I hate to admit it, but David Cameron has a point…

…and I feel dirty for saying so.

His speech detailing the failings of multiculturalism at a security conference in Germany (which can be found here) made a lot of sense to me. In fact, the points made were fairly similar to the ones I made in an essay I wrote on multiculturalism in my first year of university.

Multiculturalism has not entirely failed. But it does need to be reworked and reshaped.

The problem with the multiculturalism we have in Britain is that it creates insular factions within society. Racial groups who live in bubbles where they choose to interact only with people and processes within their culture. This can breed racial tension, as these groups are deeply suspicious of other groups, as well as mainstream society. And in some cases, it can breed extremists.

I am not saying we should get rid of multiculturalism. The right to celebrate and honor one’s cultural heritage is a right that should always remain intact. What Britain needs , however, is a mixture of assimilation and multiculturalism. Different cultural and racial groups should recognize that they are also part of one society and culture; and that they also have a set of British cultural values that everyone adheres to and is proud of. A collective identity.

By doing this, we allow ethnic minorities to celebrate their own cultural background, but also feel they are part of British culture. This will invariably lead to more trust between different racial groups and less racism.

Here is an example to illustrate. Amongst my British Chinese friends, there are two different types:

• The well rounded British Chinese person. He or she has friends from many different cultures and racial backgrounds as well as friends from his or her own community. He or she also embraces British culture alongside Chinese culture.

• The insular British Chinese person. He or she lives in a bubble where they only interact with other Chinese. He or she does their best not to interact with other races or cultures and is deeply critical and suspicious of British culture, choosing only to celebrate their own way of life. As a result of this, they find it very difficult to fit in to British society and do not make many friends at, for example, work.

As a society, we need to be to be encouraging the first option.

I therefore grudgingly admit David Cameron is right.

What’s the best way to handle things when you’ve been Wikileaked?

I admire Julian Assange. He’s very much like the kid at school who made a mockery of the teacher, by distributing mislaid photos of him intoxicated at the staff Christmas party in a tight embrace with another member of staff.

Perhaps the US government should also see Assange in this light and instead of simply pursuing this thorn of a kid for detention, they should also step forward in front of the class and explain their actions.

The problem being faced by the U.S and other national administrations is that, just like the kid at school, Assange is revered by many for his actions. His supporters include many high profile journalists and individuals within the media.

Whilst it would be foolish of me to think that the Americans would actually care about criticisms that they would face should they continue to chase Assange, I do believe they could gives us a little something to make us think they were not such a big international bully. That would be facing up to these leaked U.S cables and, instead of feeding us bent versions of the truth, holding up their hands and apologising.

The best way to handle embarrassment is not to get angry or even, but to face it and all those talking or laughing at you in a dignified and honest manner.

Of course some of you are asking, what about the ‘riskier’ cables? That is, the cables that do not just embarrass, but could potentially be dangerous for those mentioned as some have said? I am of course talking about the cables detailing important U.S government assets and resources as well as the locations of troops.

Well, to be honest, having assessed what was released I do not concur that this information poses a serious threat. Locations may have been released but most of these things could have been discovered or concluded to be there, with a bit of research and hard work from someone with a bit of intellectual clout.

Again, the best way to face up to these releases is to, well, face up to it. Publicly and honestly.

We now live in an information rich age. To keep secrets is to cling on to the past and reinforce mistrust and hysteria. One needs only to look North Korea to see how this is working out.

Governments should be learning from Wikileaks, not trying to destroy it.

It finally feels like a recession...well to me it does

Call me naive, but when I first heard news of Britain sinking into a recession back in 2007, I was expecting there to be images of a descent into squalor in urban environments and a drastic change in the behaviour of people affected by this economic crisis.

What I mean is, I was expecting to be bombarded by constant media coverage of picket lines and demonstrations of irate and desperate unemployed workers; I was expecting a plethora of boarded up and dilapidated shops to suddenly start appearing; I was expecting rubbish to suddenly engulf the streets; I was expecting whole families to be walking around in torn clothes begging for money.

Hell, I was even expecting some sort of dust storm to sweep across Britain taking with it every inch of arable soil, making it virtually impossible for our farming industry to continue.

Clearly my expectations of a recession were influenced by images of the Great Depression in 1930s and the Winter of Discontent during the 1970s.

None of the aforementioned has really happened. We are still subject to constant advertising campaigns of Apple’s latest release; people are still walking through Oxford Street buying the latest fashion; celebrity controversy and X-factor still dominate television; Premiership football is still attracting large audiences with millions continuing to be spent on players and their wages.

To put it bluntly, apart from the daily news reports of how unemployment is rising and how some numbers on a computer screen have changed somewhere, it doesn’t feel like a recession.
That is, until recently.

In a recession, there is always one group of people in society affected who are most visible to the media. In the 1930s, it was the American urban workers who were often photographed queuing up for jobs or handouts. In the 1970s, it was the British trade unions and their marches that became defining picture of that era.

Now in the late 2000s recession, it seems as though it is the students who have taken up the mantle of potentially becoming the iconic picture of our economic crisis. The thousands who have marched, and the minority who have rioted on the streets of London have finally made it feel, to me, as though we are indeed in tough times.

Students are, by no means, the only faction affected nor are they most severely affected. There have been many other groups in society that have already felt the grip of recession for several months and perhaps even years now. It just so happens, that this time round, the students have had the loudest voices.

And with several commentators mentioning that we are to expect more demonstrations in the upcoming weeks, it seems very likely that they will indeed become defining image of this era.

When You go to Prison, You are Denied your Liberty – but not your Human Rights.

“Oh those bloody Europeans and their damned liberal ways” was the thoughts of many today as news broke out that the government now had to consider giving the prisoners the vote under pressure from the European Courts of Human Rights.

But like it or not, prisoners are still human beings that are under the rule of the state. And consequently their basic human rights must still be adhered to.
Before all you Daily Mail readers jump and maul me to a painful online death, please consider this: what is the real point of prison? And the answer to that is: to restrict and rehabilitate those that have been a danger to society.

The key words are ‘restrict’ and ‘rehabilitate’. When you go to prison, you lose your liberty and freedom of movement. This removes the threat to society. You also go in to be taught a lesson and to potentially come out (if you ever do come out again) a changed person who will no longer pose a threat to society (although this part of the function of incarceration and how it is enacted seems to be somewhat questionable these days).

I concur with the idea that prison should be a harsh place where authority is harsh and punishment is even harsher. There should be no comfortable mattress nor TV viewing pleasure (and unfortunately, this notion has seemingly not been adhered to by the previous government who have given some prisons an almost homely feel). However, whilst these despicable individuals who have committed crimes deserve to be treated unsympathetically and severely, they do not deserve to be treated inhumanely.

Without the vote, government pays less attention to prison and what goes on inside them. Without the vote, prisoners lose touch of society and their road to rehabilitation becomes more difficult one to walk.

How not to handle a hostage situation

Hong Kong, a special administrative region in South-East China that usually takes a position of neutrality in international affairs, was caught up in a horrifying incident that has sent shockwaves throughout the Far East and most of the rest of the world.

A coach load of Hong Kong tourists, who were travelling through Manila in the Philippines, was hijacked by an armed former policeman who was angry at his unfair dismissal from the police force. Dubbed the ‘Manila Siege’, the incident dragged on for many hours before concluding with a bloody gunfight between the suspect and the police as they stormed the coach. The resulting fatalities were eight Hong Kong tourists. Two survivors were identified as British nationals.

What has shocked people, is not just the act of terrorism, but the level of incompetence shown by the supposedly highly trained Filipino SWAT team whose strategy to rescue the tourists was filmed entirely by the media and seen by most of the world.

The anger amongst the Hong Kong people is understandable. Watching the team carry out their mission was like watching a bunch of unruly children trying to smash up a dilapidated car with bricks and cricket bats. I have seen better tactics and strategies employed by people at paint balling events. Had it not been for the tragic deaths of 8 people, the whole incident would have been laughable.

I’m no expert on hostage situations, but even I know that attempting to smash the windows of a coach open with sledgehammers whilst an irrational armed gunman inside is rapidly panicking is not a good idea at all. What was even more aggravating was learning that several times during the incident, the gunman actually walked right to the door of the bus, with his gun by his side, to talk to the police. Where were the close combat police ready to take him out? Or even better, where was the marksman ready to take a shot?! Don’t let him get back on the bus with the hostages!

And even if it wasn’t possible to take him out there and then, surely it would have been better to simply give in to his demands! After all, he was one man and one man only. Not a terrorist group. Give him what he wants, draw him out into the open and arrest him.

I think the one piece of footage that really summed up the whole farce was that of a Filipino SWAT team member attempting to throw some sort of smoke grenade through a hole in the window – only for it to fall back out again resulting in him having to do it a second time.

Utter shambles, utter incompetence and sadly, a tragic end to a situation that could have been solved without any loss of life.

Even worse is how the Philippine government now acts as if they handled the situation in the best possible manner.

Understandably now, the relations between Hong Kong and the Philippines are strained.

But there is another thing we have to remember and I hope that all people who feel some sort of anger towards the incident remember. You are angry at the decisions and actions of the Filipino Police and government – not the Filipino people. It has been astounding how, over the past few days, some Hong Kong citizens have expressed their fury at the Filipinos particularly the sizeable Filipino community that resides in the region. Some Filipinos have even lost their jobs as housekeepers in Hong Kong households as a result of this. We must remember that this amounts to pure racism and misdirected anger.

Why this has been the most disappointing World Cup of recent memory

Whilst the Spanish celebrate their historic first World Cup triumph, it is now for the rest of the football world to review how this tournament has panned out. I suppose the first world that comes to mind is disappointing and here’s 5 reasons why.

The quality of the football

This was a World Cup characterized by terror. No I’m not talking about what the North Korean team have to return to, I’m referencing the attitude adopted by many of the teams on the field. They were simply terrified of losing. And this resulted in defensive, anti-football tactics which left little room for creativity, attacking flair and, most importantly, goals. The fact that Spain, the champions, scored only 8 goals for the whole tournament is testament to this. After 64 games played, I could probably count out on two hands the amount of matches that actually had me on the edge of my seat. A real shame but then I suppose many of the managers of lesser teams were being realistic. Sending North Korea out to go all out attack on the Brazilians would have been like telling the armed police officers of a truck full of money travelling through South Africa’s deepest, darkest, dodgiest streets to take the day off. Absolute carnage.

The failure of the top stars to perform

Was it fatigue? Was it the pressure of expectation? Or perhaps it was the result of the defensive tactics employed by the teams they played against? Whatever the reason, many of the supposed top stars tipped to shine at this world cup failed to show up. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi. The appearance of these names would normally be enough to send most men to a quivering wreck of excitement, but the reality was that they were about as gripping as an episode of Doctor Who.

Those vuvuzelas

The sound of a thousand angry bees will now haunt me for some time after this world cup. Blowing a tuneless horn with no semblance of rhythm constantly for 90 minutes is not atmosphere. It’s just a bit annoying.

Outpriced South African fans

Fifa pledged to make tickets available for all local residents. This is how a World Cup should be – a chance for the local residents to experience one of the biggest sporting events on earth. Unfortunately Fifa also forgot the average wage of a South African is well below that of many of their European counterparts and so did not lower the prices of tickets. The result? Visibly empty seats at many of the matches including the semi-finals.

The Jabulani

Why change the most integral piece of equipment for a football match Adidas? Whilst the new technology and design of the ball promised more true flight and harder shots, it rarely failed to live up to its claim. Having played with the ball myself, I have to say I hated it. Too light and anything but predictable when it was airborne. This was shown by the amount of players who couldn’t master controlling and striking the ball despite being top class professionals. Give me a good old fashioned 32 panel ball any day.

Football, football, footbal

The papers tomorrow will probably use words such as ‘incredible’ and ‘impressive’ to describe the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. I however, beg to differ. It was tedious and almost predictable in some places. Whilst it’s always nice to see a nation’s demonstration of its culture in sporting ceremonies, World Cup openers have become routine events where as many pop stars, musicians and children from the nation in question are shoved in to produce an over bulging ritual that simply tries too hard. I suppose my own standards were pretty high having watched the immensely impressive, yet hugely expensive, opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics two years ago. I don’t think we will be witnessing a ceremony better than that for many years to come.

That said, it was rather nice to finally see a highly criticized country prove to the world that they could pull it off. It was like watching the end of those TV shows where people who have let themselves go are put through a makeover and surgery and finally revealed to their friends as this transformed and somewhat attractive individual. Well done South Africa and well done Africa.

In terms of the football, the quality has been poor so far. The opening match between South Africa and Mexico was average at best bar a stunning goal from the hosts. France against Uruguay was even worse. Still, it was the first day and group A was never really going to set the tournament on fire. I am sure that in the next few days, we will be watching edge-of-our-seat matches where grown men will readily admit to messing their pants after witnessing a goal scored using immense skill and finesse.

And one also hopes that come 9:15pm tomorrow, we will be cheering an England win over those Americans.