Powell’s “Rivers of blood” speech has popped up in the media a lot of late, and I don’t think anyone who refers to it has the faintest idea what they are talking about, especially some loudmouth idiot on questiontime the other day.

They take snippets out of context and wave them around as if it were hate speech whereas in reality Powell’s warnings were based on hard evidence, numbers and a genuine concern for his constituency rather than intolerances of any kind.

Instead of taking time to understand the issues that so concerned Powell and looking at the relevence of his warnings to present social situations, people are homing in on statements within the speech with no regard for historical context and jumping to stupid conclusions.

As we all know – language was different 40 years ago; what some of our grandparents would consider a perfectly acceptable statement could be considered by many today as offensive for one reason or another, the same is true in the reverse.

The quote “In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.” Was referenced by Powell as something one of his constituents said to him.

While this statement may sound offensive and even racist to many today, we have to look at these things in historical context. This was an strong, but more acceptable statement in the 1960s.

Powel was merely pointing out that ordinary British citizens were afraid that they would become minorities in their own country and to dwell on individual statements out of context is a bad thing to do when trying to understand anyone’s argument.

It’s very difficult for us living in such a diverse community to imagine what it must have been like to become alien in the place we have lived al our lives and we cannot blame people who were scared for their fears and concerns. For many it felt like invasion to them. Are they racist for feeling like this? No!

Powell was not against cultural integration and immigration, he was also not a racist! What he was concerned about was the economic and social consequences of miss-management of immigration.

He thought that it was unfair to offer the same housing benefits to new immigrants that had not contributed to the British economy as residents who had contributed all their lives, he went on to warn that this policy would cause an economic strain on the country, not to mention ill feeling which could fuel racial tensions; these points were based on numbers and factual observations alone and were nothing to do with racial hatred or prejudice.

Powell also recognised an evolving set of double standards that arguably has grown to become a bigger social problem, he spoke of an elderly war widow who had been abused both verbally and physically by new immigrants and as a result did not want to take any in as lodgers. Of course this is understandable, considering her age and the drastic changes she has had to endure; however the council at the time offered no protection and even called her racist.

Of course people who have worked for 40 – 50 years for their country, have lost loved ones to wars which were fought to ensure long term prosperity and independence of the UK will feel threatened and upset when faced with a situation like this in their old age.

Would the same issues have arisen if immigration been dealt with differently, regulating numbers and housing to promote complete integration with British society within a sensable time frame?

Powell warned that a substantial proportion of new immigrants did not want to integrate with British society and that this would lead to problems. I must admit that I find it hard to accept that there are whole communities in my native country that despise our history and way of life.

If I wished to visit or live in another country I would certainly not be welcome if I hated the people, culture and way of life and was vocal about this fact.

Of course cultural diversity is a great asset to any community, but government management of immigration from the 60s right up until the present day has done more to promote separation and tension than it has to encourage integration this can only lead to the alienation of native English.

It must be a dream scenario for an incompetent government for a seriously miss-managed situation, where billions of tax payers money has literally been wasted to be a taboo subject.

There is a great hesitance to speak out on these subjects for fear of being branded ignorant, intolerant and racist, Powell found this out when he was swiftly removed from the shadow cabinet shortly after this speech.

Most discussion I have seen broadcast on these subjects has been mainly ill informed opinionated drivel, however ignorance with a loud voice is a very dangerous thing.

Perception is high among native British that they will be in the physical and political minority within their life times, there are substantial groups of immigrants living in the UK that despise the native British way of life, granted the individuals who wish to attack it are in the minority but the very fact that they are there at all can be attributed to government policy.

Had we listened to Mr Powell and regulated immigration promoting full integration the breeding ground for tension and hatred would have barely existed.

We have a social situation today of anarchy, segregation, racial tension and hatred as well as 100s of cases of alleged double standards on all levels from benefits to justice.

All this provides fierce fuel to extreme right wing groups such as the BNP and increases tensions further, but is any of this the fault of a particular ethnic group. I believe not.

Of course people will feel hard done by if they see newcomers to their country getting more benefits than they do.

Of course people will be upset when they feel unwelcome and alien in a place they have lived since child-hood, we cannot brand people racist for feeling this, nor can we blame any particular group if people immigrants or not.

People will be upset if they believe crimes against minorities receive greater police attention than crimes against native Brits, even if this isn’t the case. One has to ask, where this perception comes from though.

Government mistakes over the course of decades (not only on issues of immigration) has provided us with social, political and economic problems today that are so deeply rooted they are unsolvable; is this merely a transitional period, or has all hope for a functional and harmonious society been lost forever. Who knows if balance will ever be restored.