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I remember a community leader from Chinatown in central London who said that if the Government goes ahead with its proposal of fining employers who take on cash-in-hand, unregistered, workers most of the restaurants will close and the area would collapse.

So many people who have moved to London from abroad work unregistered and often lived in a crowded house where often even the owner doesn't know how many live in it. Why I'm mentioning this is because, just like in any area of London with a large immigrant population, huge numbers of the people who are there will not officially be so, and will not show up on any stats. It is thought London has anything from 700,000-1 million illegal immigrants in it.

Trust me when I say that the make-up of Tower Hamlets is not 51% white. If I walked through the area tonight or tomorrow, believe me 51 in every 100 people I would pass would not be white. Walk around and see for yourself - also sit in a hospital A&E department or sit on a bus in that area, and see how many people are speaking English around you. You would think you were in a foreign country.

Census data isn't a snapshot which records the impressions of someone walking around on a given evening. Okay, if there is a significant population for whom English is a second language this could present problems with data collection. Also, depending on when the last census was taken, the composition of the area could have changed eg in the last 5-8 years. However there is still variance between your guestimate of 5% white British and the census return of 50-51%

If these immigrants/illegal workers are crammed in crowded rooms like you say it seems strange to me that the time they choose to leave their abodes and take the air is when you're walking by, thereby skewing your perception of the area.

Too much racism on this site now. Much too much.