Archive for October, 2004
British Crime Survey under-estimates crime
Posted by David Green in Crime on 11/10/2004
According to a report on the Today programme and a report in the Observer on 3 October, the Government is wrong to attach so much weight to the British Crime Survey (BCS), which substantially under-estimates crime. The report is by a new think tank, the Crime and Society Foundation, established by Kings College London. It confirms the case that we at Civitas have argued for the last three years, namely that the BCS probably only measures about half of actual crime and possibly much less.
Among the crimes excluded are murder, drug offences, fraud and all crimes against commercial premises and against under 16s. In 2003-04 the BCS reported 11.7 million crimes, but our estimates (based on a method accepted by the Home Office) show that there were at least an additional 10.9 million. You can check out the Civitas estimates at this link.
Inventing racism where none exists
Posted by David Green in Race and Equality on 08/10/2004
Ethnic minorities suffer from ‘passive apartheid’ in rural Britain, according to Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. Speaking on the Today programme, he pointed out that in the South West region of England ethnic minorities were found in the ratio ‘one in 85’, whereas in the UK as a whole the ratio was ‘one in 11 or 12’. John Humphrys put it to him that immigrants go to the cities because that is where the jobs are. Phillips strongly denied this and claimed it was due to hostility.
But, the only proof of this hostility was that, when you go in a local village shop, the shopkeeper tends to be a bit suspicious. Humphrys pointed out that people were suspicious of him when he went back to Wales, the land of his birth. In other words, they were not hostile so much as wary of strangers. But that did not satisfy Phillips, who was intent on inventing racism where none exists.
His underlying assumption is that any disproportionate representation of ethnic minorities must be the result of discrimination (passive apartheid). But there are many reasons for disparities in racial representation that have nothing to do with discrimination. Some of some are described in Liberal Anti-Racism, published in Prospect Magazine.
The original reason for establishing the Commission for Racial Equality was to improve racial harmony. But, this most recent of the periodic outbursts from the CRE, will have the opposite effect. Perhaps the time has come to abolish it.
Irreversible
Posted by David Green in European Union on 07/10/2004
In an interview with Le Metro today French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin says, “for the first time, Europe has a shared Constitution. This pact is the point of no return. Europe is becoming an irreversible project, irrevocable after the ratification of this treaty”.
For some other revealing insights into the real motives of some of the European elite take a look at the Vote No campaign website.
Statistical Blunders and Manipulations
Posted by David Green in Crime on 07/10/2004
Something has gone badly wrong with the Home Office statistical service. Not all that long ago you could place reasonable reliance on official statistics. Today a mixture of bungling and deceit seem to be the rule.
I recently sent an email to the Home Office about the prison statistics asking them to clarify a figure on page 173 (Table 9.10) of Prison Statistics 2002. One row refers to ‘Males aged under 17′ and the next row to ‘Males aged 18-20′. If interpreted literally,this means that the figures for males aged 17 are not included.
I asked the Home Office if the phrase ‘Males aged under 17′ should be ‘Males aged 17 and under’?
They replied a few weeks later by saying that ‘under 17′ means under 17.999 recurring. Here is the exact quotation:
“In response to your recent enquiry regarding the above, the ‘aged under 17′ refers to those aged 17 or under in whole years (so up to 17.999….. years).”
Unless I am sadly mistaken, it would surely be much clearer to say ‘under 18’.
This was probably an example of bungling, but the Home Office is also not above statistical manipulation that can not be put down to error. Take a look at this short report on the Government’s policy targets.
Less than Full Marks for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools
Posted by David Conway in Education on 06/10/2004
In a speech made yesterday to a secondary school in County Durham, Mr David Bell, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools for England and Wales, laid out his vision of what purposes our schools should serve in today’s ever more globalised world. According to Mr Bell, they should seek to accomplish two main purposes.
The first is to teach the 3 R’s. This assertion of Mr Bell may come as a pleasant surprise to all traditionally minded individuals more used, in recent times, to hearing pronouncements by educationists on the purposes of schools that seem to view their prime function more as adjuncts of the social services than as educational establishments.
New poll on Europe
Posted by David Green in European Union on 05/10/2004
A new poll carried out by ICM for the New Frontiers Foundation finds strong support for the idea of taking back power over trade, employment, and civil rights, and for creation of a new global trade and defence alliance. The full findings and an analysis are available at this link. It’s well worth a look.