Parallel Lives 

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Parallel Lives: Episode Two: Burnley

Episode 2

Episode Two: Burnley

Parallel Lives

BBC Radio 4 - Parallel Lives, Episode Two: Burnley

Barnie Choudhury continues his reflections on the 2001 race riots with a visit to Burnley.

Twenty years on from the 2001 summer of racial violence, Barnie Choudhury examines the recordings he made in Burnley - as the BNP make political gains in a divided town.

In the second episode of Parallel Lives former Today Programme reporter Barnie Choudhury returns to the recordings he made in the aftermath of the 2001 racial violence in three northern towns. 
The official report into what happened in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford revealed whole communities were living in complete segregation, brewing suspicion and hatred.
In Burnley, it proved to be fertile ground for the BNP which secured council seats in 2002. 
Barnie returns to those febrile, angry recordings made at the time, to consider what the division of the start of the millennium can tell us about Britain now. 
He hears how the period may have been a harbinger of trouble for the "Red Wall" -  an early indicator of dissatisfaction in traditional Labour heartlands. Barnie also talks to the then Home Secretary David Blunkett and Baron Khan of Burnley who was on the frontline of the tensions as a taxi operator.  

Presented by Barnie Choudhury
Produced by Kevin Core
Assistant Producer Emb Hashmi

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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