Do you know what is being said in the corridors of power regarding Somalis?

Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings in both Houses. The section below is from a transcript recording the debate on crime in the House of Parliament on the 2 March 2010.

James Duddridge Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the trends in levels of illegal drugs sold by Somali nationals in (a) Southend and (b) England and Wales. [318205]

Mr. Alan Campbell Labour MP for Tynemouth [holding answer 24 February 2010]: A formal assessment into the trends in the sales of illegal drugs by Somali nationals has not been made. Drug offences are not separately identifiable by nationality.

The illegal supply of drugs is a serious matter. Trafficking in controlled drugs of all classes needs to be tackled robustly in order to reduce the harm drugs cause to communities and organised criminality associated with their supply.

The context here is that there is a growing problem with drugs related crime in the environs of Southend, the article in the local paper [click here to read it] infers that this is down to Somali drug gangs in the area.

Now I ask you; what the hell is going on when Somalis are only mentioned by the established elite in the context of crime/immigration/unemployment/a general lack of educational attainment/health related issues/presenting a jihadist existential threat to the way of life of modern developed secular societies? It is a sad day people when we are not aware of our decrepit state of affairs.

Where is the detailed response from the Somali Youth Development Research Centre on this matter to those who have associated Somalis with criminal drug gangs using empirical data? The lack of a response from those who claim to be [a] experts on the subject and [b] representative of the community in question is startling.

The words of the Members of Parliament who are set to target crime and immigration in the next 5 years with some gusto should strike fear in the Somali community and move its members to strive for some balance in the debate about the direction they are going in within the UK.