World: The Dark Million

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In 1958, when only 200,000 nonwhites were in the country, white ire, helped by a slight rise in unemployment, sparked race riots in Nottingham and London's Netting Hill and Paddington districts. Since then, there have been no major outbreaks, but the underlying resentment remains strong, and both political parties have been understandably wary of antagonizing the white 98% of the electorate. Labor violently opposed the Tories' 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act, but reversed itself and last winter decided to extend the law. The Tories were only too glad to oppose last week's bill on the ground that "the British people can be led, but they cannot be driven." And, when Conservative Peter Thorneycroft proposed that instead of criminal penalties, far less onerous civil sanctions would be "appropriate," Labor's Soskice quickly indicated that his government would be willing to amend the bill and include them.