Ben Judah’s
‘This is London’ has quite rightly caused something of a splash. It’s an
investigation into immigrant London, a London in which, as Judah puts it
‘nearly 40 per cent were born abroad, and 5 per cent are living illegally in
the shadows’. It’s not a statistical analysis, and no one would claim it was a
comprehensive depiction of the migrant experience. Instead it’s a series of
remarkably varied personal recollections, from Roma beggars to Arab princesses,
through Polish builders, Afghan butchers, Romanian prostitutes and many more
besides. Judah is exceptionally good at getting people to open up to him.
Usually just by talking to them, gradually gaining their trust, though
occasionally he does employ subterfuge, such as when he pretends to be a Russian
illegal immigrant fleeing Putin or a Ladbrokes employee carrying out a survey.
At times the account is practically Orwellian, in the lengths to which Judah
goes to build his story. He sleeps with Roma beggars in tunnels by Hyde Park
Corner, and in a doss house with 13 other Romanian men in Barking. He talks to
prostitutes, gangsters and spiritual healers as well as the rich and
respectable. And he talks to them well,
gaining their trust, leading to interesting revelations. Judah opens by stating
‘I was born in London but I no longer recognize this city. I don’t know if I
love the new London or if it frightens me’. Thanks to Judah’s talent we now
have a powerful opening into the new London, for good and for ill.
We should, I
think, start with the positives. One of the things which most impressed me
about London’s new migrants is the extraordinary work ethic which many possess,
and which is often passed on to their children. This would explain for example
why so many ethnic minorities are currently outperforming, on average, the
white British at school. Judah meets Nigerian hospital workers, working long
hours to care for the British elderly, and East European builders and cleaners
who abhor the notion of a life on welfare. Indeed it’s noticeable how many
migrants, especially from Third World nations, tell Judah that they came to
Britain hoping to start a business, and that this is still their dream. There’s
a powerful entrepreneurial spirit within many migrants, which British
Conservatives should do all they can to encourage. Judah for example described
Polish builders as ‘people near-identical to the Norman Tebbit fantasy of the
working class’, stating that they are ‘Industrious savers. Family people…Fans
of Thatcher, the Soviet fighter. Disgusted by trade unionists’. Conservatives
should, in short, welcome the work ethnic which many migrants possess and try
to encourage their entrepreneurial ambitions so far as is reasonably possible.
However,
Judah’s book also highlights dangers. Ways in which the recent mass wave of
migrants to London has created challenges, and has the potential to create
something altogether more serious. One of the themes which runs through Judah’s
book, from his conversations with various new migrants, is that there is an
element of ethnic fracture. In short, in his book, London sometimes feels less
like a multicultural city and more a collection of mono-cultural blocks rubbing
against one other, sometimes in harmony and sometimes not. There’s the
Policeman from Nigeria who asserts that ‘London is no longer an English city at
all…London is a patchwork of ghettos’. Then there’s Mukhtar, a Somali living in
Neasden, who claims that ‘Every community is to their own. Nobody communicates
to each other’. A Nigerian mental health worker from Edmonton Green makes the
same point, asserting that ‘if push comes to shove you will find people who
will be going the path of ethnicity and going the path of groups and
religions’. Most unnerving of all is the 13 year old boy in Plaistow, who tells
his teacher that when he grows up he wants to go and fight for ISIS.
Judah finds
no shortage of racism, including between migrant groups. He records Poles and
Romanians using racial insults to describe black and Asian people. More
generally several of those he speaks to draw attention to a racial hierarchy,
with certain jobs associated with different racial groups. For example Judah
speaks to Akwese, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, who ‘says he knows all jobs
in London follow the hierarchy. That there is such a thing as African and
Polish work’. It seems reasonable to be concerned at the lack of integration
which is taking place within and between sections of communities, which should
be fought alongside the racial stereotyping which this state of affairs is both
encouraged by and encourages. There are positive signs. Judah speaks to a
Polish born marriage registrar, who provides moving accounts of multi-racial
marriages, relationships which would be strangled at inception in many parts of
the world. We should be proud that many can thrive in the UK, and should work
to remove the remaining barriers to marriage, and other forms of interaction,
between different communities.
There is I
think, for some people, a problem of belonging. Take the Afro-Caribbean
gangster, who goes by the name of Moses X, who justifies his crime as he claims
the rich whites benefit from the ill-gotten gains of their imperialist
forbearers. He, and many of the others Judah interviews, lack a strong sense of
belonging in London. This is I think a problem which, once again, can be
attributed to the twin villains of lack of integration and racism. This lack of
belonging, surely, is something which fuels violent gangs and political
extremism. The solution is surely something like the ‘2012 Olympic spirit’
though on a larger scale and more permanent. London presented itself as both
comfortably multiracial and proudly British. Crowds cheered on Mo Farah with
the same ferocity as Greg Rutherford. This, surely, is a good model for the
type of London we should try, as Conservatives, to create. A London where
people look out for each other, regardless of origin, united by a shared sense
of belonging and certain core shared values.
It’s
important though, that whilst we make additional efforts to integrate existing
minority populations, that we don’t demonize those who want tighter migration
controls. One of the strongest themes of Judah’s book is the pace of change,
with the cultural identity of areas changing almost beyond recognition in a
couple of decades. It is understandable that people may be uncomfortable when
this happens to their area, and their concerns shouldn’t be dismissed as
mindless prejudice. If we refuse to talk about these issues, if we hide them
under a fog of polite silence, we risk appearing out of touch and indifferent,
and the beneficiaries would be the far-right.
There are
moments of dark humour in Judah’s book, the sort of unfortunate
misunderstanding which inevitably occur when different cultures and lifestyles
rub against each other. There is the 24 year old Roma-Romanian who thinks the
English hate Romanians, and believes this is because Romania was allied to
Germany in WWII. There are the children of the super-rich, competing for
attention by buying ever more outlandish drinks whilst out table-clubbing in
London’s most fashionable districts. Overall Judah’s book may not make you love
London any more. Parts of it are uplifting, but others concerning or downright
disturbing. But it will almost certainly increase your sympathy towards
ordinary working Londoners, especially the migrants, who work hard to get by,
and if they can, to thrive.
I would
recommend Conservatives read Judah’s account, and not just to increase our
appreciation of the work which migrants undertake. Our capital city is
changing. Indeed, it’s no longer ‘just’ our capital city, it’s a global city in
terms of culture and to some extent outlook. This is fine, up to a point. But
there are worrying signs of fracture, of communities living largely parallel
lives and of a lack of shared values. Unaddressed this could become dangerous.
So we should continue to welcome industrious and ambitious migrants, but make
greater efforts to encourage integration and adherence to liberal-democratic
values. We should continue to challenge racism and strengthen the sense of a
British community, whilst fighting the notion that different communities can
live largely independent lives, and that reactionary cultural practices should
be tolerated.
