A Hodge podge culture for Britain

Margaret Hodge has always been an interfering type of socialist. Whilst fairly well-off herself, she is one of the Old Labour brigade that has taken on New Labour nonsense. She was a crony of Ken Livingstone's back in the 70's. Now she is Minister for Culture.

She has decided to have a go at the Proms, that great British institution which always ends with the Last Night. Ms Hodge thinks the banner-waving, song-singing, and general fun-loving crowd that attends is not representative. Representative of what, precisely?

What she is getting at is that she sees very few, if any, black faces there. So she is rumbling around with barby comments about inclusion and exclusion. How does she aim to rectify this? By banning the concerts, or forcing black and Asian people to attend, or saying you can't go unless you do a pretty good job at persuading "minorities" to attend.

The woman represents Barking in Parliament. Barking mad, she is! In a speech to the IPPR think tank on Britishness, Heritage and the Arts, Mrs Hodge said a "shared sense of common cultural identity" was a key part of social integration and cohesion. What if Asians don't want this? Are they less British? Does the host community have to bend at every request to ditch things that others find unattractive or unappealing?

She says Coronation Street is an institution that is part of "creating the icons of a common culture that everybody can feel a part of". What a load of tripe!

As David Cameron says, she just doesn't get it!

Posted in: inclusion,Last Night of the Proms,Margaret Hodge,minorities,New Labour