Livingstone backs Tories on freedom of speech
Ken Livingstone has a good sense of irony. To bolster support for his battle with the Standards Board over his concentration camp jibe directed at an Evening Standard Jewish journalist he prayed in aid Daily Mail columnist Andrew Alexander, quoting him in his statement of 22 February.
With considerable chutzpah he selectively quoted from the part that suited him. Here is what he said. To quote Andrew Alexander writing in the Daily Mail last week “Freedom of speech, if it means what it says, involves the right to irritate, annoy, dismay and shock anyone who listens. The only sensible limitations should be on speech which leads to violence, affray or disorder.”
What he left out was the first sentence in Alexander’s paragraph. This stated: "The threat to Livingstone comes in the wake of another threat to free speech in the Government’s new legislation to ban remarks which may stir up religious hatred."
Mr Livingstone is of course a prominent supporter of the new law on the incitement of religious hatred having published an open letter to the Home Secretary supporting this restriction of free speech using as justification: “Freedom of speech must be upheld. But not a freedom to urge people to kill Jews or Sikhs or Muslims.” Mr Livingstone knows that this is already against the law but interpretation of the legislation can be expected to impact upon his political enemies.
The mayor had earlier in his statement condemned the Daily mail group. This is what he said: “After a decade of pandering to racism against our citizens of Black and Irish origin they have moved on and now describe asylum seekers and Muslims in similar terms. For the Mail group the victims may change but the intolerance, hatred and fear pervade every issue of the papers.”
Mr Livingstone is now threatened by his own politically correct revolution but his conversion to even partial freedom of speech is gratifying. He went as far as to enthusiastically endorse the Conservative Party’s commitment to abolish the Standards Board. Mr Livingstone’s mayoralty may yet become a force for freedom.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Now Trevor Phillips backs a colour bar
Trevor Phillips the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE], now playing a central role in the debate about the UK’s immigration and asylum policy, said of a respected journalist who disagreed with him on this subject “Nice people do racism too.” He is at it again. This time Conservative leader Michael Howard meets with his patronising disapproval.
But he is right even if he hits the wrong targets. One of the most extreme examples of ‘nice people doing racism’ is his own campaign to impose a de facto colour bar on a constituency where white people now constitute an ethnic minority, in this case London’s West Ham.
This safe Labour seat that sitting Labour MP Tony Banks has grown tired of representing is currently selecting his replacement. It is in this racially hypersensitive community, that Mr Phillips, himself a failed Labour London mayoral candidate, has seen fit to intervene. Speaking to the BBC he said: "It would be terribly disappointing and pretty destructive, I think, for ethnic minorities' faith in politics if, in the least white constituency in Europe, we did not see an ethnic minority candidate.”
Mr Phillips wants to impose change. He now advocates colour bar legislation to let parliamentary parties exclude white candidates from consideration for selection to serve their community in the office of MP that in a free society should be open to all.
In the meantime his irresponsible employment of the ‘numbers game’ in West Ham goes a long way to delegitimise anyone selected should they have the ‘wrong’ colour skin and gives an appalling weapon to the BNP who specialise in racial grudge communitarian politics.
There is now a real danger that the CRE led by Mr Phillips and the BNP under Mr Griffin may be seen as just two sides of the same racist coin, both educated at our best universities and wearing smart suits but both with totalitarian inclinations
Trevor Phillips the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE], now playing a central role in the debate about the UK’s immigration and asylum policy, said of a respected journalist who disagreed with him on this subject “Nice people do racism too.” He is at it again. This time Conservative leader Michael Howard meets with his patronising disapproval.
But he is right even if he hits the wrong targets. One of the most extreme examples of ‘nice people doing racism’ is his own campaign to impose a de facto colour bar on a constituency where white people now constitute an ethnic minority, in this case London’s West Ham.
This safe Labour seat that sitting Labour MP Tony Banks has grown tired of representing is currently selecting his replacement. It is in this racially hypersensitive community, that Mr Phillips, himself a failed Labour London mayoral candidate, has seen fit to intervene. Speaking to the BBC he said: "It would be terribly disappointing and pretty destructive, I think, for ethnic minorities' faith in politics if, in the least white constituency in Europe, we did not see an ethnic minority candidate.”
Mr Phillips wants to impose change. He now advocates colour bar legislation to let parliamentary parties exclude white candidates from consideration for selection to serve their community in the office of MP that in a free society should be open to all.
In the meantime his irresponsible employment of the ‘numbers game’ in West Ham goes a long way to delegitimise anyone selected should they have the ‘wrong’ colour skin and gives an appalling weapon to the BNP who specialise in racial grudge communitarian politics.
There is now a real danger that the CRE led by Mr Phillips and the BNP under Mr Griffin may be seen as just two sides of the same racist coin, both educated at our best universities and wearing smart suits but both with totalitarian inclinations
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Press Release 2 March 2004 [lost from site]
MPs reported to police
Following Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney’s speech to the Scottish Labour Party Conference referring to shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin as a 21st century Fagin and his failure to apologise for so doing he has been reported to Scotland’s Northern Constabulary by Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup.
Mr Hartup commented: “To use the term Fagin, Charles Dickens's archetypal evil Jew, is reminiscent of the style of politicians like Jorg Haider, Jean-Marie Le Pen or our domestic BNP whose own 'subtle' racism is shown in describing Michael Howard as Mr Hecht. It drags political debate into the gutter. Mr Blair should take McCartney’s speech off the Party website immediately, demand an apology and give him a severe dressing down.”
Broxtowe MP Nick Palmer has been reported to Nottinghamshire Police following reports that he posted on his website and e-mailed 1400 constituents racially and religiously offensive ‘jokes’.
Mr Hartup commented: “Were Mr Palmer to be a prospective police officer he would surely be weeded out and were he a serving office no doubt sacked. Does Parliament have lower standards and should his constituents be made morally complicit in his anti-Arab and anti-Islamic ‘jokes’. It is time for the Prime Minister to demand from him a public apology and remove the whip from him should it not be forthcoming.”
Ends
Notes :
Gerald Hartup instigated the prosecution of Cheltenham racist Bill Galbraith in 1992 for his behaviour during and after the selection of Conservative Party candidate John [now Lord] Taylor for the then Tory marginal seat of Cheltenham won and now held by the Liberal Democrats.
In 2002 he reported Ann Winterton MP to Cheshire police for her ‘joke’.
MPs reported to police
Following Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney’s speech to the Scottish Labour Party Conference referring to shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin as a 21st century Fagin and his failure to apologise for so doing he has been reported to Scotland’s Northern Constabulary by Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup.
Mr Hartup commented: “To use the term Fagin, Charles Dickens's archetypal evil Jew, is reminiscent of the style of politicians like Jorg Haider, Jean-Marie Le Pen or our domestic BNP whose own 'subtle' racism is shown in describing Michael Howard as Mr Hecht. It drags political debate into the gutter. Mr Blair should take McCartney’s speech off the Party website immediately, demand an apology and give him a severe dressing down.”
Broxtowe MP Nick Palmer has been reported to Nottinghamshire Police following reports that he posted on his website and e-mailed 1400 constituents racially and religiously offensive ‘jokes’.
Mr Hartup commented: “Were Mr Palmer to be a prospective police officer he would surely be weeded out and were he a serving office no doubt sacked. Does Parliament have lower standards and should his constituents be made morally complicit in his anti-Arab and anti-Islamic ‘jokes’. It is time for the Prime Minister to demand from him a public apology and remove the whip from him should it not be forthcoming.”
Ends
Notes :
Gerald Hartup instigated the prosecution of Cheltenham racist Bill Galbraith in 1992 for his behaviour during and after the selection of Conservative Party candidate John [now Lord] Taylor for the then Tory marginal seat of Cheltenham won and now held by the Liberal Democrats.
In 2002 he reported Ann Winterton MP to Cheshire police for her ‘joke’.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Why no Chinese comedy shows or funerals on British TV?
Victor Lewis-Smith writes a regular review column for London’s Evening Standard. And very funny he is too often making shrewd observations of the world. On 23 November in An Asian house of horrors he reviewed The Kumars at No 42. He doesn’t like the programme and gives some good reasons for his opinion.
However, he then strayed into the subject of racial statistics. Speaking of his boredom watching the Kumars he says: “Long before the end, I’d lost concentration and mind wandering, had begun wondering why it is that there are more than a million people of Chinese descent in this country yet I’ve never ever seen a Chinese comedy show (or a Chinese funeral, come to that – well have you?)”
I can’t be bothered to answer his question except to say that according to the latest census there are actually some 400,000 people who class themselves as Chinese in the UK split into comedically diverse backgrounds that make them a situation comedy problem area for programmers.
According to Min Quan, The Monitoring Group in China Town:
http://www.monitoring-group.co.uk/TMG%20services/minquan/community_history.html
“The Chinese population in UK is now estimated at around 400,000 people. It is a diverse community and a recent survey reported 26% of the Chinese population as UK born, 26% from New Territories or Hong Kong, 10% from Malaysia, 12% from Vietnam, 4% from Singapore, 12% from Mainland China, and 12% from other parts of the world. This illustrates the richness and diverse background of the Chinese community in Britain.”
Quite.
Victor Lewis-Smith writes a regular review column for London’s Evening Standard. And very funny he is too often making shrewd observations of the world. On 23 November in An Asian house of horrors he reviewed The Kumars at No 42. He doesn’t like the programme and gives some good reasons for his opinion.
However, he then strayed into the subject of racial statistics. Speaking of his boredom watching the Kumars he says: “Long before the end, I’d lost concentration and mind wandering, had begun wondering why it is that there are more than a million people of Chinese descent in this country yet I’ve never ever seen a Chinese comedy show (or a Chinese funeral, come to that – well have you?)”
I can’t be bothered to answer his question except to say that according to the latest census there are actually some 400,000 people who class themselves as Chinese in the UK split into comedically diverse backgrounds that make them a situation comedy problem area for programmers.
According to Min Quan, The Monitoring Group in China Town:
http://www.monitoring-group.co.uk/TMG%20services/minquan/community_history.html
“The Chinese population in UK is now estimated at around 400,000 people. It is a diverse community and a recent survey reported 26% of the Chinese population as UK born, 26% from New Territories or Hong Kong, 10% from Malaysia, 12% from Vietnam, 4% from Singapore, 12% from Mainland China, and 12% from other parts of the world. This illustrates the richness and diverse background of the Chinese community in Britain.”
Quite.
Experienced barmaid required
for Monday Tuesday and Friday nights
The possibilities of extra sessions available
Must be smartly dressed Tel 020 72** 0***
Political correctness has not entirely got through to publicans or local newspapers. Here is an example reported to the Equal Opportunities Commission [EOC].
What did they do? Nothing.What do you expect? At last count less than 20% of the EOC's staff were men. Do they have targets to end male underrepresentation? You must be joking? Will they get away with it? Who is going to stop them?
for Monday Tuesday and Friday nights
The possibilities of extra sessions available
Must be smartly dressed Tel 020 72** 0***
Political correctness has not entirely got through to publicans or local newspapers. Here is an example reported to the Equal Opportunities Commission [EOC].
What did they do? Nothing.What do you expect? At last count less than 20% of the EOC's staff were men. Do they have targets to end male underrepresentation? You must be joking? Will they get away with it? Who is going to stop them?
Saturday, October 16, 2004
You really want know how our fish stocks are being destroyed?
This is what you need to read. It is in today's EU Referendum. Here is a taster.
It was about 5.30 in the morning, perhaps ten miles off Barrow-in-Furness in the eastern part of the Irish Sea, still dark, when the haul broke the surface.
In the glare of the floodlights on the stern of our vessel, the Fleetwood trawler Kiroan, the first net was hooked onto the power block – a huge hydraulic lifting arm – and skipper Philip Dell expertly pulled the bulging cod end from the water and swung it over the fish room hatch.
Philip held the bag there, suspended, so we could see thousands of tiny fish packed into the bag. Most of what we could see was small plaice, with scores of them protruding though the narrow mesh, gasping and flapping in their death throes.
An unseen hand below pulled the quick release on the end of the bag. The contents cascaded down a stainless steel chute onto the conveyor belt in the fish room, awaiting our further inspection.
We stayed on deck long enough to see the second bag plucked from the sea, its contents likewise dumped down the chute. Then I, Conservative shadow fisheries minister Owen Paterson, and the PPC for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, Gavin Williams, squeezed our way along the top deck, stepping over the still taut warp cables, and made our way down the vertical ladder to watch the crew sorting the fish.
As the first batch was sorted, we watched in mounting horror as Mate, Francois Bruneel with Steve McDaid and Gary Hugman, the enormously impressive crew, threw marketable fish into red plastic bins – not unlike laundry baskets – sweeping the rest, undersize and unmarketable fish along the belt.
Lubricated by a constant flow of sea water, they were flushed through a small opening in the hull, back into the sea, dead and dying, from whence they had so recently been plucked.That was the horror. From that first, bulging net, the harvest of the sea, we estimated that at least ninety percent of the catch was dumped – or "discarded" in the clinical jargon of the trade.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
BNP website brought down very quietly by Hackarmy
Scotland’s Daily Record had a political scoop in its Friday 9 October edition Hackers blitz BNP website. A group called Hackarmy issued a statement to the paper claiming responsibility for shutting down the British National Party’s [BNP] website. It said: “The British National Party is a disgrace. It has been decided that their online existence will now be put to an end. We have started a distributed denial of service attack on their main website.”
The story was picked up by Google and distributed by them on 9 October at 3.22am. Subsequent searches of the web, however, finds just one other reference to this story as at 11.54 am 10 October.
The BNP has been the recipient of substantial media coverage and the lack of follow up to this story seems unusual.
Could it be that media outlets have taken the decision not to give the oxygen of publicity to either the BNP or to Hackarmy? Could it be that Hackarmy has succeeded in freezing comment about its activities by a media frightened at the prospect of interference with their own computer systems?
Ends
1. Hackers blitz BNP website [Daily Record 9 October 2004]
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14735903&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=hackers-blitz-bnp-website-name_page.html
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Call for police investigation of Cardiff Labour Party election leaflet
Civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law has reported to South Wales Police Chief Constable Barbara Wilding the distribution of a Labour Party election leaflet distributed during June’s local election campaign in Cardiff on the grounds that the action may have been in breach of the Race Relations Act.
The action follows an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] and a subsequent apology announced today by Welsh Labour stating that the leaflet pandered to prejudice and was likely to cause offence to the Travelling community and to residents in Llanedeym and Pentwyn [the Cardiff Ward in which the distribution took place].
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “It is unacceptable that it took over three months for Welsh Labour to make an apology for the leaflet that appeared in its name.
The so far anonymous perpetrators have apparently been simply censured and rebuked. If in fact the leaflet is as offensive as stated by Welsh Labour and the CRE the perpetrators should surely be named and shamed. No cover up can be tolerated.
A police investigation is also essential to determine whether the production and or distribution of the leaflet actually broke the law or was simply unacceptable to the CRE and to Welsh Labour (retrospectively). Only in this way will the limits of free speech be determined.”
CRE Welsh Labour apologise for offensive leaflet http://www.cre.gov.uk/media/nr_arch/2004/nr040929.html
PA News: 'Disgraceful' labour leaflet reported to police
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3563146
Civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law has reported to South Wales Police Chief Constable Barbara Wilding the distribution of a Labour Party election leaflet distributed during June’s local election campaign in Cardiff on the grounds that the action may have been in breach of the Race Relations Act.
The action follows an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] and a subsequent apology announced today by Welsh Labour stating that the leaflet pandered to prejudice and was likely to cause offence to the Travelling community and to residents in Llanedeym and Pentwyn [the Cardiff Ward in which the distribution took place].
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “It is unacceptable that it took over three months for Welsh Labour to make an apology for the leaflet that appeared in its name.
The so far anonymous perpetrators have apparently been simply censured and rebuked. If in fact the leaflet is as offensive as stated by Welsh Labour and the CRE the perpetrators should surely be named and shamed. No cover up can be tolerated.
A police investigation is also essential to determine whether the production and or distribution of the leaflet actually broke the law or was simply unacceptable to the CRE and to Welsh Labour (retrospectively). Only in this way will the limits of free speech be determined.”
CRE Welsh Labour apologise for offensive leaflet http://www.cre.gov.uk/media/nr_arch/2004/nr040929.html
PA News: 'Disgraceful' labour leaflet reported to police
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3563146
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
CRE evasive about BNP members right to work as Lib Dems adopt principled stand
Liberal Democrat shadow home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten, who has an impressive record of combating BNP’s racist propaganda, has committed the Liberal Democrats to fight government plans to ban civil servants from membership of this national socialist party should they adopt this policy.
Speaking at The Guardian’s fringe Liberty or Equality debate at Bournemouth on Monday 20 September, he said: "I am not prepared to have legislation banning BNP membership in place. If an individual starts expressing racist or offensive views, then there are laws already in place to deal with that."
In doing so the Liberal Democrats become the first mainstream political party to draw a line in the sand in defence of Britain’s traditional political liberty against the forces of oppressive political correctness. Conference delegates applauded when he denounced the Labour Party’s plans “a step down a very, very dangerous path".
As if to justify his principled and practical stance, the next day West Yorkshire Police announced the arrest of a seventh man following their investigation of the BBC programme Secret Agent exposing racism within the police service.
Civil rights group Liberty and Law welcomed the initiative of Mr Oaten. Director Gerald Hartup called upon the Labour and Conservative Parties to follow his lead and challenge any implementation of what it calls “an offensive Berufsverbot”.
He said: “It’s not much fun when defending human rights means defending the human rights of BNP members. But our society is strong enough both to defend the BNP and to marginalise it. Lib Dems have broken the mould of political cowardice and deserve our thanks. It is not just the government’s totalitarian inclinations, however, that must be challenged but those of its creature the Commission for Racial Equality. Its chair Trevor Phillips began the witch hunt last year when speaking to the TUC [Congress, 9 September], arguing that that ‘the workplace is no place for racists’ and challenging employers to follow the Prison Service policy of sacking BNP members. The CRE must be made to come clean about its policy and intentions since it has set the agenda for oppression.” [See Questions put to CRE and responses 21 September 2004]
A major example of this witch-hunt is the continuing attempt by officers of the Fire Brigades Union in Hampshire to have a 30 year retained firefighter dismissed from the local service because of his membership of the BNP. The CRE states that it is unable to comment on this “because of its role as a statutory body”.
Background
Trevor Phillips speech to TUC Conference, 9 September 2003 http://www.cre.gov.uk/downloads/docs/TUC%202003%20Remarks.doc
Call to sack BNP fireman rejected, 16 June 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3806643.stm
Anger over firefighter’s BNP ties, 15 September 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3660576.stm
FBU letter to Hampshire Fire and rescue Service, 10 June 2004
http://www.hantsfbu.org.uk/news/bnp%20candidate%20letter%20to%20eastwood.pdf
Questions put to CRE and responses 21 September 2004
Q1a. Does Mr Phillips and/or the CRE call for the dismissal of BNP members or
supporters from all work places?
Q1b. Does Mr Phillips and/or the CRE call for the dismissal of BNP members or
supporters from just some workplaces? If so can the CRE specify those
workplaces?
Background provided to CRE:
Trevor Phillips speaking at the Trades Union Congress on 9 September 2003 said:
"The workplace is no place for racists. Making this a reality shouldn't just fall to trades unionists. Employers have a responsibility too.
For many years the far right targeted one particular public service - the Prison Service. Three years ago, the then Director General, Martin Narey said this: "..membership of racist groups like the BNP, the National Front, Combat 18, on its own would be punishable by dismissal. And everyone who joins the Prison Service now has to sign an agreement that they never have been and never will become a member of one of those organisations".
These were not empty words. In May 2001 a prison officer who wore Nazi
insignia to work was sacked for that and for that reason alone. That
Congress is what I call leadership.
But as far as we know no other major employer has yet followed that lead. Let me issue a challenge to employers today: can you pass the Prison Service
test? "
These words seem to indicate that Mr Phillips backs companies that dismiss members of racist groups that presumably include the BNP, what he calls in the same speech " just another bunch of knuckle-dragging apes."
A. The CRE is concerned about BNP membership and how compatible this is with the delivery of public services to all communities under the Race Relations (amendment) Act. We have not called for any individuals to be dismissed from their jobs as a result of membership of this party.
Q2. Does Mr Phillips and /or the CRE support or oppose the union call for the dismissal of the Hampshire retained fire fighter?
Background provided to CRE:
I am presently looking at the case of a BNP member who stood in an election in Hampshire. The Fire Brigades Union Southern Region Executive Council
Member Dean Mills has written to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service with the clear implication that this man should not be employed by them.
The story has been reported on BBC website, most recently on 15 September [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3660576.stm]
The Fire service maintains their position expressed in June that it would not sack the man and that he was not breaking its regulations. The case is extensively argued on the BBC website of 16 June
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3806643.stm].
A. I'm afraid we can't comment on the specific case you refer to because of our role as a statutory body.
Q3. Is Mr Phillips and or the CRE contributing to the government's discussions about banning BNP members from civil service employment? Does it support or oppose the ban in principle?
A. As we understand it the Home Office have not made any formal decision to ban BNP members from Civil Service employment. You should contact the Home Office press office if you have any further questions about this.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Police to fast-track recruits with minority ethnic languages
According to a scoop in The Independent by crime correspondent Jason Bennetto [Police to fast-track recruits with ethnic minority languages, 20 September 2004] applicants to join the police service “who speak languages such as Turkish, Bangladeshi and Hindu will be fast-tracked … under a positive discrimination scheme being considered by the Home Office.” The minister in charge of policing, Hazel Blears, has apparently revealed that the scheme “would involve adopting a system where applicants with a foreign language such as Indian, Pakistani, Turkish or Bangladeshi would be recruited first, providing they passed entry requirements”.
Whether the minister actually thinks that Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Hindu are languages as opposed to nationalities and a major religion is not known. Whether the minister was excluding from her consideration Patois and European and African languages was also not revealed.
However, the gist of the scheme is clear and it could well ‘solve’ the problem of racial under-representation within the Metropolitan Police Service. 7,500 minority ethnic officers are needed to meet the government’s 2009 target of 25.9%. According to the Met’s Human Resources director Martin Tiplady this would need 80% of all new recruits being from ethnic minorities over the next five years.
With 300 languages being spoken in London the police service, using language as a genuine occupational qualification, would only need to recruit 25 officers of each of the required languages. Providing the numbers of each language group are not specified and kept flexible, creating an ethnically balanced service is practicable. With this scheme there is no reason why any monolingual English speakers at all should be appointed in the next five years since the Home Office and the Met believe there are already too many of them in the service.
If to Mrs Blear’s initiative Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] chair Trevor Phillips’ suggestion of paying minority ethnic teacher recruits more than white recruits should be adopted for the police service the target of a racially representative police service looks even more achievable. Should this still not serve the police services could even extend their recruitment all over the world for recruits considered suitable.
The only two problems militating against the success of the initiative at the moment is that there is a freeze on police recruitment and the Home Office do not know whether it would be in breach of the Race Relations Act. The law may need to be changed. As Mrs Blears puts it: “I think we should examine what the legal position is at the moment and see are there ways we can make the existing law work better in terms of drawing people in.”
The Independent’s view that “the idea is likely to be criticised by some as a backdoor quota system that discriminates against white Britons” hits the nail on the head.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup explained: “We are pleased that from April to June 2004 the Met attracted 23% of recruits from ethnic minorities without positive discrimination. They must keep up the good work, explain that the Home office targets are ludicrous and drop any attempt to gerrymander recruitment. Mrs Blears’ scheme, of course, does not just discriminate against the Independent’s ‘white Britons’ but against monolingual Britons of all shades. What is clear is that we can’t afford to leave progress to the Metropolitan Police Service, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the CRE, the Home Office or the race entrepreneurs. It is just too important. Ordinary people with some common sense need to get stuck in. They might or might not include politicians.”
Ends
According to a scoop in The Independent by crime correspondent Jason Bennetto [Police to fast-track recruits with ethnic minority languages, 20 September 2004] applicants to join the police service “who speak languages such as Turkish, Bangladeshi and Hindu will be fast-tracked … under a positive discrimination scheme being considered by the Home Office.” The minister in charge of policing, Hazel Blears, has apparently revealed that the scheme “would involve adopting a system where applicants with a foreign language such as Indian, Pakistani, Turkish or Bangladeshi would be recruited first, providing they passed entry requirements”.
Whether the minister actually thinks that Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Hindu are languages as opposed to nationalities and a major religion is not known. Whether the minister was excluding from her consideration Patois and European and African languages was also not revealed.
However, the gist of the scheme is clear and it could well ‘solve’ the problem of racial under-representation within the Metropolitan Police Service. 7,500 minority ethnic officers are needed to meet the government’s 2009 target of 25.9%. According to the Met’s Human Resources director Martin Tiplady this would need 80% of all new recruits being from ethnic minorities over the next five years.
With 300 languages being spoken in London the police service, using language as a genuine occupational qualification, would only need to recruit 25 officers of each of the required languages. Providing the numbers of each language group are not specified and kept flexible, creating an ethnically balanced service is practicable. With this scheme there is no reason why any monolingual English speakers at all should be appointed in the next five years since the Home Office and the Met believe there are already too many of them in the service.
If to Mrs Blear’s initiative Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] chair Trevor Phillips’ suggestion of paying minority ethnic teacher recruits more than white recruits should be adopted for the police service the target of a racially representative police service looks even more achievable. Should this still not serve the police services could even extend their recruitment all over the world for recruits considered suitable.
The only two problems militating against the success of the initiative at the moment is that there is a freeze on police recruitment and the Home Office do not know whether it would be in breach of the Race Relations Act. The law may need to be changed. As Mrs Blears puts it: “I think we should examine what the legal position is at the moment and see are there ways we can make the existing law work better in terms of drawing people in.”
The Independent’s view that “the idea is likely to be criticised by some as a backdoor quota system that discriminates against white Britons” hits the nail on the head.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup explained: “We are pleased that from April to June 2004 the Met attracted 23% of recruits from ethnic minorities without positive discrimination. They must keep up the good work, explain that the Home office targets are ludicrous and drop any attempt to gerrymander recruitment. Mrs Blears’ scheme, of course, does not just discriminate against the Independent’s ‘white Britons’ but against monolingual Britons of all shades. What is clear is that we can’t afford to leave progress to the Metropolitan Police Service, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the CRE, the Home Office or the race entrepreneurs. It is just too important. Ordinary people with some common sense need to get stuck in. They might or might not include politicians.”
Ends
Friday, September 17, 2004
Wednesday 4 August 2004 [original publication]
Bristol Gallery drops colour bar recruitment scheme
Leading Bristol art institution Arnolfini’s controversial plan to exclude white candidates from a post of Curatorial Fellow has been successfully challenged by civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law [L&L] following an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE].
L&L director Gerald Hartup had written to CRE chair Trevor Phillips on 8 April requesting him to ask Arnolfini to freeze its recruitment process while his legal department investigated the legality of the gallery’s action and its impact on good race relations. Mr Hartup also made a direct request to Arnolfini to freeze the appointment process to allow it to think again about its duty to be an equal opportunities employer and to take into consideration the opinions of the community.
Mr Hartup stated: “ Arnolfini acted very responsibly in agreeing to my request to freeze the recruitment process. Their prompt action gave the CRE time to correct their initial view expressed to the media that the colour bar post was a legitimate use of the Race Relations Act. Arnolfini have since given a signed assurance to the CRE undertaking to comply with the advertising provisions of the Race Relations Act and have also indicated their intention to the CRE to review the programme for trainee curators. This I hope will allow them and their funding partner the Arts Council to consider again the use of race as a job qualification.”
The gallery’s recruitment policy had tried to make use of the provisions of the 1976 Race Relations Act that allows the use of a colour bar to address under-representation of racial minorities in any particular employment area by allowing employers to make special training facilities available to them to compete for such employment.
Liberty and Law argued that restricting the post to African, Asian and Caribbean curators was not justified under Section 37 of the Race Relations Act because the job, to curate an exhibition on Blaxploitation, the African-American film genre of the 1960s and 1970s, was clearly not a training post but a substantive one as its job description and salary grade [Grade 5 £18,889 - £21,408] made clear. Liberty and Law argued that far from being a training position it was the sort of job which ambitious curators would be delighted to undertake.
Mr Hartup added: “Arnolfini’s good faith in this matter is self evident. There is, however, confusion about the use of Section 37 shared even by equal opportunities professionals. I am asking the CRE to put up on its website details of the Arnolfini case and other Section 37 cases that it has ruled against, unfortunately without publicity, to help reduce the unknown extent of the abuse. Had more information been available local Councillors, MPs and the Bristol Racial Equality Council would have had the information to enable them to challenge the use of the colour bar in this case.”
“In the meantime Liberty and Law will seek cross party parliamentary support to end the Section 37 exemption. “
Working with the CRE in 1994 Mr Hartup then with the Freedom Association successfully prevented the BBC from implementing a similar Section 37 scheme to recruit a Senior Radio Producer and a Television Producer that the Corporation had claimed were traineeships.
Ends
Note to editors
[1] The colour bar exclusion
Arnolfini is working towards Equal Opportunities. Arnolfini is taking positive action to address under representation of Black and Asian artists in accordance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Race Relations Act 1976. The post is only open to African, *Asian and Caribbean curators based in England. However, Arnolfini welcomes applications from all sections of society. We would appreciate it if you could complete and return the enclosed monitoring form with your application. If you require any part of this information in large print or other format, please do not hesitate to contact us.
[2] CRE initial media response
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3601855.stm
No whites policy for arts job, 5 April 2004-08-03
A Commission for Racial Equality spokeswoman said the advertisement did not appear to breach guidelines set out in the Race Relations Act.
She said: "There are exceptions in the Act for training and apprenticeship opportunities and I believe that is what this post is offering."
[3] Other Liberty and Law race relations initiatives
See index www.libertyandlaw.co.uk
Bristol Gallery drops colour bar recruitment scheme
Leading Bristol art institution Arnolfini’s controversial plan to exclude white candidates from a post of Curatorial Fellow has been successfully challenged by civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law [L&L] following an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE].
L&L director Gerald Hartup had written to CRE chair Trevor Phillips on 8 April requesting him to ask Arnolfini to freeze its recruitment process while his legal department investigated the legality of the gallery’s action and its impact on good race relations. Mr Hartup also made a direct request to Arnolfini to freeze the appointment process to allow it to think again about its duty to be an equal opportunities employer and to take into consideration the opinions of the community.
Mr Hartup stated: “ Arnolfini acted very responsibly in agreeing to my request to freeze the recruitment process. Their prompt action gave the CRE time to correct their initial view expressed to the media that the colour bar post was a legitimate use of the Race Relations Act. Arnolfini have since given a signed assurance to the CRE undertaking to comply with the advertising provisions of the Race Relations Act and have also indicated their intention to the CRE to review the programme for trainee curators. This I hope will allow them and their funding partner the Arts Council to consider again the use of race as a job qualification.”
The gallery’s recruitment policy had tried to make use of the provisions of the 1976 Race Relations Act that allows the use of a colour bar to address under-representation of racial minorities in any particular employment area by allowing employers to make special training facilities available to them to compete for such employment.
Liberty and Law argued that restricting the post to African, Asian and Caribbean curators was not justified under Section 37 of the Race Relations Act because the job, to curate an exhibition on Blaxploitation, the African-American film genre of the 1960s and 1970s, was clearly not a training post but a substantive one as its job description and salary grade [Grade 5 £18,889 - £21,408] made clear. Liberty and Law argued that far from being a training position it was the sort of job which ambitious curators would be delighted to undertake.
Mr Hartup added: “Arnolfini’s good faith in this matter is self evident. There is, however, confusion about the use of Section 37 shared even by equal opportunities professionals. I am asking the CRE to put up on its website details of the Arnolfini case and other Section 37 cases that it has ruled against, unfortunately without publicity, to help reduce the unknown extent of the abuse. Had more information been available local Councillors, MPs and the Bristol Racial Equality Council would have had the information to enable them to challenge the use of the colour bar in this case.”
“In the meantime Liberty and Law will seek cross party parliamentary support to end the Section 37 exemption. “
Working with the CRE in 1994 Mr Hartup then with the Freedom Association successfully prevented the BBC from implementing a similar Section 37 scheme to recruit a Senior Radio Producer and a Television Producer that the Corporation had claimed were traineeships.
Ends
Note to editors
[1] The colour bar exclusion
Arnolfini is working towards Equal Opportunities. Arnolfini is taking positive action to address under representation of Black and Asian artists in accordance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Race Relations Act 1976. The post is only open to African, *Asian and Caribbean curators based in England. However, Arnolfini welcomes applications from all sections of society. We would appreciate it if you could complete and return the enclosed monitoring form with your application. If you require any part of this information in large print or other format, please do not hesitate to contact us.
[2] CRE initial media response
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3601855.stm
No whites policy for arts job, 5 April 2004-08-03
A Commission for Racial Equality spokeswoman said the advertisement did not appear to breach guidelines set out in the Race Relations Act.
She said: "There are exceptions in the Act for training and apprenticeship opportunities and I believe that is what this post is offering."
[3] Other Liberty and Law race relations initiatives
See index www.libertyandlaw.co.uk
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
BBC comedy show reported to police for alleged breach of Public Order Act
Civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law has reported to the Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens the Radio 4 programme Jeremy Hardy speaks to the nation broadcast on 9 September and which was still accessible on the BBC’s website today in which Mr Hardy states: “If you just took everyone in the BNP and everyone who votes for them and shot them in the back of the head there would be a brighter future for us all.”
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup explained: “Jeremy Hardy is a funny and accomplished comedian who is also a left-wing polemicist. It would be fair to say that he hates the BNP and everything it stands for. It would also be wrong to suggest that he was advocating this solution to the political problem the BNP represent. However, he knows perfectly well that a section of the anti-racist movement advocates beating up “the Nazi BNP” wherever it appears but gives sustenance, legitimacy and support to such people who believe that street violence is a legitimate political tactic by the statement in the programme and its context.
“I believe that in the circumstances the statement is in breach of the Public Order Act. I think it is particularly dangerous because it has been made under the production guidelines of the BBC. I have contacted the BBC’s chairman and director general to request that they take the programme off the website pending police investigation of the matter.”
Gerald Hartup reported Ann Winterton MP to Cheshire police for her train ‘joke’ in May 2002. In 1992 he instigated the prosecution of Cheltenham racist Bill Galbraith for his behaviour during and after the selection of Conservative Party candidate John [now Lord] Taylor for the then Tory marginal seat of Cheltenham won and now held by the Liberal Democrats.
Ends
Further information: Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Civil liberties pressure group Liberty and Law has reported to the Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens the Radio 4 programme Jeremy Hardy speaks to the nation broadcast on 9 September and which was still accessible on the BBC’s website today in which Mr Hardy states: “If you just took everyone in the BNP and everyone who votes for them and shot them in the back of the head there would be a brighter future for us all.”
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup explained: “Jeremy Hardy is a funny and accomplished comedian who is also a left-wing polemicist. It would be fair to say that he hates the BNP and everything it stands for. It would also be wrong to suggest that he was advocating this solution to the political problem the BNP represent. However, he knows perfectly well that a section of the anti-racist movement advocates beating up “the Nazi BNP” wherever it appears but gives sustenance, legitimacy and support to such people who believe that street violence is a legitimate political tactic by the statement in the programme and its context.
“I believe that in the circumstances the statement is in breach of the Public Order Act. I think it is particularly dangerous because it has been made under the production guidelines of the BBC. I have contacted the BBC’s chairman and director general to request that they take the programme off the website pending police investigation of the matter.”
Gerald Hartup reported Ann Winterton MP to Cheshire police for her train ‘joke’ in May 2002. In 1992 he instigated the prosecution of Cheltenham racist Bill Galbraith for his behaviour during and after the selection of Conservative Party candidate John [now Lord] Taylor for the then Tory marginal seat of Cheltenham won and now held by the Liberal Democrats.
Ends
Further information: Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Metropolitan police colour bar recruitment chaos
“Are the Metropolitan Police Service, the Home Office and the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] simply incompetent?” asks human rights group Liberty and Law.
The question arises because of their acceptance of the ludicrous ‘vision’ of former Home Secretary Jack Straw under whose dozy watch in 1999 the Met were committed to increase the proportion of visible ethnic minorities in the force to 25.9% by 2009.
What was quite clear at the time was that this was quite impossible to achieve given anticipated recruitment and retirement rates. The question that must be asked and answered was how and why this impossible target was agreed and adopted. Was it a fraudulent target set up to fail? What is the evidence?
Human Resources director at the Met, Martin Tiplady’s [appointed after the targets were adopted] latest observation [2 September, People Management] is that to achieve the government’s target and to move from current ethnic minority representation of 6.5% to the required 25.9% would require up to 80% of new recruits to be from ethnic minorities.
He had earlier told a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority [MPA] that to achieve the Home Office target over the next five years the Met’s recruitment intake would have to be 68%. [MPA press release 22 July]
68%, 80% why not 120%? They are all equally unattainable and equally offensive.
So what is the game that is being played? By April of this year the Met publicly stated that the government imposed target was impossible to achieve. The Guardian’s Vikram Dodd ran a story [Met plan to fast track black recruits, 17 April] in which Tiplady floated a desperate plan to seek exemption from the Race Relations Act to enable it to fast-track ethnic minorities into the force. The scheme involves dropping the existing first come first served race neutral queue for successful applicants to start training in favour of holding back white candidates to allow ethnic minority candidates to leapfrog them.
He announced that the Met was to discuss this with the CRE in the next fortnight and if their backing was obtained seek the support of the Home Secretary for a change in the law to allow the Met to racially discriminate in its recruitment. The Metropolitan Black Police Association’s [MBPA] chair Leroy Logan confirmed that his organisation had put forward the idea to the Morris inquiry.
Although the CRE did not put out a press release it has apparently rejected the request by the Met to lobby the government to grant it an exemption from race discrimination law. People Management [ No race exemption for Met, 2 September] quotes a CRE spokesman: “ We would not support any exemption from the Act for the Metropolitan Police. We are against all discrimination, including positive discrimination. It is illegal.”
The MBPA bounced back in BBC News Online [Quotas call by black police group, 4 September]. This was followed up by an interview on the Today Programme a few hours later with Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, the National Black Police Association’s legal adviser and Chief Inspector Jan Berry the chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales.
Frequently using the term ‘frankly’ Dizaei assured interviewer John Humphrys that his scheme to favour black and Asian candidates over whites of equal merit would not put the latter at a disadvantage. He used as evidence the fact that quotas had been used in the United States for 30 years and that 80% of the electorate supported this. Humphreys was in no position to question the accuracy of this statement.
Karen Chauhan, director of the unfortunately influential 1990 Trust has argued [Fast tracking black cops the only hope for Met diversity, 18 April, Black Information Link] that "the fast-track scheme will inevitably be opposed by reactionary elements both within the police force and right-wing commentators".
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said; “Chauhan is quite right. What she doesn’t perhaps appreciate is that it will also be opposed by progressive anti-racists opposed to racially divisive schemes dreamed up by self-seeking activists who for a generation have done their best to stop ethnic minorities joining the police service. Fortunately they will also be joined by the CRE. We now expect our elected representatives both national and local to make it quite clear that we shall continue to treat people as unique individuals. This requires that Ali Dizaei and the National Black Police Association be informed that they are part of the problem not the solution. Frankly we have grown bored with their whingeing. At the same time we must make it clear that we expect the Met to be a genuine equal opportunities employer. We must stay on their case. We are pleased that from April to June 2004 the Met attracted 23% of recruits from ethnic minorities without positive discrimination. They must keep up the good work, explain that the targets are ludicrous and drop any attempt to gerrymander recruitment by brutally racist and counter-productive gimmicks. We clearly can’t afford to leave progress to the MPS, the MPA, the CRE, the Home Office or the race entrepreneurs. It is too important to be left to amateurs. Ordinary folk with some common sense need to get stuck in”
“Are the Metropolitan Police Service, the Home Office and the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] simply incompetent?” asks human rights group Liberty and Law.
The question arises because of their acceptance of the ludicrous ‘vision’ of former Home Secretary Jack Straw under whose dozy watch in 1999 the Met were committed to increase the proportion of visible ethnic minorities in the force to 25.9% by 2009.
What was quite clear at the time was that this was quite impossible to achieve given anticipated recruitment and retirement rates. The question that must be asked and answered was how and why this impossible target was agreed and adopted. Was it a fraudulent target set up to fail? What is the evidence?
Human Resources director at the Met, Martin Tiplady’s [appointed after the targets were adopted] latest observation [2 September, People Management] is that to achieve the government’s target and to move from current ethnic minority representation of 6.5% to the required 25.9% would require up to 80% of new recruits to be from ethnic minorities.
He had earlier told a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority [MPA] that to achieve the Home Office target over the next five years the Met’s recruitment intake would have to be 68%. [MPA press release 22 July]
68%, 80% why not 120%? They are all equally unattainable and equally offensive.
So what is the game that is being played? By April of this year the Met publicly stated that the government imposed target was impossible to achieve. The Guardian’s Vikram Dodd ran a story [Met plan to fast track black recruits, 17 April] in which Tiplady floated a desperate plan to seek exemption from the Race Relations Act to enable it to fast-track ethnic minorities into the force. The scheme involves dropping the existing first come first served race neutral queue for successful applicants to start training in favour of holding back white candidates to allow ethnic minority candidates to leapfrog them.
He announced that the Met was to discuss this with the CRE in the next fortnight and if their backing was obtained seek the support of the Home Secretary for a change in the law to allow the Met to racially discriminate in its recruitment. The Metropolitan Black Police Association’s [MBPA] chair Leroy Logan confirmed that his organisation had put forward the idea to the Morris inquiry.
Although the CRE did not put out a press release it has apparently rejected the request by the Met to lobby the government to grant it an exemption from race discrimination law. People Management [ No race exemption for Met, 2 September] quotes a CRE spokesman: “ We would not support any exemption from the Act for the Metropolitan Police. We are against all discrimination, including positive discrimination. It is illegal.”
The MBPA bounced back in BBC News Online [Quotas call by black police group, 4 September]. This was followed up by an interview on the Today Programme a few hours later with Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, the National Black Police Association’s legal adviser and Chief Inspector Jan Berry the chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales.
Frequently using the term ‘frankly’ Dizaei assured interviewer John Humphrys that his scheme to favour black and Asian candidates over whites of equal merit would not put the latter at a disadvantage. He used as evidence the fact that quotas had been used in the United States for 30 years and that 80% of the electorate supported this. Humphreys was in no position to question the accuracy of this statement.
Karen Chauhan, director of the unfortunately influential 1990 Trust has argued [Fast tracking black cops the only hope for Met diversity, 18 April, Black Information Link] that "the fast-track scheme will inevitably be opposed by reactionary elements both within the police force and right-wing commentators".
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said; “Chauhan is quite right. What she doesn’t perhaps appreciate is that it will also be opposed by progressive anti-racists opposed to racially divisive schemes dreamed up by self-seeking activists who for a generation have done their best to stop ethnic minorities joining the police service. Fortunately they will also be joined by the CRE. We now expect our elected representatives both national and local to make it quite clear that we shall continue to treat people as unique individuals. This requires that Ali Dizaei and the National Black Police Association be informed that they are part of the problem not the solution. Frankly we have grown bored with their whingeing. At the same time we must make it clear that we expect the Met to be a genuine equal opportunities employer. We must stay on their case. We are pleased that from April to June 2004 the Met attracted 23% of recruits from ethnic minorities without positive discrimination. They must keep up the good work, explain that the targets are ludicrous and drop any attempt to gerrymander recruitment by brutally racist and counter-productive gimmicks. We clearly can’t afford to leave progress to the MPS, the MPA, the CRE, the Home Office or the race entrepreneurs. It is too important to be left to amateurs. Ordinary folk with some common sense need to get stuck in”
Friday, August 13, 2004
Poem reported to Scottish police after CRE condemnation
Human rights group Liberty and Law has reported a satirical poem in the form of a rap by James Michie published in the current issue of The Spectator [14 August 2004, page 20] entitled Friendly Fire to the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police following its publication in The Herald and the reaction to it of the Commission for Racial Equality {CRE].
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has asked the Chief Constable to determine whether the poem’s publication breaches the race relations provisions of the Public Order Act.
Maureen Fraser, the director of the CRE in Scotland told The Herald : "We find this poem very offensive and the language is deeply inflammatory. It does nothing to promote race relations and undermines relations between Scotland and the rest of Britain, and our relationship with other countries."
"Some of the language, such as 'comprehensive extermination' and 'polluting our stock', is completely and utterly unacceptable. It cannot be tolerated."
Mr Hartup said; “ James Michie is a distinguished writer and to be condemned in this way by such a senior figure in the Commission for Racial Equality is a matter of the gravest public concern. I am fairly confident that after consideration the poem will be given a clean bill of health and that the CRE will then apologise to Mr Michie. In the meantime, however, the only way to prevent a witch-hunt is an authoritative investigation by the appropriate authority.
It is perhaps time to re-evaluate the public role of the Commission for Racial Equality and to ensure that its senior personnel are able to contribute positively and sensitively to race relations issues.”
Ends
Article in Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/21958.html
FRIENDLY FIRE
The Scotch – what a verminous race!
Canny, pushy, chippy, they're all over the place,
Battening off us with false bonhomie,
Polluting our stock,
undermining our economy.
Down with sandy hair and knobbly knees!
Suppress the tartan dwarves and the Wee Frees!
Ban the kilt, the skean-dhu and the sporran
As provocatively, offensively foreign!
It's time Hadrian's Wall was refortified
To pen them in a ghetto on the other side.
I would go further. The nation
Deserves not merely
isolation
But comprehensive
extermination.
We must not flinch from a solution.
(I await legal prosecution.)
James Mitchie
The Spectator 14 August
Human rights group Liberty and Law has reported a satirical poem in the form of a rap by James Michie published in the current issue of The Spectator [14 August 2004, page 20] entitled Friendly Fire to the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police following its publication in The Herald and the reaction to it of the Commission for Racial Equality {CRE].
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has asked the Chief Constable to determine whether the poem’s publication breaches the race relations provisions of the Public Order Act.
Maureen Fraser, the director of the CRE in Scotland told The Herald : "We find this poem very offensive and the language is deeply inflammatory. It does nothing to promote race relations and undermines relations between Scotland and the rest of Britain, and our relationship with other countries."
"Some of the language, such as 'comprehensive extermination' and 'polluting our stock', is completely and utterly unacceptable. It cannot be tolerated."
Mr Hartup said; “ James Michie is a distinguished writer and to be condemned in this way by such a senior figure in the Commission for Racial Equality is a matter of the gravest public concern. I am fairly confident that after consideration the poem will be given a clean bill of health and that the CRE will then apologise to Mr Michie. In the meantime, however, the only way to prevent a witch-hunt is an authoritative investigation by the appropriate authority.
It is perhaps time to re-evaluate the public role of the Commission for Racial Equality and to ensure that its senior personnel are able to contribute positively and sensitively to race relations issues.”
Ends
Article in Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/21958.html
FRIENDLY FIRE
The Scotch – what a verminous race!
Canny, pushy, chippy, they're all over the place,
Battening off us with false bonhomie,
Polluting our stock,
undermining our economy.
Down with sandy hair and knobbly knees!
Suppress the tartan dwarves and the Wee Frees!
Ban the kilt, the skean-dhu and the sporran
As provocatively, offensively foreign!
It's time Hadrian's Wall was refortified
To pen them in a ghetto on the other side.
I would go further. The nation
Deserves not merely
isolation
But comprehensive
extermination.
We must not flinch from a solution.
(I await legal prosecution.)
James Mitchie
The Spectator 14 August
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
No jobs for the boys at Equal Opportunities Commission
Male representation at the Equal Opportunities Commission [EOC] has fallen to crisis level as revealed in its latest annual report. Men number just 25 and make up a derisory 16.4% of its total staff of 152.
The EOC has not issued a press release on the occasion of the report’s release. Its website however contains a campaigning slogan ‘Jobs for the boys?’ in support of developing female representation in activities where they are under represented, apparently totally unaware of the hypocrisy of its stance.
The EOC claims still to be “the leading agency set up to tackle sex discrimination” and that “it is committed to challenging discrimination in all its forms and at all levels of society”.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has called upon the EOC to commit itself to a target closer to home to overcome the institutional sexism that has characterised it since its inception.
Mr Hartup said: “ I have now asked Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt to intervene and will be reporting the EOC to the women’s rights committee of the European Parliament. How can business and human relations professionals take seriously a self-righteous quango whose own arrangements put it at the bottom of the equal opportunities league? The EOC unfortunately illustrates perfectly the problem it purports to solve.”
Ends
Note to editors
EOC Annual Report 2003-2004 pp20-21
http://www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/abouteoc/annualreport2004.pdf
Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325, Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Male representation at the Equal Opportunities Commission [EOC] has fallen to crisis level as revealed in its latest annual report. Men number just 25 and make up a derisory 16.4% of its total staff of 152.
The EOC has not issued a press release on the occasion of the report’s release. Its website however contains a campaigning slogan ‘Jobs for the boys?’ in support of developing female representation in activities where they are under represented, apparently totally unaware of the hypocrisy of its stance.
The EOC claims still to be “the leading agency set up to tackle sex discrimination” and that “it is committed to challenging discrimination in all its forms and at all levels of society”.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has called upon the EOC to commit itself to a target closer to home to overcome the institutional sexism that has characterised it since its inception.
Mr Hartup said: “ I have now asked Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt to intervene and will be reporting the EOC to the women’s rights committee of the European Parliament. How can business and human relations professionals take seriously a self-righteous quango whose own arrangements put it at the bottom of the equal opportunities league? The EOC unfortunately illustrates perfectly the problem it purports to solve.”
Ends
Note to editors
EOC Annual Report 2003-2004 pp20-21
http://www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/abouteoc/annualreport2004.pdf
Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325, Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Commission for Racial Equality stays institutionally racist and sexist
Men remain grossly under-represented at the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] as do its white staff. This is revealed in the £20 million organisation’s annual report for 2003.
Just 35.1% of its 191 staff is male and 38.2% white. This maintains a long tradition of massive under-representation of both groups that can be traced back to the organisation’s creation.
Although the CRE has pressed companies to correct racial imbalances with targets it has resolutely and stubbornly refused to operate these itself.
Liberty and Law director, Gerald Hartup, who has monitored CRE employment for 28 years is writing to the Home Secretary seeking independent supervision of the organisation’s employment policy. He said: “The CRE has had far too long to establish itself as an equal opportunities ‘champion’. Successive chairmen and commissioners have failed to prioritise reform making it a laughing stock. How can its recommendations and investigations be taken seriously until it gets its own house in order?”
Ends
Note to editors
www.cre.gov.uk/pdfs/AR03_Main.pdf
Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Liberty and Law
Unit 384, 78 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 5AP
Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
www.libertyandlawjournal.blogspot.com
ideas and action to change society
Men remain grossly under-represented at the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] as do its white staff. This is revealed in the £20 million organisation’s annual report for 2003.
Just 35.1% of its 191 staff is male and 38.2% white. This maintains a long tradition of massive under-representation of both groups that can be traced back to the organisation’s creation.
Although the CRE has pressed companies to correct racial imbalances with targets it has resolutely and stubbornly refused to operate these itself.
Liberty and Law director, Gerald Hartup, who has monitored CRE employment for 28 years is writing to the Home Secretary seeking independent supervision of the organisation’s employment policy. He said: “The CRE has had far too long to establish itself as an equal opportunities ‘champion’. Successive chairmen and commissioners have failed to prioritise reform making it a laughing stock. How can its recommendations and investigations be taken seriously until it gets its own house in order?”
Ends
Note to editors
www.cre.gov.uk/pdfs/AR03_Main.pdf
Gerald Hartup Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
Liberty and Law
Unit 384, 78 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 5AP
Tel: 020 7928 7325 Fax: 020 7207 3425 gerald.hartup@btopenworld.com
www.libertyandlawjournal.blogspot.com
ideas and action to change society
Bugger Peter Tatchell!
The protest outside London’s City Hall over Mayor Ken Livingstone’s association with controversial Muslim cleric Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi on Monday 12 July was pretty low key. Despite earlier substantial press coverage just a dozen or so protestors from Outrage and the Green Party carried placards opposing Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s attendance at the conference Hijab: A Woman’s right to choose called by the Muslim Council of Britain. They were watched by five relaxed police officers two of whom were Asian giving [no doubt accidentally] the impression that 40% of London’s police officers were from ethnic minorities.
Qaradawi and Livingstone did not make an appearance at the main entrance but the media were treated to a passionate embrace between the two men at the conference itself suggesting a Private Eye cover “Bugger Peter Tatchell!”
Qaradawi had been widely condemned by government and the media for his views on suicide bombers and had been reported to the police [without success] by Jewish representatives. His views on homosexuality and the position of women came in for particular criticism.
Protestors were slightly outnumbered by photographers. Outrage organiser Peter Tatchell gave a television interview and Green Assembly members Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones spoke to the media condemning Qaradawi and Livingstone.
There were no representatives from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives or Labour to register a protest but they are expected to support a motion of condemnation of the Mayor later this week
Placards announced: Qaradawi blames rape victims who are ‘immodest’; Dr Qaradawi wants Muslim women forced to wear hijab; Qaradawi endorses stoning of gays; Stop death penalty for love, and, No to gay execution [also in Arabic].
Light relief was occasioned by two elderly American tourists- ignoring the political event - who got a policeman to pose with them outside the entrance.
It was a strangely subdued demonstration as if both demonstrators and the objects of their demonstration were dipping their toes gently into political confrontation. Muslims attending the event walked past the placards ignoring the protestors who made no attempt to engage them in discussion or distribute leaflets. The best picture the media could get was a middle aged Muslim lady giving them a cheerful wave before entering the building.
The protest outside London’s City Hall over Mayor Ken Livingstone’s association with controversial Muslim cleric Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi on Monday 12 July was pretty low key. Despite earlier substantial press coverage just a dozen or so protestors from Outrage and the Green Party carried placards opposing Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s attendance at the conference Hijab: A Woman’s right to choose called by the Muslim Council of Britain. They were watched by five relaxed police officers two of whom were Asian giving [no doubt accidentally] the impression that 40% of London’s police officers were from ethnic minorities.
Qaradawi and Livingstone did not make an appearance at the main entrance but the media were treated to a passionate embrace between the two men at the conference itself suggesting a Private Eye cover “Bugger Peter Tatchell!”
Qaradawi had been widely condemned by government and the media for his views on suicide bombers and had been reported to the police [without success] by Jewish representatives. His views on homosexuality and the position of women came in for particular criticism.
Protestors were slightly outnumbered by photographers. Outrage organiser Peter Tatchell gave a television interview and Green Assembly members Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones spoke to the media condemning Qaradawi and Livingstone.
There were no representatives from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives or Labour to register a protest but they are expected to support a motion of condemnation of the Mayor later this week
Placards announced: Qaradawi blames rape victims who are ‘immodest’; Dr Qaradawi wants Muslim women forced to wear hijab; Qaradawi endorses stoning of gays; Stop death penalty for love, and, No to gay execution [also in Arabic].
Light relief was occasioned by two elderly American tourists- ignoring the political event - who got a policeman to pose with them outside the entrance.
It was a strangely subdued demonstration as if both demonstrators and the objects of their demonstration were dipping their toes gently into political confrontation. Muslims attending the event walked past the placards ignoring the protestors who made no attempt to engage them in discussion or distribute leaflets. The best picture the media could get was a middle aged Muslim lady giving them a cheerful wave before entering the building.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Mayor Livingstone still backing homophobic Islamic cleric - but for how long?
London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone continues to back Muslim homophobe Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi by appearing at his press conference yesterday and opening next Monday’s Hijab Conference at London’s City Hall where the controversial religious leader is Special Guest of Honour of the Muslim Council of Britain [MCB].
Qaradawi has expressed himself forcefully on gay rights. Interviewed by Islam on Line he provided the following fatwa.
“All divine messages spoke of the People of Lut and denounced their ill-doings. The West, however, wishes to turn homosexuality into something acceptable by society. Not only that, but laws and regulations are being construed to legalize this sin and many of the issues surrounding it.
Personally, I consider a homosexual to be as a drug abuser, one who requires treatment. Does anyone in their right mind consider drug abuse something one is born with? This is not a genetic anomaly, it is something one acquires. It is a disease that needs a cure.”
It has been assumed until now that Livingstone backs the rights of gays and lesbians as full citizens. He would have been expected to veto the use of City Hall for an event that could even result in civil commotion as gay and lesbian Londoners protest at this provocative demonstration of Islamaphobic bigotry.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “It is amazing that the Muslim Council of Britain should have invited this man to their conference whose views on homosexuality and arguments for the grossly subordinate role of women must be repugnant to British Muslims. The Council claims 350 affiliates and to express the views of moderate Muslims. It is time for affiliates to engage in a spring clean of its officers. How can society combat Islamophobia without rejecting Islamaphobia? It is an outrage that London’s Mayor should give Qaradawi and what he stands for a veneer of respectability by sharing a platform with him at London’s seat of government. “
MCB claims that Qaradawi is a ‘voice of reason and understanding’ and that ‘the smear campaign against Dr Al-Qaradawi is being orchestrated by the Zionist lobby who are evidently angered by Dr Al- Qaradawi's staunch opposition to Israeli State brutality against the Palestinian people.’
Ends
Note to editors
Islamaphobia - manifestations of hatred and hostility by Muslims
Islamophobia - manifestions of hatred and hostility towards Muslims
London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone continues to back Muslim homophobe Dr Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi by appearing at his press conference yesterday and opening next Monday’s Hijab Conference at London’s City Hall where the controversial religious leader is Special Guest of Honour of the Muslim Council of Britain [MCB].
Qaradawi has expressed himself forcefully on gay rights. Interviewed by Islam on Line he provided the following fatwa.
“All divine messages spoke of the People of Lut and denounced their ill-doings. The West, however, wishes to turn homosexuality into something acceptable by society. Not only that, but laws and regulations are being construed to legalize this sin and many of the issues surrounding it.
Personally, I consider a homosexual to be as a drug abuser, one who requires treatment. Does anyone in their right mind consider drug abuse something one is born with? This is not a genetic anomaly, it is something one acquires. It is a disease that needs a cure.”
It has been assumed until now that Livingstone backs the rights of gays and lesbians as full citizens. He would have been expected to veto the use of City Hall for an event that could even result in civil commotion as gay and lesbian Londoners protest at this provocative demonstration of Islamaphobic bigotry.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “It is amazing that the Muslim Council of Britain should have invited this man to their conference whose views on homosexuality and arguments for the grossly subordinate role of women must be repugnant to British Muslims. The Council claims 350 affiliates and to express the views of moderate Muslims. It is time for affiliates to engage in a spring clean of its officers. How can society combat Islamophobia without rejecting Islamaphobia? It is an outrage that London’s Mayor should give Qaradawi and what he stands for a veneer of respectability by sharing a platform with him at London’s seat of government. “
MCB claims that Qaradawi is a ‘voice of reason and understanding’ and that ‘the smear campaign against Dr Al-Qaradawi is being orchestrated by the Zionist lobby who are evidently angered by Dr Al- Qaradawi's staunch opposition to Israeli State brutality against the Palestinian people.’
Ends
Note to editors
Islamaphobia - manifestations of hatred and hostility by Muslims
Islamophobia - manifestions of hatred and hostility towards Muslims
Will Blunkett be first victim of his religious hatred law?
Home Secretary David Blunkett could well be the first defendant together with BNP leader Nick Griffin to test his proposed law to criminalize the incitement of religious hatred. The Islamic Human Rights Commission [IHRC] has declared him [26 June] second only to Mr Griffin as Most Islamophobic Politician of the year. The Commission for Racial Equality backed these awards according to Aljazeera and Reuters. They reported its chair Trevor Phillips welcoming them as an important step to ‘fight bigotry and prejudice against Muslims’.
Ironically the IHRC opposes his proposal on the grounds that ethnic minorities whom the Home Office claims the legislation is designed to protect would be the first to be criminalized.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “The Home Office under Mr Blunkett has lost the plot. It now represents a clear threat to racial harmony. The Prime Minister must dismiss his loyal but dangerously misguided Minister.”
Endshttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1AC37DBC-5EF7-4873-A2C9-6B5049A094DB.htm
http://in.news.yahoo.com/040626/137/2emrx.html
http://server792.dnslive.net/~ihrc/show.php?id=1124
Home Secretary David Blunkett could well be the first defendant together with BNP leader Nick Griffin to test his proposed law to criminalize the incitement of religious hatred. The Islamic Human Rights Commission [IHRC] has declared him [26 June] second only to Mr Griffin as Most Islamophobic Politician of the year. The Commission for Racial Equality backed these awards according to Aljazeera and Reuters. They reported its chair Trevor Phillips welcoming them as an important step to ‘fight bigotry and prejudice against Muslims’.
Ironically the IHRC opposes his proposal on the grounds that ethnic minorities whom the Home Office claims the legislation is designed to protect would be the first to be criminalized.
Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup said: “The Home Office under Mr Blunkett has lost the plot. It now represents a clear threat to racial harmony. The Prime Minister must dismiss his loyal but dangerously misguided Minister.”
Endshttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1AC37DBC-5EF7-4873-A2C9-6B5049A094DB.htm
http://in.news.yahoo.com/040626/137/2emrx.html
http://server792.dnslive.net/~ihrc/show.php?id=1124
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