12 October 2005
Wednesday 12 October 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Five years on from the Parekh report into the future of multi-ethnic Britain - how has that future shaped up? What elements of the report's championing of a multiculturalist approach are embedded in law and orthodoxy? And what does it have to tell us about Britishness in the wake of the July 7 bombings?
Programme details
Five years ago this week, Lord Parekh’s Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain published its report. It met with a salvo of criticism from some quarters, aimed primarily at a much-misquoted phrase which suggested that Britishness was “racially coded”.
Tonight on Night Waves Undercurrents, Philip Dodd and guests look back behind the controversy to discover how the report stands up today, what impact it has had over the last five years, and how the debate has shifted.
The Parekh Report attempted to balance a multicultural approach with a concern for the unity of the country. But has this been brutally overridden by the impact first of the 2001 riots in the northwest, then of the bombings this summer? Has its argument for a rethinking of the “national story” been taken up? And how relevant is it now, with increasing calls for an emphasis on common belonging rather than separate cultures?
To go beyond the noise of some discussions on this subject, and to explore more deeply the changing nature of the debate, Philip Dodd is joined by four people with real expertise in this area - the journalist Ehsan Masood, the sociologist Gerard Lemos, the cultural policy researcher Murina Mirza and Lord Parekh himself.
That’s Night Waves Undercurrents, this evening at 9.30pm with Philip Dodd, here on BBC Radio 3.
Producer: Phil Tinline
Presenter: Philip Dodd
