Zoe Williams’ article (Angry and Brexity? The white working class does not exist, G2, 2 August) is staggering. Over a decade ago I had a letter published in your paper (17 April 2006) describing my company’s analyses of Birmingham for two separate clients which showed that the huge area of largely white-British estates to the east and south of the city displayed the lowest access to a whole array of services – from higher education to leisure and culture, backed by poor health and infrastructure. The gaps were more serious than in the much more multicultural inner-city. These wards were the areas totally free of anything metropolitan, with no obvious community foci and no collective voice to fight their corner.
There has been some recognition of the city’s social geography since then by stakeholders, but the disparities remain for a definable, large sub-group of the city and indeed a swathe of our country’s urban population. Yet Williams claims that we should not use the category of low-income or working-class white, implying it is not a discrete grouping.
Really? By any definition it comprises a larger population than the ethnic minorities combined – and it has a series of unique experiential and aspirational parameters not shared by other groups. Ignoring its presence will ensure that analysis of any social indicators by ethnicity (as is frequently the case in published research) will mean that living in a deeply deprived white household means that you will nonetheless be categorised as higher income, better housed, healthier and better provided for than the remainder of the population.
Her article reminds me of the off-the-record reaction to our findings of a senior arts professional in Birmingham a few years ago, who stated: “They’ve had their chance, let’s focus elsewhere.” In other words let’s wish them away.
Paul Baker
Managing director, Vector Research Limited
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