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Birmingham has embarked on a brave attempt to broaden its planning ethos and incorporate elements of the city's diverse cultural population. A key feature of this new ethos is a re-scripting of its ethnic minorities as an asset rather than a problem. In this paper, I track the characterization of Birmingham's ethnic minorities through the newspaper archive and mobilize a politics of difference as a critical reading strategy. In so doing, I suggest the narrative form on Birmingham's ethnic minorities has persistently made apparent forms of co-existence which flag up a discontinuity between ‘diversity’ and the characterization of its ethnic minorities as an asset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a preliminary analysis of unitary authority level data from the 2001 census of population on the spatial (and, where available, temporal) patterns in proportions of Welsh speakers in Wales. In so doing we draw attention to the advantages (and limitations) of the census as a source of information on the state of the Welsh language. Although a 2 per cent increase in the percentage of Welsh speakers between 1991 and 2001 has been welcomed, several commentators have drawn attention to the change in the nature of the question asked at the 2001 census which may account for some of this increase. In this paper, we assess what is, and is not, possible to discern from the census, draw attention to other potential sources of information on the language and make some preliminary recommendations for those agencies concerned with monitoring trends in the future, both with regard to the need for more detailed language use surveys and the nature of the question included in subsequent censuses that would permit a more useful comparison of spatial and temporal trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How much does the 2001 census tell us about the changes in people's life in British cities and regions since 1991? This paper attempts to answer this question by telling the stories of two British northern cities: Leeds and Sheffield. In particular, the paper investigates and compares socio-economic change in these cities on the basis of actual 1991 and 2001 census data as well as estimated non-census data. A static spatial microsimulation model is used to combine the outputs of the 1991 and 2001 censuses of UK population with data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data. In particular, selected Small Area Statistics (SAS) tables from the 1991 and 2001 censuses are used as constraints in the spatial microsimulation modelling exercise, which aims to reweight BHPS household records so that they satisfy these constraints. The paper briefly discusses the change in these census variables across different localities of the two cities. It is then shown how the changes in these variables affect the simulation of non-census variables. Further, the microsimulation model is used to estimate the trends in income inequalities and child poverty between and within the two cities. Finally, the paper discusses the implication of the research findings for policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares ethnic change and diversity across two recent decades using common group and area definitions. Ethnic minority groups are shown to be growing rapidly at 41 per cent between 1981 and 1991 and 39 per cent between 1991 and 2001. Some groups have grown swiftly (Black Africans, Bangladeshis), while others have seen moderate expansion (Indians, Other Asians). The White population has hardly grown and the White British population has probably declined. Black and Ethnic Minority (BEM) populations remain concentrated in metropolitan areas in 2001 as in 1991 and 1981. Whereas between 1981 and 1991, BEM groups were concentrating into metropolitan areas, between 1991 and 2001 deconcentration began for most groups. The London region stands out as highly dominant, housing more than 50 per cent of BEM populations as a whole in 1991 and 2001. However, between 1991 and 2001, BEM groups grew outside their core areas. The consequence of BEM population growth and spread has been a dramatic increase in ethnic diversity in all regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]