| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:provocative article in Telegraph re Acton | |
| Posted by: | mike steer | |
| Date/Time: | 31/01/13 18:13:00 |
| I don't agree with the sentiment of the article but there are few things that are factual and do resonate for me. It's quite noticeable in some parts of Acton, Greenford, West Ealing and Hanwell that some locals no longer make eye contact, speak English or maintain premises that have the *main* signage in English (with secondary signage in anything else). The latter 3 points aren't just confirmed to practising Muslims though - there are plenty of Polish shops where you won't find anything written in English and that's not ok either. I do think that to aide social cohesion it's absolutely ok to expect that the main sign of a shop should be in English, internal signs should be in English and staff be able to speak to English speaking customers. On a related theme, I also think that the prominent use of Halal signs that are only written in arabic or use the halal symbol is unhelpful - people should be given a choice whether to eat halal food or not and the same is true in many other shops and restaurants outside of Acton and Ealing where the routine use of meat from non humanely slaughtered sources is not mentioned (Harvester, Fullers pubs, KFC, Subway and even Waitrose are all in good company on this one). On this point it's pretty clear to me that many people don't know what halal is, and when told would rather not eat it - more importantly this is an extremely important consideration for people whose religion requires them not to eat foods blessed for another another religion e.g. Sikhs. We should at least be given the choice - just as people who avoid beef and pork on religious grounds are also given a clear choice. I personally have also noticed that it's quite strange walking along pavements where people go to noticeable lengths not to make eye contact and do feel quite upset that it's increasingly common not to be even able to see women's faces. Whether this is by choice or not is actually of no interest to me - it's the fact that this is a barrier to recognising ones neighbours and building relationships with them - I would feel the same way if all my neighbours wore motorbike crash helmets. So whilst the article doesn't represent Acton for me it does highlight a few things that I do agree with and recognise are worthy of further discussion. |