Police in Bristol have warned that there has been a "significant" rise in the number of forced marriages in the area.
Although specific figures are not given - the police say that it is "difficult to provide specific figures" - Detective Chief Inspector Dave McCallum, quoted by the BBC, says that the scale of the problem is "not fully recognised" and that "only the tip of the iceberg" is known.
Kalsum Bashir, of the Bristol Muslim Womens Network, said that a government report shows that Bristol has "very high levels of forced marriage incidents".
We'll start hazarding some educated guesses here.
According the Icoco (Institute of Community Cohesion) report entitled Pupil population change and community cohesion : impact and policy implications for the education system in Bristol, Bristols demography is changing somewhat rapidly.
Figures given for "diversity within schools" - their words, not mine - illustrate this better than anything.
In 2004 18.5% of pupils were of "non White British origin". For 2008, 22.5% were "BME" and 27.4% were non White British, an increase in the region of 50%.
For staggering reading, and bear in mind these are all 2008 figures, you can guarantee that the process of 'diversification' hasn't slowed, "Four central wards have less than 50% White British pupils - Lawrence Hill (20%), Easton (31%), Ashley (34%) and Eastville (44%)".
If we head into the nursery school, we see this trend even more strongly pronounced - 2008 figures put 36.5% of children there being non White British.
We may be stating the obvious, but as we watch 'diversity' accelerate, we see increases in what can, quite fairly, be described as crimes which are not of British origin such as forced marriage, or female genital mutilation.
It can be said without fear of contradiction that the rising numbers for these crimes are entirely of foreign origin - be it among newly arriving immigrants or established ones - and that their increasing prevalence relates entirely to the populations increasing diversity.
To quote from a 2008 article in the Telegraph concerning forced marriage and honour violence :
"In total, 90 per cent of cases dealt with in Britain involve Bangladeshi or Pakistani families, but investigators are uncovering growing numbers of forced marriages involving Iranians, Turks, Kurds and Somalis"
We can arrive at a devastatingly simple statement from that - That as these populations continue to increase in number within the UK, so will cases of forced marriage. Simple, obvious, don't hold your breath waiting on any government minister to say it.
It is interesting to note that, returning to our figures on Bristol schools, the number of Somalians has shown a significant rise in Bristol primary schools, with at least 6 schools showing over 20% of Somalian pupils. Enriched Millpond Primary weighed in with over 50% Somalian pupils in 2008, almost double its 2004 levels.
Birth rates again show a huge rise in births to Somalians, telling us that the rapid growth in births to Somalian mothers is 'striking'. It is more than striking, it has increased almost five fold over the period of 2000-2005.
Of course, one has no intention of singling out Somalians, numerous other foreign cultures, whose presence is also growing in the Bristol area, also practice forced marriage and contribute to rising cases in both Bristol and the UK as a whole.
From the same Telegraph article :
"Despite the drive to tackle forced marriages, however, many feel it is still taboo because of fears of criticising immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are involved in most cases.
Schools have refused to discuss so-called honour crimes in case they cause offence to ethnic minorities or religions, while MPs have been accused of failing to highlight forced marriage in case they lose Muslim votes."
Yet again it is stating the obvious - yet it is an obvious that officialdom never chooses to tell us about - increasing diversity brings with it an increasing incidence of crimes which are rooted in the cultural traditions of the people whom we have imported to create this diversity.
A diversification in population also creates a diversification in crimes, in many cases crimes which did not before exist in Britain, and which thus did not require legislating against until the advent of the multicultural society.
Year on year we will see reports of forced marriage rise - because we have imported, and continue to import, peoples among whom it is commonplace.
And, once here, they do not abandon the practice, it continues to thrive and be carried on by future generations. Diversity is the gift that keeps on giving.
We will see rising numbers of forced marriages, not just in Bristol but in all areas, as we continually reap the harvest of problems which multiculturalism has brought to our shores and made into problems with which Britain is forced to deal.
Police in Bristol have warned that there has been a "significant" rise in the number of forced marriages in the area.
