. Nine men of Pakistani and Afghan origin were jailed for offences including rape last week.

Mr Philips also said he was worried that in a closed community people may have been afraid to speak out about what was happening. Watch BBC video » | Sunday, May 13, 2012

Related »

Rochdale Grooming Case: Trevor Phillips Insists Race Relevant
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Claims that ethnicity was not a factor in the Rochdale sexual grooming case are "fatuous", the head of the equalities watchdog said today.

Trevor Phillips, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the fact that the men convicted were Asian and their victims white could not be ignored.

He expressed concern that the men came from closed communities which may have turned a blind eye to what was happening - either out of fear or because the girls concerned were from a different community.

And he said it would be a national scandal if it turned out the authorities had failed to intervene to protect the children because of fears that it would lead to the "demonisation" of the Asian community.

A gang of nine Asian men was last week found guilty of plying girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could "pass them around" and use them for sex.

Following the trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Greater Manchester Police sought to play down suggestions of any racial element to the case. » | Sunday, May 13, 2012

Related »

Christian's 'Aren't Above the Law', Says Equalities Chief Trevor Phillips

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Christians who want to be exempt from equality legislation are like Muslims trying to impose sharia on Britain, Trevor Phillips, the human rights watchdog, has declared.

Religious rules should end “at the door of the temple” and give way to the “public law” laid down by Parliament, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said.

He argued that Roman Catholic adoption agencies and other faith groups providing public services must choose between their religion and obeying the law when their beliefs conflict with the will of the state.

Mr Phillips singled out the adoption agencies that fought a long legal battle to avoid being forced to accept homosexual couples under equality laws.

Last year, following a High Court case, the Charity Commission ruled against an exemption for Catholic Care, an adoption agency operating in Leeds.

Speaking at a debate in London on diverse societies, Mr Phillips backed the new laws, which led to the closure of all Catholic adoption agencies in England. “You can’t say because we decide we’re different then we need a different set of laws,” he said, in comments reported by The Tablet, the Catholic newspaper.

“To me there’s nothing different in principle with a Catholic adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our community are different and therefore the law shouldn’t apply to us. Why not then say sharia can be applied to different parts of the country? It doesn’t work.” » | John Bingham, and Tim Ross | Friday, February 17, 2012

Christians Are More Militant Than Muslims, Says Government's Equalities Boss

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muslims are integrating into British society better than many Christians, according to the head of the Government's equality watchdog.

Trevor Phillips warned that "an old time religion incompatible with modern society" is driving the revival in the Anglican and Catholic Churches and clashing with mainstream views, especially on homosexuality.

He accused Christians, particularly evangelicals, of being more militant than Muslims in complaining about discrimination, arguing that many of the claims are motivated by a desire for greater political influence.

However the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission expressed concern that people of faith are "under siege" from atheists whom he accused of attempting to "drive religion underground".

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph ahead of a landmark report on religious discrimination in Britain, he said the Commission wants to protect Christians and Muslims from discrimination, admitting his body had not been seen to stand up for the people discriminated against because of their faith in the past. » | Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, June 18, 2011

This man is a joke! What on earth has he been smoking? Christians are more militant than Muslims? I don't think so! Muslims are integrating into British society better than Christians? I certainly don't think so! To start with, Christians don't have to integrate into British society. This is a Christian country, Trevor. Don't forget that! You people talk nonsense. You talk drivel! – © Mark

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Trevor Phillips wades into debate on religion in modern society: Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has made a wide-ranging intervention into the growing debate on the place of religion in modern society. » | Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, June 19, 2011

Second comment:

What the hell has Phillips bin smokin'? The man is talking through his hat. This man is dangerous, and shouldn't hold the position he does.

To say that Christians are more militant than Muslims is absurd. To say that Muslims are integrating better into British society than Christians is also totally absurd. To start with, Christians don't have to integrate into British society. They are a part of it. This is a Christian country; so Christians are the indigenous population. Since when does the indigenous population of a country have to integrate? It's part of the mainstream by definition. The man is talking twaddle! To talk about the integration of Christians into British society is to reduce them to foreigners in their own land.

This multicultural experiment has gone too far. We need to halt it. It will lead to bloodshed on the streets of our country.

The man is a dangerous fool; and he should be sacked. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Fear and Loathing at Equality Central
THE INDEPENDENT: Discrimination, conflicts of interest, financial irregularities: allegations against Trevor Phillips and his commission are building.

It was not supposed to work like this. The Government's equality watchdog – which is charged with rooting out discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, religion, sexuality, age or disability – was yesterday in the dock charged with discrimination by a member of its own staff. It only adds to the mound of political embarrassment being heaped upon the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, whose days in the job look increasingly limited.

The woman before an employment tribunal yesterday was Brid Johal, from Tipperary. (These things are important when it comes to equality). She was an aide to the aide of Mr Phillips. Even aides have aides in the wonderful world of quangos, until David Cameron gets his way at any rate. While she was on maternity leave the person who was covering for her – whom we might, unkindly perhaps, describe as the aide of the aide of the aide – was promoted over Ms Johal's head. It happened just as a commission bigwig was holding forth publicly about how unfortunate it was that women get penalised if they take a year off. Ms Johal told the tribunal that she had not been informed that there was a vacancy available despite her bosses' promises that she would be "kept in the loop" while she was away.

There is now muttering inside the EHRC about how it has not, after all, consigned to history a world in which some people are more equal than others. "There is something oddly old-fashioned going on in terms of plum jobs at the higher level," one insider said recently.

Some are beginning to think that the man at the top, Trevor Phillips, may have feet of clay. Indeed some are murmuring that the clay goes up to knee-level and beyond. The commission has been hit in recent months by a succession of internal disputes and allegations of financial irregularities. There is talk now that the former television executive, who wanted a second term in the job, will be forced to step down when his contract ends in the autumn. >>> Paul Vallely and Kevin Rawlinson | Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Wäre Obama in Österreich denkbar?
DIE PRESSE: Wer in Europa nach oben will, gehört besser nicht einer Minderheit an. Die politische Vertretung ethnischer Minderheiten steckt erst in den Kinderschuhen.

Die Begeisterung für Barack Obama kennt keine Grenzen. Bis zu drei Viertel der Europäer hätten ihn diversen Umfragen zufolge zum US-Präsidenten gewählt, dementsprechend groß ist die Freude über den Sieg des Charismatikers auch auf dem Alten Kontinent. Doch Europa jubelt Obama aus sicherer Entfernung zu. „Schon allein wegen seiner Hautfarbe hätte er in keinem europäischen Land eine Chance“, meinte der konservative US-Politologe Robert Kagan schon vor der Wahl spitz im „Spiegel“. Stimmt das? Könnten Menschen, die anders aussehen als die Mehrheitsbevölkerung und noch dazu einen seltsamen Namen haben, jemals Staats- oder Regierungschefs in Finnland, Spanien oder Österreich werden?

Der Vergleich mit Obama hinkt natürlich. Er gehört einer Minderheit an, die ungleich länger in den USA lebt als etwa Türken in Österreich. Und eigentlich gehört er nicht einmal dieser Minderheit richtig an: mit einer weißen Mutter und einem Vater aus Kenia. Es wäre absurd, von Österreichern oder Deutschen 40 Jahre nach Ankunft der ersten Gastarbeiter etwas zu verlangen, was den Amerikanern erst 143 Jahre nach Abschaffung der Sklaverei gelungen ist. >>> Christian Ultsch / Die Presse | 7. November 2008

THE TELEGRAPH: Trevor Phillips: Racism Would Stop Barack Obama Being Prime Minister in the UK

Barack Obama would have found it impossible to become prime minister in Britain because of "institutional racism" within the British political system, according to Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

Although he believes the public would embrace a black leader, he also believes the system would prevent him from getting to the top.

Mr Phillips cited the fact that there are only 15 ethnic-minority MPs in Westminster, noting that "the problem is not the electorate, the problem is the machine."

He added: "If Barack Obama had lived here I would be very surprised if even somebody as brilliant as him would have been able to break through the institutional stranglehold on power within the Labour Party.

"The parties and the unions and the think-tanks are all very happy to sign up to the general idea of advancing the cause of minorities but in practice they would like somebody else to do the business. It's institutional racism."

Mr Phillips claimed The Conservatives have done better than Labour at increasing the number of black and Asian candidates. >>> By Chris Irvine | November 8, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Help the White Working Class or Risk Surge in Far-Right Extremists, Says Equalities Chief
MAIL ONLINE: Britain risks a surge in Right-wing extremism if it fails to help its white working class weather the recession, the equalities chief will warn today.

Trevor Phillips will break with years of political convention to call for the law to be changed to enshrine positive discrimination in favour of disadvantaged whites.

His startling intervention in the race debate is a rebuke to Harriet Harman, who earlier this year trumpeted plans to make companies discriminate in favour of women and ethnic minorities.

Mr Phillips said ministers should allow councils and education authorities to introduce 'positive action' programmes aimed specifically at young whites unable to compete with highly skilled immigrants because the 'need is so great'.

And he warned that immigration has fuelled 'resentments that are real and should not be dismissed – resentments felt by white, black and Asian'.

The chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission set out his thinking to the Daily Mail ahead of his appearance at a CBI event on immigration today alongside immigration minister Phil Woolas.

Mr Phillips said failure to help white families hit by the downturn could drive them into the arms of far-Right parties similar to those that have brought turmoil to Austria, Belgium and Holland.

He also warned that ministers needed to acknowledge the resentment by some whites over what they see as unfair help given to blacks and Asians. >>> By Benedict Brogan | October 28, 2008

MAIL Online: Financial Crisis Will Send One Million Immigrant Workers Home, Race Chief Says

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, has said that one million migrant workers will be sent home due to the global financial crisis.

Mr Phillips said that without the departure of the immigrant workers, unemployment in Britain would be closer to 3 million than 2 million.

The mass exodus would be one of the largest since 300,000 people a year left the country during the first World War.

Up to 400,000 Polish workers in Britain and Ireland are expected to lose their jobs and return home where job prospects are better.

Polish government advisers recently predicted that around a third of the 1.2 million Poles currently in the UK could also move to another country to seek employment.

In a wide-ranging speech at a CBI conference, Mr Phillips predicted migrants would begin to send home more cash in remittances, as they sought to help relatives in other countries gripped by the crisis.

And he said that, while it was no longer racist to debate immigration, the terms must be 'realistic and sober', not 'apocalyptic'.

Mr Phillips warned: 'At a moment when as the Prime Minister says we need to focus ruthlessly on managing our way through the combination of financial crisis and economic adjustment that rightly preoccupies most of us today, anything that fans the flames of anti-immigrant hysteria is merely a dangerous, divisive, distraction.'

He also insisted the UK was not 'full', but needed migration to be better spread around. At present, it is concentrated in London and the South East. >>> By James Slack | October 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Obama Will Only Prolong America's Racial Divide – Trevor Phillips
THE INDEPENDENT: Trevor Phillips, Britain's most influential black figure, has warned that the election of Barack Obama as US president would prolong rather than end America's racial divide.

The chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission accused Mr Obama of "ruthless cynicism" and said he would not be "the harbinger of a post-racial America" if he becomes the country's first black president.

Mr Phillips' surprise attack on the favourite to win the Democratic Party nomination comes in an article for Prospect magazine published today. Mr Phillips dismissed attempts by the Obama camp to hail their man as a "new JFK", predicting he could emulate the "charm, skill and ruthless cynicism" of Bill Clinton.

Mr Phillips believed there were two types of influential black figures in America, both of whom keep race at the heart of US life -- "challengers", whose ambitions are limited to winning piecemeal concessions for blacks, and "bargainers", who do not make an issue of "white racism" if whites do not play the race card against them. He described Mr Obama as a "natural bargainer".

"In truth, Obama may be helping to postpone the arrival of a post-racial America and I think he knows it," Mr Phillips wrote. "If he wins, the cynicism may be worth it to him and his party. In the end he is a politician and a very good one: his job is to win elections." He backed the argument of Shelby Steele, who said in his biography of Mr Obama: "If he fulfils the hopes of whites, he must disappoint blacks – and vice versa."

Mr Phillips said he would be surprised if Mr Obama saw off Hillary Clinton to win the Democrats' nomination, as many commentators expect as she struggles to stay in the race. He conceded that it might happen.

The broadcaster and former Labour politician wrote: "For the black underclass and beyond, Obama may be the latest messiah, but there is anecdotal evidence that, where blacks have prospered to the extent that they are grimly competing for jobs and property with whites, they don't buy 'Obamania'. I would guess this is because the people who actually experience just how far America remains from post-racial harmony are those blacks who work with whites."

Mr Phillips said the guilt associated with slavery is an everyday reality for white America. "But if Obama can succeed, then maybe they can imagine that [Martin Luther] King's post-racial nirvana has arrived. A vote for Obama is a pain-free negation of their own racism. So long as they don't have to live next door to him; Obama has yet to win convincingly in white districts adjacent to black communities." Britain's equality chief: Obama will only prolong America's racial divide >>> By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

White Flight is Getting Worse, Says Trevor Phillips
DAILY MAIL: White flight - the retreat of the white middle classes from city centres - is getting worse, the Government's race relations chief said yesterday.

The admission by Trevor Phillips was the first time a senior Whitehall figure has used the phrase.

Mr Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, backed the decision last week of the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, to warn of the spread of "no-go areas" for non-Muslims. 'White flight' from city centres is getting worse, says equality chief >>> By Steve Doughty

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)