Well, we suspected it but now it's out in the open: Neue Arbeit really do intend making it illegal to be normal. If you're an anglo-saxon, middle-class, heterosexual male, we suggest you start being very afraid ...
Harriet Harperson has unveiled her plans for the future of Britain, a future which has no place for ordinary people, a future in which not only will it be illegal to discriminate against members of minorities but it will be legal (encouraged, even) to discriminate against anyone who isn't a member of a minority.
Employers will be given legal powers to discriminate in favour of women and black job candidates, encouraging them to choose them ahead of equally-qualified white male applicants without risking being sued. Harperson hopes to boost the proportion of female and ethnic minority staff, as well as pushing more of them into senior roles.
The Equality Bill, which brings together nine major laws, yesterday prompted grave concern that white men could miss out unfairly on jobs. Business chiefs and opposition MPs reacted furiously to the plans, which have been described as 'socialism in one clause'. They warned it would burden firms struggling to cope with the worst recession in 60 years with more red tape and leave them open to 'costly and damaging' employment tribunals.
The Equality Bill also ...
• Gives public bodies a 'duty' to target services, including health and education, at those from working class backgrounds. So don't bother going to A&E or signing up for evening classes if you've got a posh accent
• Bans age discrimination in the provision of goods and service - fair enough. I mean, if you're only ten years old, why should the shopkeeper refuse to sell you the mags off the top shelf? But wait a minute ... doesn't the government's own legislation prevent children from buying cigarettes or beer? How does that work, then?
• Strengthens protection for carers, breast-feeding mothers and female members of clubs such as golf clubs - but if you're a man and you want to join an ante-natal class or a girls' choir, forget it. You pervert.
• Enables public bodies to award contracts according to a firm's diversity - so presumably if you employ white heterosexual men you might as well go out of business, however good you are at your job. Unless they're Romanian, of course.
• Orders public bodies to make sure they do not discriminate on grounds of 'sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age and religion or belief'. But race is OK, it seems.
We note with some pleasure, therefore, the row that's broken out at Labour's offices in the Handsworth constituency of Birmingham, where a Mrs.Cohen has been told she can't stand for the council because she's (a) white and (b) Jewish.
Elaina Cohen claims that Labour councillor Mahmood Hussain said he would not support her application for an inner-city ward because 'my Muslim members don't want you because you are Jewish'. Mrs.Cohen has made an official complaint about the alleged remarks made by Mr Hussain, a Muslim and former lord mayor of Birmingham. She said 'I am shocked and upset that a member of the Labour Party in this day and age could even think something like that, let alone say it. People should not be allowed to make racist comments like that. If someone in the party feels I cannot represent them because of my colour or religion, that's ridiculous.'
Two days after the alleged conversation, Mrs.Cohen and another candidate were rejected by a pre-selection panel after failing to gain the support of the local party. Instead, members were presented with one candidate, black South African Hendrina Quinnen, who was selected by an almost unanimous vote. So that's another minority to get favoured treatment from Nu-Labour then - foreigners.
The message from Mrs.Cohen's case is pretty clear, I think: if you're foreign, coloured, gay, transexual and support an outlandish belief-system and a view of society that has changed little since the Dark Ages, you're OK - the government loves you.
But not if you're Jewish.
The GOS says: It's really difficult, this discrimination thing, isn't it? It's so hard for us ordinary people to get our heads round it. It's wrong to discriminate against women - OK, that's easy enough. It's wrong to be nasty to gay people - well, that's a bit hard to swallow given their desire to adopt all our children, but at least it's easy enough to understand. It's wrong to criticise people's religion, except for Christians who are fair game - yes, well we've got used to this, so I suppose it's fairly normal by now.
But this race thing, that's really complicated, isn't it? If you're English you mustn't discriminate against, criticise or make fun of Muslims, Gypsies, Jews, Afro-Caribbeans, Scots, Welsh or Irish. But suppose you're Irish yourself? Who can you make fun of then? - oh, the English, I suppose.
And if you're a Muslim, we all know that it's perfectly OK for you to criticise virtually anyone - English, Jews, anyone you like really.
How does this work, exactly? Is there a kind of racial pecking order, with Muslims at the top, Jews quite low down, and the English right at the bottom? Not that we're complaining, you understand - us white middle-class blokes, we don't want to make a fuss, we just like to know where we stand. I guess if we assume that our status in the Fifth Reich's New World Order is roughly equivalent to a bit of slime you wipe off your shoe, that'll have to do. In India, they'd call us Untouchables ...
There's a petition now, calling on Gordon McBroon to resign. You can sign it here - not that we're criticising, you understand. After all, McBroon's Scottish (ducks head, pulls forelock) and therefore several rungs up the ladder from us ordinary mortals.
We know our place.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
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