Here's another excerpt of that same blog post written by Mark Easton:

"This is a problem because it is the recent arrival of people from different ethnic backgrounds into predominantly white communities which is the cause of one of the anxieties underlying the programme. It is not the fact that the new arrivals look different; it is that they behave differently. But neighbourhoods are being transformed because people from other cultures are moving in there. Rapid social change is often linked to ethnic change - and people are disturbed by that."

-snip-

Of course, this is Mr. Easton's opinion, and I'm not sure that I buy his view that "It is not the fact that the new arrivals look different; it is that they behave differently."

That was my first reaction to that sentence. My second reaction was to wonder how and when new arrivals to Britain are behaving differently. Speaking for myself (as I always do), some differences in behavior would cause me concern (like people walking around with no clothes on) while others would be either interesting, positive, or none of my business (like people chosing to wearing their tradition clothing or eat their foods from their culture of origin).

Here's a reader's comment to that particular portion of that blog post:

#3-1:13pm on 23 Oct 2009, The Magic Tramp wrote:


[The above excerpt quoted]

"There is a little logical inconsistency in your approach Mark Easton, ironically, one you share with the BNP.

The claim that people are concerned about immigrant behaviour is not born out by the facts. For example, Mr Griffin complained that he had a less sympathetic audience in West London because it is no longer a British city, that the 'indigenous' community is in the minority. However, the audience appeared to have a skin-colour mix that would suggest a high percentage of of them would be considered British by the BNP, yet there was an overwhelming support from the vast majority of the audience for positions that were against the BNP.

Similarly, if you look at the distribution of BNP candidates for local councils they tend to come from areas of low immigration. And, if the recently released BNP membership lists are to be taken at face value, then the membership from areas with high levels of mixed ethnicities is incredibly low.

So how is it possible that the rise of the BNP, and the general rise of racial concern in the population, is engendered by different cultural behavior but does not seem to provoke political action from the white populations in those areas?"