White Fright: Divided Britain Panorama

Segregation in Blackburn is

increasing.

We're here to stay,

there's no point in running.

They

live in their areas and we live in

our areas.

Isolation, segregation,

division.

Never the twain shall

meet.

We've been here for

generations, this is our country.

All we want is our country back.

Fear of the unknown is probably our

biggest element.

OK, why are you

here?

We need to move away from this

stone age mentality.

We have a

divided country.

20, 30 years,

something's going to happen.

They'll

take over eventually.

I think

Blackburn will eventually become a

completely Muslim Asian town.

# Should I stay or should I go.

Blackburn, Lancashire. A town with

an identity crisis.

There are many ethnic groups here,

but, according to the latest Census,

the two biggest are around 100,000

white British people and roughly

40,000 Asians or British Asians,

many of whom are Muslim. The

question is, how well do they get

along?

Ten years ago, panorama made a

programme in Blackburn posing that

very question.

very question. We met two minicab

drivers, Mohammed Nawaz, whose taxi

firm was staffed by all Asian

drivers. And Ian Goodliffe, whose

fellow cabbies were all white.

This end is predominantly white. At

the other end of town it's

predominantly Asian.

Mohammed had a

similar story to tell.

We're living

two different lives here, aren't we?

We're just going to grow apart and

it's going to get worse.

A decade on, Panorama has returned

to see if that's the case.

Ian now works as a delivery driver

and still knows the town like the

back of his hand.

He showed us where he he felt the

town was divided.

These are sort of

areas that you're talking about,

about the integration getting less.

When white people move out you can

be more or less sure that an Asian

is going to move in.

Mohammed Nawaz still works as a

local minicab driver.

I think Muslim

community has grown that much now,

majority of areas are Asian, we're

here to stay. We're not going to go

anywhere, so, you know, there's no

point in running.

Ten years ago, we filmed a religious

parade in the mainly Muslim Asian

area Whalley Range.

It's the anniversary of the birth of

the prophet Mohammed but not

everyone's cheering, some whites

here feel they're being taken over.

Morning.

Morning.

What do you think

of it all?

Rubbish.

Rubbish.

Why do

you say that

It is a lot of rubbish.

Fast forward to today. The parade is

significantly larger.

Over a ten-year period, in this

area, the white British population

dropped by half.

As a whole, Blackburn has a majority

white British population. But over

ten years their numbers fell by 10%.

Ian Goodliffe's pub, The Bee Hive,

is on the outskirts of Mill Hill, an

area which is almost exclusively

white.

So, do the locals still fear a

growing Muslim Asian population?

I

don't particularly have any fear

whatsoever of either community, but

a lot of people do.

We're going to

have a Muslim MP before very long

and they'll take over eventually.

They have their way of life, we have

our way of life. We're laid back

about it, they are not. And they're

taking our culture bit by bit. There

are 13,000 Asians in Blackburn, most

of them come from villages in

north-west India and Pakistan. They

were encouraged to come here by the

British Government in the late 50s

and early 60s to work in the text

file industry...

Gradually ghettos

are growing up in poorer parts of

town.

Since their arrival, racial tensions

have been exploited by the far-right

parties like the National Front.

Do you want this country to become

occupied by a load of Khaki coloured

multiracial Bass trdz?

Far right provocation was blamed for

some of the violence that engulfed

northern towns surrounding Blackburn

in 2001, the worst race riots for a

generation.

Weeks of simmering racial tensions

finally erupted last night as more

than 500 Asian youths fight pitched

battles with riot police.

Professor

Ted cantle was the Government

advisor who wrote the report into

the riots. We spoke to him ten years

ago.

Certainly the separation

between communities was a factor in

those riots. There was no trust, no

understanding between the different

communities.

Has the problem of divided

communities got better or worse

since then?

Segregation in Blackburn

is increasing in residential terms,

in school terms, probably in social

terms as well. I think it has to be

seen as a warning for all towns and

cities in the UK. I think Blackburn

feel that the focus shouldn't always

be on them. . Actually, they are

right, because statistics show that

there are many other towns and

cities where polarisation of

populations is increasing.

In just a decade, there was almost a

four-fold increase in the number of

areas with a non-white majority.

So why have communities become so

much more separated?

Ten years ago, Jaffer Hussain was a

student at Blackburn College. He

told us that walking through the

Muslim Asian area with a white

female friend was met with

hostility.

He was determined to change

attitudes and set up a youth group

to bring people from both

communities together.

What percentage of young people in

Blackburn would you say actually mix

outside of school or college?

Like

10%.

So what's your views on having

a relationship with someone who is

not the same culture as you, what

would your parents think?

My mum

would be more lenient. I feel

another part of my family would be

more, you shouldn't do that, you

should stick to your own culture and

religion, it fits into the family

more. It's just everybody is still

the same, you need to move away from

this stone age mentality.

So if you

were to bring home an Asian

boyfriend?

Probably wouldn't go down

too well.

That fear of the unknown

can only be broken down once you

start to get to know people.

Underneath the surface we are very,

very similar. We are facing the same

poverty levels, we are facing the

same deprivation levels, we are

facing the same employment issues so

we really need to get past this fear

of the unknown.

Ten years ago, Gulistan Khan

attempted to confront this fear head

on by deliberately moving his young

family from Whalley Range to a

predominantly white part of

Blackburn.

It's there, I do know how

it goes, you know!

He introduced

himself to his neighbours but didn't

feel welcome.

I find that they walk past me

without even acknowledging that you

were there, so I don't know. I find

that a little odd.

Since then, many of Gulistan's white

neighbours have moved out of the

area. And, over the last decade, he

believes that attitudes towards

British Muslims have changed

dramatically.

Arrested on suspicion of terror

offences, we're live in Blackburn...

All are described as Asian.

It has a

huge impact on the Muslims. We are

having to apologise for others.

This morning the police arrested a

25-year-old man and began searching

this property in Blackburn's Whalley

Range.

We've been here for generations in

this country, this is our country.

So why do we have to justify every

time somebody calls out Allahu

Akbar?

One of the most contentious

Government policies amongst

Britain's Muslim community has been

Prevent, part of the UK

counterterror strategy. It was

designed to identify potential

home-grown terrorists. Until he

retired, Commander Dal Babu was the

highest ranking Muslim officer at

the Metropolitan Police.

People have called it a toxic brand.

If you put toxic brand into Google,

the first thing that comes up is the

Government's Prevent strategy. It

used to be Donald Trump. So

something has gone very, very wrong.

Gulistan says that members of his

community resent being under

suspicion.

If you're under the

microscope and the Home Office sees

you as the culprits, it's not a good

idea. But the Home Office could

really do more in terms of education

and asking directly at ground level

what the problem is. How can they

help?

I have called for sometime now

to have an independent review of

Prevent, but there just seems to be

an absolutely resistance to that

from successive governments.

Gulistan believes that the negative

portrayal of Muslims by the media

has had a significant impact on

shaping attitudes towards his

community.

They're portraying Islam or Muslims

as a bunch of terrorists.

In 2011,

the far-right English Defence League

staged one of its biggest ever

protests. 2,000 people marched

through Blackburn town centre.

I became involved in the EDL because

in 2005 I was in charge of the

emergency response unit at London

Underground. We assisted the SO13s,

which are the anti-terror squad, on

removing bodies from the trapped

train.

In the wake of the 7/7

attacks Martin Sculpher joined the

organisation which went on to become

the EDL. He is now a north-west

regional organiser.

I've cleaned up

after Islam and I questioned why do

they do it in the first place? We

have got a serious problem in this

country.

I'm England until I die...

We asked Martin Sculpher to respond

to accusations that the EDL is a

racist organisation.

I find it quite

insulting actually, to be called a

racist. We oppose the radical side

of Islam, the ideology of Islam,

which is not racist. At the end of

the day, they don't integrate and

they certainly do not like us

because we do not worship Islam.

The

way we have homogenised Muslim

communities as being a bit of a

disaster really, they're all somehow

lumped together in the press and

media eyes, in the eyes of the

Prevent agenda. We've done very

little to actually promote the views

of people who disagree with that

position.

Nadia!

Nadia Hussain

winning the Bake Off competition

probably has done more for Muslim

British relations than ten years of

Government policy.

In 2015, Dame Louise Casey was asked

by the Government to write a review

into integration policy.

We are

living with the consequences of not

managing migration and immigration

effectively. We've done a bit of it,

but we haven't been on it to the

degree that we need to do so and I

think we have a divided country.

The Casey Review highlighted that

over ten years the population of the

UK rose by 4. 1 million, more than

half of that the result of

immigration. The report was

published more than a year ago.

Chukka Ummuna is the head of the

all-party parliamentary group on

social integration. He's concerned

that lousise Casey's report has been

I go anothered.

It's definitely been

put on -- has been ignored. It's

definitely been put on the shelf in

the too difficult, too hot to handle

box, but longer we park this the

more dangerous the atmosphere and

environment will become.

More than a

year later Louise Casey still hasn't

had a response from the Government.

I am disappointed, which is why I

think it's really good that Panorama

is raising these issues again.

They're not only around Blackburn,

these are national issues that we

ought to be able to talk

Over the last decade, the issue that

Blackburn's white British community

has found hardest to talk about is

the very visible social and

demographic change taking place

here.

As non-drinking Muslims have

moved into new areas of Blackburn,

one after another, local pubs have

closed down all together.

Well, it used to be the Dog Inn. In

pub. I think you did a piece on it

the last time. What it is now, I'm

not 100% sure, to be honest. Some

sort of Islamic centre, but I don't

know what, what it is. Any house in

this area goes up for sale, it will,

it's 100% that it will be an Asian

that buys it.

Mary, who lives

opposite the former pub, now an

Islamic community centre, is selling

up after 28 years.

It's just we're

moving out. I just wondered iffing?

Was eventually going to happen

Where

from?

Here.

Who's buying it?

A

lovely couple.

Dare I ask?

We have

not exchanged contracts.

Their

ethnicity?

Yes they are.

They are

Asian?

But it is the state of this T

English is not the common language,

unfortunately. We have really lovely

neighbours, but we feel very, very

uncomfortable. I think we stuck it

out as long as we could do. I think

Blackburn will eventually become a

completely Muslim Asian town.

The thing is, it seems to have been

quite rapid. I think that is what

frightens you a little bit.

They would say, I'm living in a

country that doesn't feel like mine

any more. In some areas of that

country, that is true. You know, I

wrote in my report the pace and

scale of immigration has possibly

been too much. The Home Office were

not happy with that language being

used in my report. But I stuck with

it because it's true.

Some parts of the country have felt

the effects of immigration more than

others.

It's been more or less a total close

down in the Asian areas of pubs.

Why's that?

Because Asians don't

drink.

The nightclubs have shut and a lot

of the pubs have shut. There's

nothing going on. It's become like

the Specials said - a ghost town.

# This town, is becoming like a

ghost town

# All the clubs are being closed

down

But over on Whalley Range n the

heart of the Muslim Asian area,

business is booming.

Arif Master opened his traditional

spice tea shop three months ago.

It's mainly busy in the evening.

Probably from now until we close at

11pm, you will find we will be

getting loads of people coming in.

For Asians, it's what you'd say

night-time is like in the pub.

Coming here is equivalent to this.

While in the tea shop Nazir Musa, a

former police officer, whose family

are from India came over to speak to

us.

The mosques, the madrassases, the

Islamic schools should be regulated.

There is a lot going on in there

which is breeding extremism. Nobody

is picking that up.

He's concerned

that Blackburn's Muslim Asian

community is becoming more insular

and not making enough effort to

integrate.

In terms of integration

and harmony in the Western world and

England today, we should be

integrated a lot more and I see

little children, young girls, five,

six years old going to the Islamic

schools, which I disagree with.

They're covered up. What's that all

about?

about?

There are currently two

million children from different

religions being educated at state

funded faith schools in England.

Experts say they are a big obstacle

to integration.

I think the

segregation of schools is the most

difficult problem we face.

Ironically it is probably about the

easiest to fix because the reason we

have segregated schools is because

of public policy.

When faith schools

were first established they were

allowed to determine their own

admissions policy. In 2010, that

changed. The Government decided that

no new faith school could have more

than 50% of its intake from any one

faith.

The problem is that we have

thousands of existing faith schools

who are not aadopting that policy

and ignoring the spirit of the

legislation entirely.

Ten years ago,

Gulistan Khan sent his children to

the local school, to give them an

opportunity to mix.

Good boys.

If the Government is not mixing them

at an early stage, how can you

expect people then to mix when they

grow up? I remember when I was at

school we used to be ferried from

one end to the other to go to

school. Why can't that be done now?

Why can't the Government mix them on

a proportional basis in schools?

A

school trip to meet strangers. But

these children aren't off on a

journey to France or to Germany,

they're going to meet each other.

In

the original programme, Panorama

filmed with Anjum Anwar, she led a

ground-breaking initiative to bring

local school children together.

Then

I will come to you and find out how

much you know...

The funding for her

position ended. Today she teaches

English to new immigrants and helps

them how to learn to integrate into

British society.

Everybody feels we

should live together. Do you have a

question?

$6 million question. Even the Prime

Minister hasn't been able to tell us

what that means. British values are

democracy, rule of law, individual

liberty and tolerance of other

faiths. Do you have a question?

Do I need to dress in a particular

way? No, British values does not

mean that you have to forget your

identity. They feel that you can

only be British if you give up being

who you are. That's not the case.

But they need to feel, I can live in

the United Kingdom, I can wear my

headscarf or my veil, I can eat my

chicken curries and I can still live

peacefully.

One of the most divisive cultural

issues affecting integration has

been the wearing of the niqab or the

full face veil.

One of our local cabbies says he's

noticed a dramatic increase over the

last decade.

I think there's been

like a 60% increase, so, yeah, you

know, they want to wear a veil,

yeah, good for them.

I have y et to

meet any single woman or girl who

said to me, I wear it because I am

forced to do it. What is the

question?

Interesting.

Many of her students wear the veil

and have experienced hostility from

local people.

I'm sorry.

Thank you. That has really upset

you, hasn't it?

Yes.

Let me get you

a hanky. It creates a separateness

between you and them. They want to

feel comfortable within themselves.

Is that really so wrong? Is it

terribly wrong?

People dress head to

foot in black and we can't see their

faces, it's just difficult for us as

a culture. There's no way around it.

And when that is happening at

significant volume we're

uncomfortable with it. If a man

walked in here in a balaclava I

would be uncomfortable with it.

Muslim women wearing the headscarf

or veil are often a target for

abuse. Last year, there were nearly

63,000 reported race hate crimes in

England and Wales. And in

Lancashire, during the same period,

which included the Brexit

referendum, reported race hate crime

went up by one-third.

There was a

spike in hate crime incidents in the

wake of that referendum. And

wake of that referendum. And that is

something we cannot ignore. We are

going through a period of profound

economic change and history teaches

us that when society is disrupted

through change, particularly

economic change and financial

crisis, there is a big danger that

the extremes on all sides step in to

the vacuum to sow the seeds of

mistrust and hatred and we are at

that point right now.

If lack of integration is a national

crisis, what's to be done about it?

Sunday morning at Blackburn playing

fields. An all-white team is playing

an all-Asian one. For children and

parents, alike, it is one of the few

opportunities they have to interact.

Come on, keep going...

I just think

it is important for them to be able

to appreciate other cultures, other

communities and not be afraid of the

other, which is how we get perceived

often.

I think it is an excellent

thing. They should mix all the time.

They are kids at the end of the day.

They don't know different from

anything else. They should be

mixing.

There have been more bridge-building

activities between communities, more

attempts at socialisation, playing

sport together. Unfortunately,

nowhere near enough. So, we do have

to, in my view, reset the

relationship with Muslim

communities. And there seems to be

little attempt to tackle that issue.

The Government declined to be

interviewed for this programme. They

told Panorama that their new

integration strategy will be

published shortly. Both Blackburn's

MP and the leader of the council

also declined to take part. In a

statement, the council said:

Blackburn is a town on the up. Our

diversity is a big strength for us.

We fully acknowledge that there is

segregation of communities in terms

of where people live, building links

between communities continues to be

a priority.

Ten years on from when they were

first filmed by Panorama, Ian and

Mohammed, our two cabbies, meet up

on the bridge that links their

communities.

Oh, hello.

You OK?

Yes.

Yes.

So, what do you think - has anything

changed on your side?

No. Not at

all. Not at all.

Nothing?

No. No. As

you say, we are integrating less

than we were before.

Do you know why

that is?

Well, there's only one

reason - isn't there? Racism.

There's a big divide?

There is. We

don't socialise together, do we?

See

what happens, the next ten years.

That's right. Might be coming back

in ten years, hey!

Yeah.

To do

another one... If I'm still around.

OK then. Take care. Lovely to see

you.

And you.

Goodbye.