Jubilee celebrations unite communities from all parts of society in patriotic pride.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....-patriotic-pride.html

This type of statement was banded about by various sections of the media over the jubilee weekend, but is it really true?

From what I witnessed, members of the ethnic communities were noticeable by their absence in the crowds at the Street Parties, along the Embankment, in the Mall, in the Concert crowds, and outside the Palace.

The TV camera men would pan the crowds in search of members from these communities, and when they did spot one they focused their cameras upon them, the lady pictured in the Daily Mail was one such person and good for her, I am pleased to see that she at least wants to truly integrate into British society.

But is it true that in the last 60 years the Queen has overseen the "transformation" (of Britain) into a multi ethnic, multi racial and diverse nation?

If it is actually true, it is certain that we have not seen a completely united nation.

[FredPuli43]

"May" is the operative word, AOG. Only one of your pictures shows a number of young people.
They weren't numerous in Grosvenor Road, though I dare say I could have found one young couple who had made an effort to dress up and decorate themselves, and who would proudly pose for the camera.

[Gromit]

Try Photo 7 and 9 here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18297130

// Second link, shows just two children one wearing a crown with a non- Union flag upon it. //

I didn't know the Union flag was compulsary. The flag you refer to is the Kenyan flag, part of the Commonwealth. The Diamond Jubilee is celebrated not just by the English, your avatar is Canadian jubilee emblem remember.

[Kromovaracun]

^ lol.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

Well I have read through your link a couple of times and apart from the photo stating it was taken during the massive Diamond Jubilee Party in Whalley Range, Blackburn, there doesn't seem to be any report from that area.

Plenty from the organisers and residents of the other parties,

Maureen McGarvey, former mayor and chair of the Friends of Roe Lee Park.

Jason Walker, an organiser.

Heather Knowles, treasurer of Longton Estate Residents’ Association.

Grant Magowen, one of the organisers.

Barbara Stillman, a fellow organiser.

Linda Clegg, 60, one of the organisers of the event.

Billy Bantam, who has lived in the street for 24 years.

Resident Mary Andrew spent a month knitting 20ft of red, white and blue bunting to decorate her house.

Party co-ordinator Marilyn Lord, 62.

Unlucky pensioner Harry Aines, 72 who was put in stocks.

Amanda McQuillan, 39, said: “This is the first time the whole street have got together.

Mmmmm, I think you get the gist.

[sp1814]

AOG

Isn't it entirely possible that there have been hundreds of small community get togethers all over the country that we don't know about, because as such - they're not newsworthy?

You said:

"From what I witnessed, members of the ethnic communities were noticeable by their absence in the crowds at the Street Parties, along the Embankment, in the Mall, in the Concert crowds, and outside the Palace."

Well, that's your experience, but unless you were strapped into a jet pack on the day, you couldn't have possibly visited all the areas with large immigrant communities all over the country.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// Isn't it entirely possible that there have been hundreds of small community get togethers all over the country that we don't know about, because as such - they're not newsworthy? ///

Not newsworthy? I beg to differ that is what this thread is all about, the media would pounce on any example to show the togetherness in our multi racial, multi cultural society, just as they have done in this case by highlighting the picture of Yasmin Majid and her children Adnan and Misbah.

It's what they do i.e. the first Black President, the first Asian peer, the camera-man who will regularly focus in on the only black Guardsman in the battalion etc.etc.

Why?

[Mick-Talbot]

Why ?



Just what I was thinking WHY ?

[FredPuli43]

Indeed, why? The media are quick to point up the women , too : first woman president, first woman PM, first woman High Court Judge, any woman airline or RAF pilot, women CEOs. It's not as though women aren't integrated.

But women in some places or posts are seen as a curiosity. For some people, black and brown people, and Muslims too, are seen as a curiosity in some places and posts. Though not all; the senior prosecution counsel at the Old Bailey is Muslim, as is the chief CPS prosecutor for the North West, yet the first never gets mentioned and the second only occasionally when the Rochdale case was running.

[sp1814]

AOG

I'll answer your questions one by one - the first <female/gay/blind/wheelchair-user) in many public-facing roles is newsworthy.

When Thatcher became PM, no-one cared that she was the first person from Grantham to be elected PM, but it was BIG news that she was the first female PM.

Same with Blunkett as the first blind Home Secretary and Chris Smith as the first openly gay cabinet member.

Firsts are news.

Now - back to what your point about newsworthiness of the stories...if you have a Muslim woman wearing a Union Jack hadscarf down the middle of the Mall - newsworthy...and the TV companies salivated over that.

However, what's the newsworthiness of filming black and white schoolkids in Dalston painting pictures of the Queen, or a street party in Brixton.

We've already shown you pictures and given you links. No doubt, with a little more effort, we could flood AB with a load of links, but then...what are we trying to prove? Your original question seemed to be asking whether different communities really came together over the Jubilee. The answer seems to be a qualified 'yes' - it depends exactly where you were.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// Your original question seemed to be asking whether different communities really came together over the Jubilee. The answer seems to be a qualified 'yes' - it depends exactly where you
were. ///

Well it is obvious that the cameras could not go down every street, estate in any hamlet, village, town or city in the UK.

But nearly the whole of the world's media circus was focused on our capital, the place where it was all happening, perhaps the most diverse multi ethnic, multi cultural and multi religious city in the world.

So why didn't the different communities really came together in Central London?

[emmie]

AOG, no idea, but they certainly didn't around our way. One had to get down to The Thames, or The Mall to see people celebrating.