delga | { apparently it's all about stats this week. }

THIS POLL TELLS YOU NOTHING. For example, the sample, was it made up of first, second or third generation immigrants? Were these people educated in Britain, or abroad? Were they of mixed race? Do these people live in urban or rural communities? All these things make a difference.

You know what else? What the fuck qualifies as 'being British'? If you reject your cultural heritage, does that make you more or less British? More or less Asian?

For the record, I class myself as a British Asian, though I could easily say that I am English, and not be incorrect. Polls like this infuriate me because the assumptions made from them can't really be backed up. Also, what the hell does this collation of data actually mean? And what is it going to lead to people saying? Is it a bad thing that these people do or don't identify themselves as British? Also: coconut, wtf? By wich they mean, brown-skined but no real connection back to the 'homelands'. Isn't that really what it means to become absorbed into the society? Is that a bad thing, too?

Off to the post office, now.

edit: Mike Reid died. I'm utterly shocked.