Trevor Phillips: Diversity is integral to London's very nature - and its past and present success
From a speech by the chairman of the London Assembly at the graduation ceremony of City University, London
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Your support makes all the difference.It is not only an honour, but also a pleasure to be awarded a degree of this university. You are a forgiving bunch, I must say. My first experiences of this university were helping to organise student occupations as part of the NUS campaign against overseas student fees. I know many of the issues that brought me to make trouble then affect students today, and I assume students are no less ready to make their protests.
As well as an honour and a pleasure it is a surprise. When I received the letter telling me that I had been honoured, I almost threw it aside assuming that it was about rag week.
This is an important period for our city, London, marked two years ago by the establishment of the Greater London Authority. Its independence is symbolised by the new building which we will occupy in a couple of months by Tower Bridge.
This is a prosperous city. Our GDP – £159bn each year – makes us economically more significant than all but a few European nations. And we will expand to a population of some 8 million over the next 15 years.
That will mean many changes, not least in the growing diversity of our city. There are voices across Europe that say that diversity is a curse; for London it has always been a blessing. The waves of new people who have come to London have been at the heart of the city's vitality and its prosperity. Diversity is integral to London's very nature – and its past and present success.
Of course, not everyone has always agreed. Back in the 12th century, the monk Richard of Devizes warned young travellers – perhaps those in search of an education – that: "All sorts of men crowd together there from every country under the heavens. Each race brings its own vices and its own customs to the city. No one lives in it without falling into some sort of crimes... Whatever evil and malicious thing that can be found in any part of the world, you will find in that one city". That should be sent to every potential student with their Ucas form... you'd never have a shortage of applicants!
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