Monday, April 30, 2007

National Black Police Association poll rejects ACPO's Affirmative Action bid

The decision by the Association of Chief Police officers [ACPO] to campaign for the right to discriminate against the hiring of white males has met opposition from the National Black Police Association. Its website poll shows that 55.6% of 520 respondents strongly disagree with Affirmative Action. They outnumber those who strongly agree [28.1%] by 2:1. A further 13.1% agree "with conditions".

National Black Police Association
http://www.nbpa.co.uk/index.php?option=com_poll&task=results&id=16&mosmsg=Thanks+for+your+vote%21

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Police colour bar puts Trevor Phillips at odds with CRE

The decision by ACPO to campaign to racially and sexually discriminate against white males in order to meet government employment targets has revealed a split between Trevor Phillips the newly appointed boss of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR). and his old organisation the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

A spokeswoman for the CRE told The Guardian: "The CRE doesn't support positive discrimination and affirmative action," and that "these forms of 'reverse discrimination' could actually increase community tensions, rather than ease them.
"In many areas forces are struggling to recruit people from diverse backgrounds because of people's negative perceptions and experiences. This is the real problem that needs to be addressed."
In the CRE’s view: "The police ought to stop hiding behind the smokescreen of 'affirmative action' and start looking at the real reasons why ethnic minorities are not applying to become police officers."

Mr Phillips has argued for a change in the law since he was first appointed chair of the CRE . In an early and important interview with The Guardian [March 17 2004] his views were revealed:"Phillips wants the body that will succeed the CRE, which goes under the working title of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), to be given powers to apply to the secretary of state to suspend race and sex discrimination laws so that, in "extreme" cases, numbers of ethnic minorities may be fast-tracked into the force. Once the organisation had boosted its ethnic recruitment, the exemption would be lifted, and recruitment would continue normally."

He went on in the interview to express his alarm that he might be compelled to act against a police force for jumping the gun."A woman or a white man or a man might come along to us and say, 'They're fast-tracking ethnic minorities or they're fast-tracking women; that means I am being deprived of the possibility of two years' salary as a police officer', and under the law we would have to support their case."

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “ACPO have got the man for the job. Since Mr Phillips in his new job will once again be responsible for policing the police we can have no confidence whatsoever that they will not go ahead with discriminatory schemes even without any change in the law. The law seems to be for the little people. I had never thought that I could possibly regret the passing of the CRE but now I do.”
Call for corporal punishment in schools

Lynette Burrows is a journalist who argues for the traditional family values overturned and outlawed by the British establishment. She does so with wit and style.

Speaking on 23 April at a conference organised by PARITY and the Royal Society of Medecine she claimed that the abolition of the cane twenty years ago created a culture of violence and anarchy in schools.

She argued that corporal punishment should be reintroduced to restore order in the classroom and teach boys the difference between right and wrong.

PARITY has campaigned for equal rights for men and women since 1986 with some success. Its current objectives are:

· equal liability of men and women over 60 in respect of National Insurance contributions (NICs);

· mitigation, and no further aggravation, of the present inequality as between men and women in state pension provision due to the continuing unequal state pension ages (lasting until, year 2020);

· substantially equal public funding for medical research into and treatment of male and female specific diseases;

· funding for research into the reasons for and means of reducing the persistent difference in life expectancy between men and women;

· equal status for separated parents and more rigorous enforcement of child contact and ofmaintenance orders;

· equal treatment of victims of domestic violence, both male and female, and their children;

· effective Government policies to encourage a more even balance between men and women in primary school teaching;

· equal anonymity for defendants and complainants in sex offence cases until conviction;

· equal provisions for men and women in all statutory and public policies and benefits.

PARITY http://www.parity-uk.org/

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Police chiefs to advocate race and sex discrimination

ACPO, the Association of Chief Police Officers, is expected later this month to back a scheme to fast track women and ethnic minorities into police services throughout the country.

A report by the Daily Express 13 April states that ACPO wants to institute “affirmative action” to meet the diversity targets set by the government. It has been drawn up by Suzette Davenport, Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire police and vice-chair of the British Association for Women in Policing.

The proposal is opposed by the Police Federation and the Daily Express reports that a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local government stated: “We have no intention of changing the law.”

The News of the World, however, [15 April] claims that the scheme is being backed by Home Secretary John Reid.

They report the ACPO plan “as being similar to that used in Northern Ireland which has a 50:50 intake of catholics and protestants.”

The most prominent supporter of a change in the law to allow fast track recruitment of racial minorities is Trevor Phillips. In an early and important interview with The Guardian [March 17 2004] his views were revealed:"Phillips wants the body that will succeed the CRE, which goes under the working title of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), to be given powers to apply to the secretary of state to suspend race and sex discrimination laws so that, in "extreme" cases, numbers of ethnic minorities may be fast-tracked into the force. Once the organisation had boosted its ethnic recruitment, the exemption would be lifted, and recruitment would continue normally."

He went on in the interview to express his alarm that he might be compelled to act against a police force for jumping the gun.
"A woman or a white man or a man might come along to us and say, 'They're fast-tracking ethnic minorities or they're fast-tracking women; that means I am being deprived of the possibility of two years' salary as a police officer', and under the law we would have to support their case."

Liberty and Law asked Mr Phillips to investigate the Metropolitan Police Service who operated this system but under his leadership the CRE refused to act. It is not at present known how many white males have been discriminated against by the Met since the policy was adopted. Simon Marshall, Director of Recruitment at the Met has admitted “It is true that some white males had to wait up to three years before they were allocated an intake date at Hendon.”

Other police forces have just ignored the rules to favour ethnic minorities and women. Gloucestershire and Avon and Somerset Police Services misused the ethnic monitoring forms on candidates’ applications that assured applicants that under no circumstances would the information be used as part of the selection process. In fact they used it to discriminate against white males, either by selectively and secretly discarding their applications or by demanding higher standards.

The CRE [and the Equal Opportunities Commission] could have halted the racially and sexually discriminatory recruitment process having been asked by Liberty and law to do so but allowed the scam to be successfully concluded before eventually asking the two forces not to do it again.

Mr Phillips’ attitude to his responsibilities to act evenhandedly was revealed on 19 June 2006 in a speech to the Social Policy Forum .
“For example we recently had to order one police force - Somerset and Avon - to stop a programme to fast track some minority applicants into the force, because we thought a court might say that it was unfair to white applicants. Yet they were clear that they only brought in the scheme for operational reasons, not political or social reasons. I don't think it can be right that we have drifted into a situation where the CRE has to stand in the way of moderate measures to increase diversity in the police force - something which Scarman recommended twenty-five years ago, Macpherson more recently, and the Chief Police Officers are desperate to do so they can do their job better.”

Race against time, Saba Salman and Patrick Butler, The Guardian Wednesday March 17, 2004 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,1171077,00.html

Quotas plan will favour ethnic cop, News of the World, Ian Kirby 15 April 2007

Our PC police force, Daily Express Tom Whitehead 13 April 2007 http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/4322

Friday, April 13, 2007

Corby victim of Prison Service Alice in Wonderland justice

The Commission for Racial Equality’s investigation into the decision by the Prison Service to move jobs from Corby to Leicester based at least partially on the unsuitable racial demographics of the Northamptonshire town has been delayed because of the failure of the Prison Service to complete a compulsory race equality impact assessment. According to the Commission for Racial Equality it is not now due to be completed until early May.

Civil rights group Liberty and Law that instigated the CRE investigation has asked Prison Service boss Phil Wheatley to invite not only the trade union but also the local MPs and Northamptonshire Race Equality Council to participate in an assessment vital not only to the town of Corby but to good race relations.

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup commented: “We live in a sinister Alice in Wonderland world where decisions are taken first and only then followed by investigation and consultation. For whoever turns out to be the Queen of Hearts in this unpleasant fiasco there can only be one judgment: “Off with her head!” - or at least an administrative rebuke.”

Monday, April 09, 2007

BBC mocks over sixties Tories as white, middle class and hearing impaired

The Today Programme BBC Radio 4’s flagship news and current affairs programme ran an item on the speaking appearance of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Autumn conference of the Conservative party.

Its presenter offered political correspondent Robin Brandt a full toss to exercise his campaigning skills: “How is it going to go down with the Tory faithful?” he asked.

Mr Brandt took up the challenge. “Huh, huh! Most of them are over sixty. They’re white, they’re middle class. I was thinking earlier perhaps half of them can’t hear without the aid of something mechanical.”

Attempts to reach the Today studio to obtain a retraction during the course of the programme were of course futile.

It is quite possible that Mr Brandt is expressing the corporate view of the BBC and that they consider no apology appropriate or necessary.

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has warned Governor Schwarzenegger of the BBC’s attitude to age, race, class and disability. He commented: “Arnold Schwarzenegger will of course be over sixty when he addresses this particular audience. Perhaps on the occasion of the Governor's speech in Blackpool BBC correspondents will, referring to his open-heart surgery, opine that speaker, audience and seaside town match one another perfectly. That would seem to be par for the course.”

Liberty and Law has asked chairman of the Disability Rights Commission Sir Bert Massie and chair of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights Trevor Phillips to take this up with the BBC following its failed attempt to contact the Today programme.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Prison Service initial response to race investigation

In the latest development surrounding the proposed racially controversial move of Prison Service jobs from Corby in Northamptonshire to Leicester the Home Office told Liberty and Law Journal that the Prison Service now has a draft race equality impact assessment with its Management Board and that they will be in consultation with their trade union and staff. [Click on “prison service” for background]

The impact assessment is not yet publicly available for consultation or challenge but will be published on the Prison Service’s excellent website. This contains an extremely impressive Annual Staff Ethnicity Review for 2005/2006. It repays study by anyone concerned with the direction of public policy.

The Commission for Racial Equality asked the Prison Service for the race equality impact assessment by 3 April. It was unable to provide this in the time and has been set a new deadline of 5 April.

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup stated: “There are difficulties facing all racial groups in the Prison Service because it currently operates to the definition of “institutional racism” foisted on public institutions by Macpherson that this is “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amounts to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance or thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people”

"At present the Prison Service rules out by definition that non- minority ethnic people can suffer from its collective failure. This must change. It is time that the public, partners after all, took ownership of the rules of the game. The Prison Service is a good place to begin the necessary dialogue to effect required changes.”

Further information about the Prison Service can be found on its website where the impact assessment will be published in due course. http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/abouttheservice/racediversity/

Readers concerned about the issue can write to the Commission for Racial Equality to keep up with its progress in the investigation. The CRE can be emailed at info@cre.gov.uk.

Corby Prison Service employees and those who support them can contact Northamptonshire Race Equality Council to seek their advice and to discuss with them how best NREC can bring public pressure on the prison Service. Their website is http://www.wellingboroughrec.org.uk/index.asp and their email address info@northamptonshirerec.org.uk

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Nelson Mandela guilty of "unwitting racism"

Nelson Mandela is likely to come under fierce criticism from British racial equality campaigners for finding “quite amusing” Barnet councillor Brian Gordon’s dressing up as him at a fancy dress party to celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim.

After Liberal Democrat press officer Ms Stieve de Lance had taken the trouble to appear on television to denounce Cllr Gordon as a racist, to report him to Barnet council’s director of corporate governance and to the Commission for Racial Equality; after the BBC had door stepped him and Keith Vaz MP, the chair of Labour's ethnic minority taskforce had denounced him, it could only be seen as a betrayal when Mr Mandela failed to see the racism inherent in the councillor’s action.

Mr Mandela's spokeswoman Zelda la Grange said: "We shouldn't be over sensitive about issues of this nature. Mr Mandela thought it was quite funny. We can't find anything derogatory in someone dressing up, in fancy dress, portraying Nelson Mandela."

Clearly Mr Mandela should have taken advice before speaking. His own experience of racism is strictly limited and he is totally unqualified to make a judgment on such matters.

It is not known whether the CRE will report Mr Gordon or Mr Mandela to the police. The Guardian reported on 28 March that a CRE spokesman found Mr Gordon's actions objectionable. He stated: "It is unacceptable for elected representatives to behave in a way that might offend members of their local communities ... Good council leadership is essential in managing the differences in our increasingly diverse communities as councils have a duty to promote good race relations."