We need to get the white community to think more clearly about why white bankers have ruined the economy

White collar crime may be more than just about the shade of togs. This is obviously a fatuous comment but shows the problem with racialising an issue as Jack Straw has.

I was going to add more stereotypes to the fray such as asking what white people are going to do about many of their number - not all of course - drink driving.

But it also has to be acknowledged that there are probably a fair number of crimes that young men of Pakistani heritage are disproportionally involved in. I say this because they are statistically more likely to be in prison than the rest of the population.

Taking Jack Straw's line of asking the Pakistani community to sort it out is not the way forward though. It's like looking to white working class communities to resolve the reasons why they are more likely to be in jail than middle and upper classes. This is for all of society to answer.

And class surely is at the heart of this. Young Pakistani men have the worst educational attainment of any ethnic group and are the least likely to go to university.

I've suggested to government for a while, including the Scottish Government, that this state of affairs should be investigated to find the reasons behind it and how it can be improved. In the absence of proper research and data, conjecture and Jack Straw fill the space.

Comments

[Blaikie]

Brilliant title to this post ! Haha.

[MekQuarrie]

Good point. Michael Gove (who seems a likeable enough chap) struck me a bit dumb last night with the rather pompous 'self-regulation' argument on BBC's 'Question Time'. I think the only reason he got a lot of nods is because of the idea that the conscientious, intelligent communities in question might end up being lectured to by pompous middle-class white men.