Every Race, Colour, Nation and Religion on Earth
Page 3 of 4
Londoners' enthusiasm for foreign food creates thousands of jobs for immigrants and makes the establishment of new communities that much easier. Every big city in the world has its Chinatown, but in London, one can dine on food from more than 70 different countries - and then buy the ingredients to make it all again at home. (There are many north Africans in France, but have you ever tried finding coriander in a Carrefour?) There is a good reason for all this. Other European nations have their own strong culinary traditions; the British don't. We have our own simple recipes, of course, but few people these days care to make them. Even our words for places to eat - restaurant and cafe - had to be borrowed from French in the 19th century.
In fact, the mongrel English, fissured with post-imperial self-doubt, neither American nor fully European - nor even Welsh, Irish or Scots - have a rather thin national identity all round. We are proud of our country, but we can't remember why. In Londoners - who seldom have a word of praise for the great city of their birth - this is especially pronounced. The private English also seem less susceptible to big ideas. Our national religion is perhaps the weakest in the world, and in the 2001 census almost 16% of Londoners said they had "no religion" at all - more than all the Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists put together. Londoners resent immigrants less than they might, in short, because they have so few values left to be threatened.
Some, like the Queen in her Christmas message, call this tolerance. I'm not so sure. Having asked everyone I met in the course of this investigation how they got along with their "English" neighbours, I have few problems to report. The picture that emerges is of a broadly tolerant city, but toleration is about as far as it goes. Indifference might be a better description. The days when a man in a turban could stop traffic are behind us, but the days when the average Londoner knows why he wears it are yet to come.
And we will not get there if we forget that thousands of Londoners persecuted immigrants enthusiastically throughout the 20th century. Jews and Germans were early targets, followed by Afro-Caribbeans, whose homes were besieged and petrol-bombed by white mobs throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s. And then we come to the skinheads and paki-bashers, many of whom now call themselves the BNP - a party that is still represented on Barking and Dagenham council today.
