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Nice summation of the situation by Billy Bragg -
"Do I think he's a racist? No. Do I think he's foolish to say these things? Yes I do. He's someone who used to be able to articulate an Englishness that's attractive and charming. No, he's not a racist, he's a bore. And to the old Morrissey, that would have been even worse, and I speak as a Smiths fan."
I don't think the guy's a racist. He did sound ridiculously conservative in that interview though, as if any kind of change is always bad. I suppose its partly a pose with him though isn't it?
But immigration is hardly changing the face of Britain, the country is still over 90% white and over 80% English (I think there are some other indiginous nations in the UK, but their names escape me at the moment and anyway they're not statistically significant and even worse at football than England).
The country would be changing even if all immigration stopped tomorrow, 'cos of little things like technology and global capitalism. And was it really that great in the first place?
My only doubt about immigration is about how crowded this country is. I really envy the space the Yanks have with their huge houses and cars, cheap land and wide open wilderness. But even with no immigration this country is always going to be pretty cramped for space.
(I don't know why there's this myth that the US has a liberal immigration policy - the country is 40 times the size of the UK and only takes about 4 times the number of legal immigrants each year and about the same number of asylum seekers. Its partly cos the US has historically had quite a tight immigration regime that is population density is still 1/8th of the UK's. Yet for some reason there's this idea that the US is more 'open' to immigrants than we are.)
One take might be that Mozz just likes the idea of the Knighstbridge air being filled with British accents just like he seems nostalgic for many icons of Britishness that are long gone.
It's not considered un-pc to point out that nobody seems to wear a trilby any more, or even to express regret about such a fact. Or to complain, even, that footballers aren't as gentlemenly as they could be.
I don't see the problem in pointing out in certain parts of the country which were once considered to be symbols of that country's identity have changed.
It's the way in which these opinions are expressed that holds the key to any nastiness.
Jonez seemed to be sitting on the fence until Mozz called him dribblynose. Now the gloves are off and he's actaully claiming that the NME toned down his peice. Brilliant.
Ironically, can anyone think of anything more British than a nice gentlemanly round of libel writs?
The Americans may have lead the way in daft personal injury claims and ugly divorces, but it's lovely to see someone is still hilding a torch for the old ways.
The best outcome would be a three year fight, an award of one guinea to Morrissey and the blasted NME dissapearing into a cloud of legal costs.
404 error wrote: I think there are some other indiginous nations in the UK, but their names escape me at the moment and anyway they're not statistically significant and even worse at football than England).
Ahem, I think you'll find they usually beat England, including my own little backwater, who's "national" side is drawn from a popujlation base smaller than that of Southamption.
So, poo to you with nobs on 
Well, I'm not sure where they dig up these NME journos these days, but any music journalist worth his salt would have least have known about David Bowie.. 
Tim Jonze (when asked about Bowie's "Drive-In Saturday"): "Oh, I don't know anything about David Bowie."
WTF?
