ABSTRACT
The United Kingdom is multicultural in population; this is true of the indigenous population, in spite of widespread perceptions that this has changed. The intercultural composition of the population certainly changed in the 19th and 20th centimes, but the state was already multinational, multilingual and multicultural right from the start. The Indian sub-continent has been the source of the most prominent groups to add to the multicultural population in the UK. The occupational patterns of the Indian and Pakistani groups range from unemployment and unskilled work to professional careers, with a high demand for education, especially among the young. The plurality of the population of the United Kingdom is an actual potential advantage. The non-English nations have several hundred years’ experience of being a neglected minority, and the English have a great deal to learn what it is like to being in a similar position in Europe.
