Sceptical

How can any right minded person think that castigating the people, culture and history of the host nation will bring an end to racism?

I wrote the following back in September 2018;

Apparently next week is Cultural Diversity Week, and it seems that my employer is wholeheartedly supporting this initiative. There will be videos and seminars, and no doubt every senior member of the management team will be issuing emails extolling the virtues of multiculturalism. I have no doubt it will also be one of the topics at the next training meeting.

The company is not alone, all big businesses are trying to portray themselves as woke, to ensure there is no backslash from the illiberal left, to ensure they can continue to sell products to those who self define as Communist anti-captilists. The irony of the situation.

The vehemence directed at persons or organisations that do not accept the diversity and multicultural agenda is fierce and one can understand why most feel it is easier simply to accept the dogma rather than question it. But does diversity training really encourage inclusion?

How can emphasising the differences help us forget the differences? How can diversity training reduce the notion of us and them that underpins racist attitudes? Surely the way to bring people of all backgrounds together is to emphasise those aspects that unite us. So in the case of our employment, the fact we work for the same business, we work as a team, we all have broadly similar goals and aspirations, and we all want to succeed.

It seems a simple enough notion to me, but I suspect mine will be a lone voice at next week’s meeting.

Two years on, and the madness continues. Now it is not enough to accept the notion that cultural diversity brings nothing but benefits. Now we must also accept that all white people are inherently racist, that we must apologies for the wrong doings of people long dead and that the history of the indigenous majority must be “decolonised”. Continued unchecked we will be expected to enthusiastically accept all cultures, with the exception of our own, which we will be required to denounce.

How can this be right? How can any right minded person think that castigating the people, culture and history of the host nation will bring an end to racism? It won't, but of course we know that isn't the aim of #BLM and its ilk. Racial disharmony is big business; just look at the amounts pledged to BLM UK, and you will see there are plenty of people who have a vested interest in promoting and continuing disharmony.

It is time, whatever your skin colour or racial background, to start pushing back, to stand as one against their destructive agenda.

8th September 2020

#racism

How can businesses survive in this climate?

I've walked into the city for the first time since lockdown began and it is so strange. It is a Friday morning but the streets are virtually empty. Some familiar shops have closed down since I was last here, whilst those that are open appear devoid of customers.

The usual throng of tourists is also missing. Pre-lockdown, large groups of Chinese or European visitors would follow their flag waving tour guides, taking in the sights of this beautiful city.

How can businesses survive in this climate? Our towns and cities need to be open, to be able to welcome shoppers and tourists. The on-going lockdown will cause untold damage to the economy, and for what purpose? Excess deaths are presently lower than they were this time last year. Studies have also established it is the elderly and those with underlying conditions who are at greatest risk from covid. We should protect those groups, but the rest of us should be allowed, indeed encouraged, to get back to work.

If we don't, the economy will continue to wither, tax revenues will shrink, and who then would pay for the NHS? In that scenario, how many more lives would be needlessly lost?

21st August 2020

#coronavirus

Don't they see the irony that they, from their privileged positions, are berating a society that gave them the opportunity to make a success of their lives?

I imagine that the white homeless people one sees sleeping rough in the city centres are so grateful to have enjoyed the benefits of white privilege. And I'm sure people from the BAME communities appreciate their skin colour being likened to a disability.

Have you noticed that those who preach about the evils of white privilege are very often celebrities of colour? Don't they see the irony that they, from their privileged positions, are berating a society that gave them the opportunity to make a success of their lives? Why can't those black people who have succeeded in business, sport, the arts, etc, tell us how they realised that success?

Rather than promulgating division and disharmony, I for one would much rather learn how they succeeded. They are exemplars of what can be achieved in modern Britain, and they could be an inspiration to all, regardless of racial or social backgrounds.

7th August 2020

#racism

The lockdown madness is set to continue for some time

In recent weeks the pubs and restaurants have been allowed to open. I have enjoyed visiting favourite watering holes, sitting around with friends and family talking and drinking real cask ales! It is though a little strange being served by staff wearing masks, but if that is the price we have to pay for a degree of normality, I can live with it.

As for the schools, can you believe that after being closed between March and July, they reopened for a couple of weeks, and then promptly closed again for the summer holidays. These are exceptional times, and I don't understand why the schools did not remain open during the summer and help the children catch up with their education. There is still concern about whether the schools should open in September. There is some speculation that pubs and restaurants may have to close again to offset the risk of schools opening. How one relates to the other, I do not understand, but the fear of a second wave has paralysed society. Are we now so risk averse then we cannot contemplate returning to work or allowing schools to open until such time as a vaccine is developed? Of course, a vaccine is not likely to be available for months, but already we are seeing daily reports of jobs being shed; the damage being wrought on peoples livelihoods and wellbeing will, if we are not careful, be so much worse than the effects of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the virtuous left continue with their nonsense. White privilege, unconscious bias, decolonizing the curriculum, 2+2=5. I am tired of these charlatans trying to rip this country apart. How does it help society when one is castigated for being the “wrong” colour? How can the noxious bilge they spout break down racial division? Of course, it is obvious to anyone with a modicum of sense that all it does is stoke the flames, widen the divisions. The inflammatory rhetoric has consequences; over the weekend a black “militia” paraded through the streets of Brixton. I have no idea what point they were trying to make but some described the turn of events as sinister. I have to say they looked about as threatening as Dad's Army, but there may be some agitators out there who will want to respond in kind.

Social distancing rules are being ignored, parties and raves attended by hundreds routinely take place around the country, and if the police try and disperse the revellers, they get attacked. Respect for law and order is in places breaking down, and with another hot spell forecast for the next few days, I worry that we will see more disturbances if not riots. I suspect the lockdown madness will continue for some time yet.

5th August 2020

#coronavirus #education #racism

If we cannot agree on even the most basic objective facts, instead of reaching for the stars, mankind will be hobbled.

Can you do addition? What’s one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?

The White Queen from Alice in Wonderland, asking what today is a very pertinent question. When academics are telling us that in certain circumstances 2+2=5, when numbers are described as a variable, or that “treating math as a universal upholds white supremacy”, one can't help but think we have disappeared a long way down the rabbit hole. To begin with I couldn't make up my mind whether the people making these ridiculous comments really believed what they said, or were simply having a joke at our expense. I had hoped it was the latter, but sadly it appears to be the former.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.

Much like Alice, we are left to wonder what will come next, although I suspect we have a long way to go before we reach the bottom of this well. The assault on western culture, science and history, the efforts to twist and distort all facts to fit arbitrary social justice templates will no doubt continue. Adherents of the new orthodoxy will try to push the advances of the Enlightenment to the periphery in favour of “other ways of thinking”.

I am under no obligation to make sense to you

The Mad Hatter was, well, mad, so we can make some allowances for his comment. The same cannot be said of those academics who try to persuade us that 2+2 can equal 5. If we cannot agree on even the most basic objective facts, instead of reaching for the stars, mankind will be hobbled. There will be no advances in science and technology, and development of the vaccines needed to fight future pandemics will grind to a halt.

In those circumstances, the future would be anything but a wonderland.

4th August 2020

#racism

Why would you want to consider the alternatives when fanning the flames of division is such a money spinner?

Consider the following, from The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff.

Ideas may be accepted not because they are true but because the politically dominant group wants them to be true in order to promote its preferred narrative and preferred set of remedies.

Sound familiar? We're daily being fed the nonsense that the UK is institutionally racist. Every problem in society is now reduced to a lecture on racism. White people being told they are “privileged”, black people being told all their problems are the result of oppression. There is no attempt to consider the influence of family support structures, educational outcomes, cultural differences, levels of unemployment, crime rates, etc.

To quote Haidt and Lukianoff again, when

using theories that are based on a flawed or incomplete understanding of the causal forces at work, [their] reform efforts are unlikely to do any good and might even make things worse.

I suspect many of the activists are fully aware of the these points, but why would you want to consider the alternatives when fanning the flames of division is such a money spinner? By mid-June 2020, the BLM UK GoFundMe page had reached more than £1million in donations. Rather than looking for solutions some people have a vested interest in widening the divisions.

13th July 2020

#racism

Why do the media, celebrities and the useful idiots of the white middle class insist on this programme of self flagellation?

According to the BBC programme Countryfile “many in Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups see the countryside as being a white environment.”

Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury was asked for his response to those who have suggested that because statues of Jesus Christ tend to depict him as a white European, those statues should be toppled. According to the Telegraph, Welby agreed that the depiction of Christ in Western countries should change and criticised the “sense that God is white.”

On the subject of cultural appropriation, BBC Good Food is apparently reviewing its huge archive of recipes, and changing any unacceptable words or phrases that might be considered “offensive”.

When will this stupidity end? Nobody is stopped from visiting any other part of the country simply because of the colour of their skin. The nations statues and monuments are a reflection of the society that built them, and its hardly surprising that in Britain, which was and remains predominantly white, Jesus Christ is depicted as a white man. As for cultural appropriation, surely the exchange and sharing of the best parts of each others cultures, and which brings people together in mutual appreciation, is to be welcomed?

In a recent survey, people were asked if they would be content for our children to marry someone of a different race. About 70% strongly agreed, compared with 41% a decade ago.

According to the Government report, Entry Rates into Higher Education, in 2006 21.6% of black children aged 18 went on to University. By 2018 that figure was up to 41.2%. By contrast in 2006 21.8% of white children aged 18 went on to University, the figure rising only a little to 29.5% in 2018.

According to the report the biggest increase in entry rates between 2006 and 2018 was among black pupils

Society has its problems, but they are not be as bad as the headlines would have you believe. Dig a little deeper, and the evidence points to the fact that Britain is one of the most tolerant and least racist countries in the world.

Why then do the media, celebrities and the useful idiots of the white middle class insist on this programme of self flagellation? Why must the white majority reject its heritage? Why must it apologise for the wrongs of generations long dead? Why can we not look to the future as one nation, as one race, whilst at the same time respecting and appreciating all cultures?

If we are to avoid a complete fracturing of society, we would do well to remember Nelson Mandela's words of warning;

When we dehumanise and demonise our opponents, we abandon the possibility of peacefully resolving our differences.

29th June 2020

#racism

For most people the lockdown is over

Yesterday tens of thousands of people descended on Bournemouth. The Government's guidance on social distancing was utterly ignored. Meanwhile in London, large parties have turned nasty, with groups of youths attacking the police when asked to disperse.

For most people the lockdown is over. Support for the Government's guidance was sorely tested following Dominic Cummings jaunt to Durham. There then followed 2 weekends of protests and rioting, when again social distancing was ignored, but which has not resulted in any discernible increase in the number of new cases of covid-19. We are left asking if the lockdown is now serving any useful purpose.

I worry that what we have seen is the beginning of a summer of discontent. There is no confidence in the Government. Many people are tired of the lockdown, of the infringement of basic liberties, and are taking matters into their own hands. The police have neither the resources or the willpower to prevent hordes of people heading for tourist hot spots. As for the inner cities, having 'taken the knee', the police have lost all credibility with the youth of those communities, and I fear we will see more incidents of police officers being attacked.

We are living through strange times. Whilst the threat posed by the virus seems to be receding, we now face the prospect of a summer of lockdown induced madness.

26th June 2020

#coronavirus #politics

A self serving, corrupt, Byzantine bureaucracy

Four years ago today, we woke up to the news that the country had voted to leave the EU. At that time I wrote;

I voted to leave because I do not believe the EU is democratic. It is a project created by the politicians. It has become a self serving, corrupt, Byzantine bureaucracy that has become more important than the people it is supposed to serve.

I remain of that opinion. We just have to hope that Boris and his team can negotiate an acceptable trade deal before the end of the year.

24th June 2020

#brexit #eu #politics

Widening the divisions helps no one.

White Lives Matter Burnley proclaimed the banner being dragged through the air over the Etihad Stadium yesterday. The perpetrators face police investigation into what has been described as a racist stunt. Officials at Burnley Footbal Club have said they will issue lifetime bans to the supporters responsible for arranging the flight.

Unsavoury though the episode was, are you really that surprised? By its very nature, identity politics sows the seeds of division, pits one group against the other. All the while the white community is told it is privileged, that it should be ashamed of its history, that it should bend the knee, there will be a disdainful reaction.

Societies wrongs will not be resolved until such time as we can treat every person and each others cultures with respect. Widening the divisions helps no one.

23rd June 2020

#racism