Hazel Blears, the home office minister, said yesterday that a member of the Muslim community in Oldham had suggested to her that the government might rename ethnic minority groups in a hyphenated US style:
"I am going to talk to people and ask how does that feel? It is about your identity and I think it's really important."
But is it? Would the terms "Asian-British" or "African-British", with their emphasis on racial rather than national or cultural origins, be an improvement on the current range of definitions - which are usually listed as "Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, any other Asian background, Caribbean, African, any other Black background, White, Irish, Chinese, any other ethnic group"? Or is this a pointless distraction for a government that should be debating more important topics?
