by Ben Sixsmith, The Critic
Is the British countryside too British?
You might think that rural life has taken enough of a beating of late. Rachel Reeves clamped down on tax relief for farmers. Pubs are disappearing across the countryside. Trail hunting is on the brink of being banned.
Still, the UK’s metropolitan know-it-alls have another problem with Britain’s green and pleasant lands: they are too damn white. As a useful round-up in The Telegraph makes clear, officials across the UK are pushing for the diversification of rural life.
Let us pause to acknowledge that concern about areas not reflecting nationwide demographics only occurs when they are disproportionately white. No officials fret about making Newham or Tower Hamlets more accessible for white people.
That the countryside is insufficiently reflective of Britain’s multiculturalism, though, weighs on the minds of the UK’s egalitarian eggheads. Various reports have been commissioned to investigate why people from minority backgrounds might be less inclined to escape the country.