Tower Hamlets East End Life Shows How Easy it is to Rewrite History

Posted on | Saturday 17 March 2012 | No Comments

The mayor’s propaganda rag, East End Life - which he continues to publish in defiance of national legislation – shows again how easy it is to reduce editorial standards to the gutter.

The first affront is coverage of Peter Wade’s death; the Isle of Dogs Community Campaigner. This proud man’s death doesn’t warrant entry in the ‘News’ section, instead and disgracefully, it’s relegated to ‘Family announcements’. Perhaps the editor isn’t from the Isle of Dogs or is this now how Lutfur Rahman’s quislings commemorate the passing of a local hero?

In the ‘News’ section however, covering a half page, is Shalina Hussain’s, ‘A salute to 400 years of history’.  This is yet another misleading article from a newspaper whose editor cares less about the veracity of content. Ms Hussain states that Bangladeshis have been living in the Borough for more than 400 years. I suspect that even if she had stated 1,000 years, her ‘editor’ wouldn’t have questioned something as unimportant in her mind as local history. To set the record straight - something the ‘editor’ from past experience is disinclined to do - the best evidence we have to hand is that Bengalis have been present in Britain from the 19th century (not the 17th). Records of the first arrivals from what was at the time British India, were Sylheti cooks who are recorded as arriving in London around the 1870’s, as lascars in ships. ‘A salute to almost 200 years of history’ would be correct, but even then it should be clear that mass migration didn’t occur until relatively recently, i.e., 1950’s onwards.

Tinkering with history to suit political imperatives is a dangerous tactic.

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