Here's to the Whitest Man I know - Though White is Not My Favourite Colour

Driving through Romsey to visit my mother yesterday, we were surprised to find its quiet marketplace clogged with flak-jacketed police, TV crews, and crowds of curious onlookers. What could it all mean? Surely they hadn't turned out just for us?

Alas, no. Apparently David Cameron had chosen Romsey Town Hall to make his big speech on immigration that afternoon. The onlookers were to be disappointed, though, since he arrived and left by a secret postern door. But why had he chosen Romsey at all? According to this morning's Romsey Advertiser (which gives equal billing to the threat of closure hanging over a local golf club) the Town Hall was contacted for the booking only on Wednesday. A security measure? Or had the first-choice venue fallen through, perhaps? Romsey does seem a very odd place for a speech on that subject, having one of the smallest non-white populations anywhere outside Midsomer (as I've had occasion to remark before), and very few immigrants of any stripe. If you're going to leave Downing St to make a speech on recent immigration, why not go to a place where there are a few recent immigrants? Peterborough, perhaps? Conversely, if you're wanting to boost morale in a fairly marginal Tory seat, why not show your face to the townspeople rather than just to an invited audience of Conservative Party activists?

I don't understand the ways of politicians, evidently.

Here's to the Whitest Man I know - Though White is Not My Favourite Colour

Driving through Romsey to visit my mother yesterday, we were surprised to find its quiet marketplace clogged with flak-jacketed police, TV crews, and crowds of curious onlookers. What could it all mean? Surely they hadn't turned out just for us?

Alas, no. Apparently David Cameron had chosen Romsey Town Hall to make his big speech on immigration that afternoon. The onlookers were to be disappointed, though, since he arrived and left by a secret postern door. But why had he chosen Romsey at all? According to this morning's Romsey Advertiser (which gives equal billing to the threat of closure hanging over a local golf club) the Town Hall was contacted for the booking only on Wednesday. A security measure? Or had the first-choice venue fallen through, perhaps? Romsey does seem a very odd place for a speech on that subject, having one of the smallest non-white populations anywhere outside Midsomer (as I've had occasion to remark before), and very few immigrants of any stripe. If you're going to leave Downing St to make a speech on recent immigration, why not go to a place where there are a few recent immigrants? Peterborough, perhaps? Conversely, if you're wanting to boost morale in a fairly marginal Tory seat, why not show your face to the townspeople rather than just to an invited audience of Conservative Party activists?

I don't understand the ways of politicians, evidently.