Controversial politician Enoch Powell pictured on Westminster Bridge in view of the Houses of Parliament as he prepares to return to the House of Commons following his resignation from the Conservative Party, London, October 23rd 1975. (Photo by Roger Jackson/Central Press/Getty Images)
Controversial politician Enoch Powell pictured on Westminster Bridge in view of the Houses of Parliament as he prepares to return to the House of Commons following his resignation from the ConservativShow more

Five decades after the 'rivers of blood' speech, prejudice still festers in Britain



On April 20, 1968, British MP Enoch Powell made his infamous “rivers of blood” speech. To an audience of his own Conservative political party, he recounted the story of a woman who said she was the only white resident on her street due to "white flight". He told the tale of a middle-aged working man, who said that “in 15 to 20 years time, the black man would have the whip hand over the white man”.

Five decades on from that day in 1968, it sometimes feels like Britain has stood still in time. The same words, the same rhetoric, the same anti-immigrant propaganda is rife. While the world has moved forward, Britain has remained stuck in the past and is struggling to define its place and identity in the modern world.

This week the government found itself in a storm of its own making, where this mix of racism and denial of reality came to the fore in the legacy of the Windrush generation.

After the end of the Second World War, Britain invited workers from the Caribbean to come and help make up for labour shortages. The first wave came in 1948 on board the Empire Windrush.

It carried 492 passengers, among them many children. The Windrush generation, as they came to be known, signified all those who arrived between 1948 and 1971, when the Immigration Act gave indefinite leave to remain to all Commonwealth citizens.

But under recent Conservative government policies called "hostile environment", some of the Windrush generation have been deported to countries they left as small children, places where they have no connections, having been forced to leave Britain where they have worked, raised families and paid taxes.

There is a habit that the right wing press in the UK have of dictating to people of colour that they should be grateful for living in Britain. The Windrush generation, who came at the behest of Britain to do all the jobs that weren't being done and that people couldn't or wouldn't do, to build the country back up after the war, show how ludicrous that habit is.

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Shelina Janmohamed is a weekly columnist for The National:

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It was a cold, miserable, difficult existence, where they faced abuse and poverty. Their labour had already been instrumental in generating the wealth of the British empire and of course, as long as they were "over there" doing the grind for the British empire it was fine.

But over here in the UK? That wasn't liked. It still isn’t. In the aftermath of empire, Britain has failed to understand that "over there" and "over here" are not two different things. It explains why on the one hand, it feels it can treat the Windrush generation this way while at the same time hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit and cosying up to the very same countries, hoping to generate trade.

Witness Powell's own dissonance: he invited the workers from 1960 to 1963 to build the NHS and the economy and five years later, he made the rivers of blood speech.

Earlier this year, the UK’s Treasury gushed on Twitter that the debt the government accrued in order to pay slave owners of Britain to release their slaves and thereby end slavery – in law if not in practice – had finally been paid off.

That in itself is shocking but doubly so if you consider that it might well have been the taxpayers among the Windrush generation and their children who were paying off the loans to those who kept their forefathers as slaves and were now being expelled a second time.

And yet, seemingly without any sense of irony of its own role in bleeding the colonies and the legacy of chaos and instability it has left behind, the British government has re-branded itself "Global Britain" and feels it can waltz back into the lives of the Commonwealth nations and become the leader of the gang, as though it continues to run an empire and that its clients will fall prostrate at its feet in delight at trading with Britain again.

The Commonwealth countries are less than impressed. Even The Economist called the concept "Globaloney".

As someone who was born and brought up in Britain, the child of immigrants who arrived in the 1960s and contributed to the nation, as I continue to do, I shake my head at a country that seems to struggle to realise that the world has changed and so has Britain's place within it. There is a certain myopia about what happened in the past, which is the root of our failure in the present.

As the debacle of Windrush shows, without understanding its past and the role it played, Britain's aspirations of being truly global once again are hollow dreams. If it doesn't quickly reassess its real standing in the world, they will soon turn to nightmares.

Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World

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In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

The National's picks

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Uefa Nations League: How it works

The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.

The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.

Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.

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Why does a queen bee feast only on royal jelly?

Some facts about bees:

The queen bee eats only royal jelly, an extraordinary food created by worker bees so she lives much longer

The life cycle of a worker bee is from 40-60 days

A queen bee lives for 3-5 years

This allows her to lay millions of eggs and allows the continuity of the bee colony

About 20,000 honey bees and one queen populate each hive

Honey is packed with vital vitamins, minerals, enzymes, water and anti-oxidants.

Apart from honey, five other products are royal jelly, the special food bees feed their queen 

Pollen is their protein source, a super food that is nutritious, rich in amino acids

Beewax is used to construct the combs. Due to its anti-fungal, anti-bacterial elements, it is used in skin treatments

Propolis, a resin-like material produced by bees is used to make hives. It has natural antibiotic qualities so works to sterilize hive,  protects from disease, keeps their home free from germs. Also used to treat sores, infection, warts

Bee venom is used by bees to protect themselves. Has anti-inflammatory properties, sometimes used to relieve conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, nerve and muscle pain

Honey, royal jelly, pollen have health enhancing qualities

The other three products are used for therapeutic purposes

Is beekeeping dangerous?

As long as you deal with bees gently, you will be safe, says Mohammed Al Najeh, who has worked with bees since he was a boy.

“The biggest mistake people make is they panic when they see a bee. They are small but smart creatures. If you move your hand quickly to hit the bees, this is an aggressive action and bees will defend themselves. They can sense the adrenalin in our body. But if we are calm, they are move away.”

 

 

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Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
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The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.

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How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

UK's plans to cut net migration

Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.

Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.

Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.

Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.

The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Three tips from La Perle's performers

1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.

2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.

3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.