Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The Club

Avoidable Covid-19 deaths were significantly higher in the most deprived areas in England Age-standardised avoidable mortality rates (per 100,000 people) with an underlying cause of Covid-19 in England, 2020 Most deprived Males 95.1 Females  53.3 Least deprived Males  21.9 Females  9.4 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year and exclude deaths of non-residents.  Source:   ONS – Deaths registered in England Death rates expose health inequalities

 A New Myanmar?

“ The report minimises and at times denies the existence of institutional racism in Britain, despite the fact that, as the government now acknowledges, several witnesses  gave detailed evidence  of the forms of institutional and structural racism that they feel do operate within the UK. It was produced by a commission led by figures who had rejected the concept of institutional racism years before they began work. Arguably it has achieved exactly what the government wanted, adding credence to the false binary that underpins  their culture war agenda : that the nation faces a choice between addressing racial inequalities or class disadvantage.” A poisonous patronising report

  In the briefing, Dr Ali said: "The problem with focusing on ethnicity as a risk factor is that it misses the very large number of non-ethnic minority groups, so whites basically, who also live in deprived areas and overcrowded housing and with high risk occupations." He added the whole population should have a "personalised risk assessment" rather than just targeting ethnic groups. "It doesn't make sense to put all ethnic minorities in the same basket as it doesn't make sense to put all whites in the same basket," he said.  On structural racism, he said he was not convinced by the narrative that racism played a part in coronavirus deaths. My comment: What about class then, Dr Ali? What about the overlap of class and racism?  If the whites also suffer from risk because of their class and social conditions they live, the non-whites, the working class, the poor, suffer from both racism and class oppression. Ethnic minority Covid risk ‘not explained

Surprise! Surprise! Ethnic minorities: those who do not work hard enough, don’t speak our language, lack the skills, don’t want to integrate, don’t climb the property ladder, live on benefits, etc, etc. Covid-19 impact on ethnic minorities linked to housing and air pollution