Is David Starkey a racist?

Should David Starkey be made homeless by his local council for his recent “inflammatory” comments about the riots which have so entertained us recently? I do not know who runs Mr Starkey’s local council and I suppose that he is an owner-occupier, rather than living in accommodation subsidised by the rest of us. But clearly, according to many eminent figures, such as the BBC’s camp and self important business correspondent Robert Peston and the sage Piers Morgan, Starkey should suffer some sort of punishment for having said that white chavs were now copying the violent and materialistic culture of the black underclass.  Both Peston and Morgan averred Starkey should no longer be allowed on TV. I am not a huge fan of Starkey’s, but I marginally prefer him on my box to either Peston or Morgan, but I suppose that’s by the by. The fact that Starkey was – on this narrow point – incontestably correct does not seem to bother those whose view of the world is blinkered by a terrible fear of being called racist.

Yet again, it was left to the black academic Tony Sewell to make the important points:

“…..for, despite the attempts of some apologists to dress up the looting as a political act against an oppressive Tory establishment, the fact is that the ethos of materialism — or ‘bling’ to use the street term — that pervades urban black youth played a major part in the widespread criminality perpetrated by rioters of all races.


That is why the looters targeted specific stores that are cherished in this culture, such as those selling mobile phones, trainers, sports clothes or widescreen TVs. Let’s face it, there were no reports of the vandals looting bookshops or public libraries.