cancel2 2022
Canceled
Death of the Cockney: A BBC film, Last Whites Of The East End, reveals the seismic effects of mass migration on British communities - and how it's often ethnic minorities who are most worried by it
'Everything this area stood for is being eradicated slowly but surely,’ says this proud, sad fifth generation East Ender. ‘In ten years’ time, there’ll be absolutely no trace of Cockney culture.’ Things used to be different, he says. ‘I miss those days when everyone knew everyone.’ Now his children are growing up with little knowledge of ‘the British way of life’. These days, he says, some schools are more like ‘Africa or Romania’. He is not being particularly outspoken. In fact, it is hard to find anyone who was born and bred in these streets who would argue with him. No doubt, Shadow Europe Minister Pat Glass — who this week condemned an entire Derbyshire village after a ‘horrible racist’ voter dared to voice concerns about immigration — would like to have him carted off for re-education.
Cockneys are becoming a minority in east London, (pictured) which is the UK's most multicultural borough, with 70,000 immigrants arriving over the past 15 years
But what is really astonishing is that these remarks come not from some Alf Garnett-style Cockney dinosaur wailing into his pint down at the Queen Vic. They are the thoughts of Usmaan Hussain, a dad with a young family, who is every bit as proud of his East End roots as his Bangladeshi ancestry. He loves West Ham United and has just started up a Muslim prayer group. He is one of many Cockneys whose moving lament for a dying way of life is the subject of a powerful documentary next week on BBC1. It will make extremely uncomfortable viewing for all the main political parties, not to mention the local council — which is already disputing some of its assertions. And it seems that there are some within the BBC who are worried about this film, too. I am sure the channel will issue plenty of health warnings before the start of Last Whites Of The East End. And they won’t be referring to the swearing. If you’re the sort of delicate flower who feels threatened by Germaine Greer’s views on gender change or a statue of Cecil Rhodes, then you should switch channels immediately.
Take the story of bus driver Tony Cunningham, 39. He is moving out of the East End, he says, because successive waves of immigration have changed it beyond recognition. ‘White people are given a very, very bad time round here,’ he says. And he is not prepared to raise his baby daughter there. ‘The first thing I think about when I get up is how to get her out of this area,’ explains this gentle giant of a man as he drives through the London Borough of Newham, where a typical primary school has to cope with 43 different languages.
