Archive for category Race and Equality
It’s time to shelve the Equality Bill
Posted by James Gubb in Civil Liberty, Human Rights, Immigration, Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, Race and Equality on 30/10/2008
Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an organisation armed to the teeth with legal powers to protect groups that claim to be victims of oppression, recently expressed fears that the recession will not only harm ethnic minorities but also some white people.
“It is clear,” he said, “that what defines disadvantage won’t be black or brown, it will be white. And we will have to take positive action to help some white groups”.
Was he saying that we should help people when they need assistance, regardless of their colour? If so, he was spot on.
Continue at the Daily Telegraph Blog.
Not a Nice One, Trevor
Posted by David Conway in Race and Equality on 22/04/2008
‘What legitimacy is there in a Parliament which makes crucial decisions on immigration with just fifteen ethnic minority MPs when there should be more than sixty? How can a House of Commons expect its decisions on counter-terrorism to be taken seriously by Muslim communities when there are only four Muslim MPs in the House of Commons? ‘
Trevor Phillips posed these rhetorical questions in a much publicised speech he delivered at the week-end to mark the fortieth anniversary of Enoch Powell’s notorious ‘rivers of blood’ speech.
continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.
It does matter if you’re black or white….if you’re a school kid, that is
Posted by James Gubb in Education, Multiculturalism, Race and Equality on 13/04/2007
The DfES ought to be proud: they’ve cracked the child psyche and come up with the best way to encourage good behaviour in formerly wayward and wild pupils, namely, for schools and teachers to offer ‘prizes’ and increase their use of ‘encouraging language and gestures’. This is some of the guidance offered by the Elton Report (something commissioned 18 years ago – which, incidentally, is a longer time than I’ve been alive!), that the government has just brought in.
The guidance also states that ‘a rewards/sanctions ratio of at least 5:1 is an indication of a school with an effective rewards and sanctions system’ – which makes me wonder exactly what constitutes an ‘effective system’ in today’s society. Though I’m all for teachers being encouraging and supportive, I’d like to point out that whilst we may be children, we’re not ‘dense’. It is painfully obvious when a teacher is being genuine in their praise and when false praise is used. Words may be cheap, but they are more ‘effective’ when used sparingly.
Is It ‘Cos They’re White, Trev, that New Accession Immigrants Are Not Wanted?
Posted by David Conway in Race and Equality on 27/10/2006
Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make EU members, especially if their former imperial links with third world countries have already resulted in their having previously undergone large-scale immigration from them.
Why that should be so has been very well explained by Carl Mortished in a ‘European Briefing’ article that appeared in Wednesday’s Times under the title ‘A black and white view of immigrants from Eastern Europe’.
Mortished points out that, because so many immigrants from the new accession East European member states are willing and now able to accept very low-paid jobs here, whatever feeble formal attempts might be made to prevent them, their coming here to work is likely to exacerbate the already very high unemployment rates among some of the country’s black and Asian and minorities, especially their young men.
The Times They Are A’ Chaining
Posted by David Conway in Race and Equality on 20/10/2006
Incensed no arrests followed a demonstration that took place last year in London against the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, despite one demonstrator having worn a suicide-belt and others having displayed banners calling for the killing of those who insult their prophet, a 35 year old man from Aberporth draped over his garden-fence a sheet on which he had painted the words: ‘ Kill all Muslims who threaten us and our way of life. Enoch Powell was right’.
Fearful that reprisals might be taken in his in his locality, the man’s neighbour reported him to the police who arrested him and brought him to trial this week on a charge of religiously aggravated disorderly conduct.
Alan Johnson’s Muddled Meddling: How Not to Increase Social Cohesion
Posted by David Conway in Race and Equality on 19/10/2006
‘Young minds are free from prejudice and discrimination, so schools are in a unique position to prevent social division. Schools should cross ethnic and religious boundaries, and certainly not increase them, or exacerbate difficulties in sensitive areas.’
Thus argues Education Secretary Alan Johnson, reportedly, in favour of what is widely expected about to become a new government policy for new faith schools that they must set aside up to a quarter of their places for pupils not of that faith, if there is local demand by them for admission.
There are many suppressed premises in his argument .To appraise its soundness, we need first to identify them, and then consider the truth value of all the independent ones.