He tells us it would be good to "turn the tables"

Since 1st February Guardian writer Gary Younge has been featuring a "white history month" through the posts on his Twitter microblog https://twitter.com/garyyounge

In a justification for "white history month" (written in 2007 - this is not a new idea) he tells us that such a month would offer "white people" options and role models.

What role models therefore might "white people" seek to emulate?

Immodestly Gary Younge refers us to an article he wrote in 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/sep/30/race.politics

In a potted history of British imperialism (breathtaking in its ambition if rather inadequate in its delivery) he tells us it would be good to "turn the tables".  He attacks Winston Churchill's historical record and mentions Ghandi as the antithesis of Churchill.  So how can we learn from Ghandi's example?

For "white people" (to use this clumsy and ignorant descriptor) in the United Kingdom one of the most pressing issues is immigration.  Since the Second World War foreign migrants have been arriving here against the wishes of the majority of the population.  In every test of opinion the ordinary people have said they want immigration to stop and yet it keeps happening.

If Ghandi were able to advise us, how would he help us with the issue of unwanted immigration?

Surely he would advocate the use of peaceful non co-operation.

This might mean national and local civil servants not processing applications related to people from immigrant communities (perhaps putting the applications at the bottom of the pile, or losing the files, or tipping a cup of coffee over them).  For human resources staff it might mean interviewing people from immigrant communities but never actually appointing any of them.  For taxi-drivers it might mean not stopping for people who appear to be from immigrant communities.  For hoteliers and restaurant staff it might mean not having any vacancies when people from immigrant communities enquire.  For retail personnel it might entail never actually noticing that someone from an immigrant community wants advice or assistance or wants to pay for something.  For members of the general population it might mean walking past individuals from immigrant communities who want to ask directions; or leaving the room whenever an immigrant person enters; or ostentatiously washing ones hands after greeting someone from an immigrant community.

To do any of these things would, of course, be unconscionable.

But if Gary Younge wants us to learn from Ghandi I suppose that's what we will have to get used to.

The other striking name Gary Younge mentions in his sweeping damnation of the British is the South African Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the ANC were faced with unrestricted white immigration into South Africa.  The majority population opposed this immigration, indeed had always opposed it, and yet it kept happening against their will.  How then did Nelson Mandela and the ANC react?

Perhaps it is better that we do not ask that question.

Perhaps we should just conclude that Gary Younge is an idiot, and that his "white history month" is silly even by his own standards of silliness (which are considerable).