I don't like Blunkett's tone, but I agree with what he says

Let us assume David Blunkett speaks only English fluently. I speak English and four other languages, three of them from the subcontinent and Swahili, which is spoken in East African towns. So am I more or less linguistically competent than the Home Secretary? In Britain, where to have only English is considered a badge of honour, many would argue that I am still the stupider because I have ingested all those lesser, barbaric tongues, which only go to show that I cannot be properly British.

Some of the finest, oldest languages in the world – Urdu, for example – are not yet accorded the same status as Russian within our education system. In Camden and Ealing, hundreds of languages are spoken but only in safe places because we know how people resent us when they hear Hindi or Arabic or Mandarin. To be British, we should not be asked to surrender this priceless heritage and to become stubbornly monolingual like so many indigenous Britons. Does Mr Blunkett think the Welsh, too, should banish their tongue from their homes, and the Poles and Italians who insist their children should learn their original languages in the early years?

Yet I agree with his broader points. Community leaders will always jump up in anger if they feel their languages and right to cultural self-determination are being attacked by politicians. But they know, or should, that in modern Britain to flourish without good English is almost impossible. Gone are those days when groups from the same countries could work at factories with supervisors who were also Punjabi or Sikh or Kashmiri. Asians who are multilingual and excel at English are outstripping other groups in educational and professional achievements. The converse is also true. Only 40 per cent of Bangladeshi women are fairly fluent in English, compared with 70 per cent of Indian women. That means Bangladeshi women are unable to get qualifications and decent jobs. Besides, we need a common language to share this space and the broader culture that is evolving.

Imported spouses and some women do need better access to English but we are getting there, so there is no need for manufactured rows that polarise people and lead nowhere clever.