Poll: White Britons have few or no

[tecumseh]

More than nine out of 10 white Britons have no or hardly any ethnic minority friends, according to a poll that reveals the continuing gulf between races and religions more than 40 years after the UK became a multicultural society.

The Guardian has seen details of the survey, to be released this week by the Commission for Racial Equality.

It shows that a majority of white people do not share the bonds of close friendship with their fellow black, Asian or Muslim Britons, meaning they may lack the empathy that close contact can bring. The CRE warns this leaves swaths of the population open to believing the worst of different ethnic and religious groups.

http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2004/...f_whites_ha.php (http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2004/07/90_of_whites_ha.php)

[worldtradeisadeathmachine]

Bloody hell.

[TC]

Mmm that seems...bizzar to me but maybe because i live in London...i would guess that if the survey was conducted properly and the results are accurate it probably relates to few ethnic minorities in the british countryside where most white britsih people live, and few white british in immigrant ghettos which account for a sizable portion of the non-white population.

It doesn't necessarily imply personal prejudice as much as lack of availability as well.

[Sadena Meti]

Remeber to take into account that the UK is 92.1% white. And as TC pointed out, ethnic minorities are concentrated in urban areas.

[Roree]

I'm white british and have many asian friends (there are almost no black people in my area though). I never really thought of them as different...

[bolshevik butcher]

I've got asian and chinese friends, but as has been pointed out the UK is 92% white, and outside of the big cities there are very little people from ethnic minoroties.

[Dr Mindbender]

im white and my fiance is oriental, but then ive always been more forward thinking than my contemporaries. I think religious leaders have a lot to answer for because they control most public respect on a local level and have been reluctant to be broader thinking outside their own communities.

[Hegemonicretribution]

I know there are some problems over here, but I don't see too many people, especially most groups (not all) of white teens that have no friends from minority groups. I think where there is a mix people often mix...There are areas of conflict and tehre is still a hell of a lot of work to be one, but mindsets are perhaps more "noble" now, if misguided.

[Physco Bitch]

Where i live there are a load of black and asian people, i have friends of all colours and funnily enough i don't see them as any different to anybody else. I was always brought up to feel comfortable around anybody how is different in anyway (wether diffrenet ethnic groups or being blind or disabled...etc...etc.)
In areas where there is little or no coloured people then it is not too suprising that they don't have any coloured friends, they also could end up being stiff and uncomfortable around them for reasons of not being used to being in a town full of ethnic groups.

[Gold Against The Soul]

This is a result of encouraged segregation. You can come here from just about anywhere in the world, move into your own community and carry on as you were. You don't even need to learn the language.

[RedAnarchist]

I'm from Preston in Lancashire which is a small city and I've always had a small number of Asian and black friends.

[Jazzratt]

I refuse to take part in this "some of must best friends are black" pissing contest type thing. For a start I live in a little backwater on the south coast that has a tiny non-white population, secondly even though I do have some friends who are non whiter I refuse to raise them onto some kind of pedastal and shout "lookit me, I got some friends of a different ethnicity!" as if that makes me any more or less racist.