To David Olusoga’s brilliant article on the history and context of the recent racist disturbances (“There can be no excuses. The UK riots were violent racism fomented by populism”), I would add just one further ideological strand: the hostile environment facing immigrants and minorities has a long postwar history. It can be traced to the notorious “rivers of blood” speech by Enoch Powell in 1968.
Ever since, there has been a bipartisan nervousness and reticence about immigration, fuelled by hostile rightwing media. There has never been a consistently robust defence and promotion of immigration and its benefits, culminating in the Brexit vote. The consensus has always been that numbers of immigrants are too high and are a problem.
