<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/01/racist-go-home-place-dna-test-countries>
"While accepting that David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice
secretary is, for many, the human embodiment of Marmite – loved or hated, with
not much in between – one can still question whether, for all his faults, he
should “go home to the Caribbean”. Whether you agree with him over this or that
utterance or the broad sweep of government policy, he has, unquestionably made
his contribution to Tottenham, in north London, whose people he has represented
for a quarter of a century, to parliament, as a senior MP, as foreign secretary
and now as an important figure with several key portfolios.
So when a lieutenant of Nigel Farage, admittedly no fan of Lammy’s, suggests,
without notable contradiction or condemnation from Reform, that Lammy “should
go home to the Caribbean”, one is tempted to look at that askance. But then, in
the year just past, when bigotry in frontline politics took off its training
wheels and othering became the sport that everyone can play, the notion that
someone who clearly belongs here should not belong here ceased to shock.
Bad stuff happened in 2025. The big stuff you know: the violent, toxically
nativist besieging of asylum seeker hotels and the condoning of it by rightwing
politicians and media outlets. The deployment up and down the country by
hard-right activists of the British and St George’s flag, as a symbol, not of
collective adhesion (as it surely can be) but of intimidation. The very public
claims that Farage, a man with pretensions to lead our country, hurt people as
a racist school bully and refuses to atone or suitably acknowledge their hurt
now that he is a dog-whistling adult.
But I’m also thinking of less high-profile stuff. Like the friend who went for
a weekend out of London into summery, leafy Middle England and, while waiting
at a road junction, was assailed as a “black bitch” by a car passenger waiting
at the lights, seeking to prove to an even younger passenger – perhaps his own
son – that he wasn’t constrained by the strictures of woke.
Like the student who, along with his father, entered a pub in the West Country
– to sample the local colour, watch a bit of football – and was advised to
leave because it wasn’t a good or safe place for “Pakis”. Like the health
worker friend whose job entails driving into towns and villages, who continued
to do so amid the summer explosion of union flags but who said that as a black
man entering those places, he felt, for the first time, the need to watch his
back. All were acting as if they belong, with infinite justification. All were
given reason to doubt. Diehard populists and racists want that kind of Britain
and they’ve had a good year. According to a new study by the Institute for
Public Policy Research (IPPR), the number of people absorbing and mirroring
hard right narratives is rising. Time to take stock: divided, resentful,
hostile to all but a default culture – is that the sort of country the rest of
us want?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
