Earlier today we saw the Prime Minister pander to the most unsavoury elements of our society by inferring that multiculturalism in the UK had failed and was the root of the problem of extremism. On the face of it, this may seem like a bold and extreme statement but it seems to me that this is a blatant act of political oppurtunism to win over the disillusioned Conservative right. Mr Cameron is seen as soft by many right wing Tories and they have lost a reasonable number of votes to UKIP and the BNP in recent years because of this. I am always uncomfortable with the term "national identity" because it is so hard to define and and to say that multiculturalism has 'failed' because of a small number of extremists both on the Islamic side and the far right is an absolute joke, I live in the City of Glasgow- a city which undeniably has many social problems, but conversely a city rich in diversity which adds to it's vibrancy with very little of the extremism that Mr Cameron associates with multiculturalism.
Perhaps the most pressing form of extremism that Mr Cameron could address would be his own extremist Conservative Dogma which is currently benefiting the wealthiest in the UK while the poorest and most vulnerable suffer the most from the cuts- for example the councils in this country which will suffer cuts of up to 8.9% are the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Doncaster, Hackney and Tower Hamlets- these places have some of the highest levels of social problems and poverty on these islands- not to mention the cuts £1.3billion cut in the Scottish budget. Meanwhile, in Windsor, Dorset and Buckinghamshire there are cuts of less than 1%- these are among the richest council areas in the country. The real division in the United Kingdom is between the rich and the poor - no attempt by David Cameron to deflect from this issue will change that fact.
