Extremely misleading article about the East End by professionally-provocative priest Giles Fraser.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/02/vast-wealth-divide-tower-hamlets-fairness?CMP=twt_gu
It was not the Thatcherites who destroyed the East End communities, nor even the Nazi bombs (although my father and grandparents were briefly driven away during 1941, then went back, then left for good in the 1950s).
The East End communities were destroyed by the post war "planners" and unrestricted overwhelming third world immigration which crowded into the area because it was the home of poor people no-one in the elite cared about.
This is not the trendy opinion of an ignorant middle class Anglican poltroon.
This is an affidavit (because I swear it) by the son of an East Ender, and the grandson of East Enders, and the great-grandson of East Enders and the great-great-grandson of East Enders (you get the picture) all settled in Lambeth (mother's family) and Limehouse at least as far back as the 18th century.
The East End in 1945 was not an "empty land" waiting to be settled, it was my father's home (and, poor as it was, my cultural heritage).
Now the lie is peddled that the East End has always been a "melting pot" with vast numbers of immigrants flowing backwards and forwards (this lie can easily be exposed simply by looking at the census returns for all of the 19th century which give the surnames and places of birth and family relationships - you will find very few people who are not English).
So fuck off Giles Fraser. Leave my culture alone. Go and colonise someone else's past.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/02/vast-wealth-divide-tower-hamlets-fairness?CMP=twt_gu
It was not the Thatcherites who destroyed the East End communities, nor even the Nazi bombs (although my father and grandparents were briefly driven away during 1941, then went back, then left for good in the 1950s).
The East End communities were destroyed by the post war "planners" and unrestricted overwhelming third world immigration which crowded into the area because it was the home of poor people no-one in the elite cared about.
This is not the trendy opinion of an ignorant middle class Anglican poltroon.
This is an affidavit (because I swear it) by the son of an East Ender, and the grandson of East Enders, and the great-grandson of East Enders and the great-great-grandson of East Enders (you get the picture) all settled in Lambeth (mother's family) and Limehouse at least as far back as the 18th century.
The East End in 1945 was not an "empty land" waiting to be settled, it was my father's home (and, poor as it was, my cultural heritage).
Now the lie is peddled that the East End has always been a "melting pot" with vast numbers of immigrants flowing backwards and forwards (this lie can easily be exposed simply by looking at the census returns for all of the 19th century which give the surnames and places of birth and family relationships - you will find very few people who are not English).
So fuck off Giles Fraser. Leave my culture alone. Go and colonise someone else's past.
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