26 May 2016
Houses and Integration
As the emphasis moves to the mainstream the need is for houses
by John Watson
I believe it was Max Planck and Albert Einstein who first understood the dual nature of light. Although in some ways a stream of particles, it also exhibits features which can only be understood by reference to wave motion. Politics are like that too, giving the observer a choice. Either focus on the discrete events or study the waves. In this article we are going to look at the waves and at one, the patience with the separate development of immigrant communities, which is beginning to run out of steam.
Politics in the West are moving towards the mainstream and there is a good illustration of that in America. The rise of Mr Trump on the back of random and unconventional views is something of a mystery of this side of the Atlantic. In terms of a reaction against the liberal consensus behind an Obama presidency, however, it is all too understandable. Poor whites, an important part of the American mainstream, see their position being chipped away. From one side come the other races, the first black president a potent symbol of their advance. From another, the high tech machines which take away the jobs on which their livelihoods depend. Then they find the order of their lives is being attacked. The traditional role of their menfolk is sneered at as the feminist and gay movements, themselves formed for the best reasons, spawn ugly progeny. The universities are thick with claims that separate sex lavatories should be abolished to help transsexuals, but no one seems too bothered about the fact that young men are failing to make the grade academically. No one challenges the automatic assumption that whenever there is a sexual incident the males are the predators and the young ladies the victims
In Mr Trump, a damaged part of the US mainstream hopes to find someone who will roll back the tides and give proper weight to its concerns. But it isn’t just there that it’s happening. What about the students of Newcastle University who have disaffiliated from the National Union of Students. For years that particular body has associated itself with pet left wing causes and has forgotten its role of representing all students. Now they are beginning to walk away and sooner or later the movement will become a flood.
There are other places too. For years the intellectuals told us that it was racist to talk about immigration. We all knew there were problems brewing but you certainly could not say that in polite society. Any straying from the conventional line of pushing the issue under the carpet would lead to an embarrassed muttering of “What a pity he or she is such a racist” as you left the room. Now that has changed. The issue has been ground into our faces by the refugee problem and whereas a year or two ago no one would have had much patience with those who wished to discuss it, now it has ceased to be fashionable to push it under the carpet.
These are straws in the wind but they all point the same way. In each case the interests of the mainstream have been neglected in favour of a more fashionable approach: in each case there is a turning tide as the centre reasserts itself. That not is an entirely good thing. Some of the pressure groups have important things to say; for example it would be a pity if the change was to undermine the efforts of getting women paid the same for making an equal contribution. But the change in mood is not driven by “good” or “bad”. It is simply that the “pro-minorities” wave has run its course and what we are now seeing is the froth generated before reaction sets in.
In Britain the most important change is in our attitude to immigrants. There is now little tolerance for the development of separate communities and a rising belief in the importance of their integration. In many cases that mirrors the desire of the communities themselves but whether integration is happening quickly enough is becoming an increasing concern. Trevor Phillips, formerly the Equality Commissioner, has warned of Muslims becoming “a nation within a nation” although others would say that communities are being absorbed into the mainstream, just rather slowly. Whatever the truth about this, however, the duty of the Government to promote integration is not in doubt and that is as much the concern of the political mainstream as it is of the minorities themselves.
The struggle here is for the souls of the young. Last week it emerged that there is an increase in home education, particularly within the Muslim community. Different reasons are given for that. Some say it is dissatisfaction with the level of the state education here; others that impatience with the government’s anti-extremist programme is to blame. Both of those are possible causes but it is likely that there is a more fundamental one, the wish for religious communities to strengthen the ties which bind them together and to isolate themselves against the outside world. That is completely unacceptable. There is, of course, no state monopoly on education in the UK but it is important that separate schooling should not lead to the isolation of immigrant children. They, like their fellows from the host population, need the equipment to live in the mainstream of British life. There must be no sacrificing of normal education standards in favour of a religious agenda.
Another factor preventing the integration of communities is a lack of affordable housing for the young. Let them go out and rent or buy a house and they will find themselves living cheek by jowl with neighbours from different backgrounds. Leave them in the back bedrooms of their parents’ homes and the mixing of the communities is stalled. That, of course, is quite apart from the effect that failure to find suitable accommodation may have on their aspirations.
On a wall in my drawing room there is an original cartoon from Punch. It was published in January 1945 to celebrate the report of the Conservative Committee on Housing, on which my father, a distinguished surveyor, served. The cartoon shows a builder and he is looking at a hod on which are balanced 750,000 homes. The caption is “the houses that Jack ought to build”.
There is nothing new in the need for more housing. There is always demand and there are occasions when it badly outstrips supply. At the moment, however, there is another side to it. The lack of housing for the young is one of the factors which helps to hold the immigrant communities out of the mainstream. That adds yet another strand to the urgency of the problem. We want them in. Integration is a concern for us all, not just for the immigrant communities themselves. If there is one message which politicians should keep in mind as they recalibrate following the Referendum, it is “Build, Ladies and Gentlemen, Build”.
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