On Tuesday morning I woke up and saw news about my neighbourhood. I was hoping it would be positive – about our brilliant community organisations, our fantastic faith groups, our valiant voluntary associations. However, the news was that the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, had said that my neighbourhood was “as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country” and that he was concerned by “not seeing another white face” (Robert Jenrick accused of fuelling ‘toxic nationalism’ with Birmingham claims, 7 October).
It is a shame that Mr Jenrick fails to see beyond his nose, though I’m sure the real narrative doesn’t suit the social media soundbites he’s chasing after. The UK’s pound-shop JD Vance swans into the neighbourhood, sees some fly‑tipping (yes we know it’s an issue), spots a couple of faces and then makes sweeping statements that would fail the most basic of sense checks.
