Every once in a while, an opinion piece in a broadsheet newspaper causes my jaw to drop and my eyes to take on the appearance of saucers. Richard Spencer’s telegraph blog entry did that just now. His criticism about Douglas Murray’s previous blog entry regarding Diane Abbott, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and their obtuse stupidity, was adorned with the subtle card of racism. The fact that the two women in question happen to be from ethnic minorities causes Spencer to stumble over vague yet sinister ground regarding Murray’s motives.
It may be, of course, a coincidence that the candidates, Diane Abbott MP and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a newspaper columnist, are both from ethnic minorities.
The rather taciturn ‘may be’, a useful get out of jail card, in this case highlights the seemingly convinced mind, behind the wording, regarding the guilt of the accused. A little later into the paragraph, linked to above, another nail in the coffin is nailed with the semi-cliché ‘a coincidence too far’.
The final paragraph of Spencer’s article is the one that caused most surprise however where he refers to Ms Abbott’s recent scolding on the BBC’s This Week.
And finally, by the way, what if it were true – what if West Indian mums do love their children more than the average, as measured by race? Neither Murray or Neil consider that possibility, which is a much more interesting question.
I wonder if he would have even dared put down in writing a contemplation, however weakly, of whether white mothers love their children more than black mothers? I highly doubt it. Remember Rod Liddle anyone?
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is of course the women who accuses all non-white right-wingers as “Uncle Toms” and says ‘indigenous Britons’ deep down, want to tear ethnic minorities to pieces. You can read more of her diatribes here. Ugandan-born Alibhai-Brown, by the way, was given welcome sanctuary in Britain just before the expulsion of Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin.
Diane Abbott is the woman who claimed “blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls” might be unsuitable to work in London hospitals because “may never have met a black person before”. Then of course there’s her more recent “West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children” in which she included herself in that category. This from a woman who was born in Paddington, London.
Update: You can read Douglas Murray’s reply to Richard Spencer here.
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just came across this by accident. probably too late now but you should do your research. the “west indian mums would go to the wall for their kids” was the phrase that andrew neil turned into “west indians love their kids more than white mums”. so they are not two different examples. if you had read the original interview you would have seen that she wasn’t meaning it in an entirely positive way – she was suggesting there was something atavistic – desperate, almost – about the way west indian mothers treated their kids. that, on the other hand, (by implication) white middle class parents can be more relaxed and confident. which is, if you think about it, absolutely true.
if you had read that full interview my arguments might have made slightly more sense to you.