Still banging on about race

It is amazing that there is a whole industry, department, quango's, frameworks, political structures around this entire concept of race. And now people are buggering around with "mixed races". See this commentary from the Commission of Racial Equality. One of the most useless pieces of government intervention I have ever seen.

Let me ask these stupid morons, if race was indeed an indicator and predictor of socio-economic status or education, then how do you explain the fact that the Britishers of Chinese and Indian extraction are doing better than the majority British white population?

See here for some background to this debate. Unfortunately, the factual basis for the debate is always subsumed in the foaming bellowing of charges of racism and counter racism. Also noticed that racism is generally only aimed at the whites? As it so happens, the racist character is more seen in the non-whites these days.

Ah! well, not that its going to stop, but this is going to evolve and mutate into even more stranger directions, all time sucking on the tit of the taxpayer.

The incomes of ethnic minorities

Some minority groups have prospered in Britain, but others remain severely disadvantaged. Until recently there has been no reliable information on the total incomes available to minority households. Richard Berthoud, of the University of Essex, has been analysing the Family Resources Survey. He shows that there is wide diversity between minority groups. Some are in serious poverty.

• Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are easily the poorest groups in the country. High unemployment among men; low levels of economic activity among women; low pay; and large family sizes: these all contribute to a situation in which 60 per cent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are poor. This is four times the poverty rate found among white people.
• Indian and Chinese people have high levels of employment, and their earnings are on a par with those of white workers. On these measures, they can be seen to be prospering. But overall their rates of poverty are higher than for white households.
• Many people of Caribbean origin are unemployed, and there is a high rate of lone parenthood in this community. Wages for Caribbean men (though not for women) also tend to fall below those of their white equivalents. But overall, the rate of poverty among Caribbeans is only slightly higher than that among white households.
• It is difficult to characterise Africans as a single group, and they have not previously been the subjects of detailed study. But this research suggests that their incomes are low - lower than those of Caribbeans with whom they are often compared.
• The social security system, and especially means-tested benefits, contributes a large proportion of the incomes of some minority groups, especially Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!