True inequalities that shame modern society
Widdecombe
THERESA MAY has commanded an audit of equality from every Government department. One might have thought that the NHS and Department for Education, to name but two, did not need any more paperwork or distractions at this time.
However since this exercise is going ahead let me list some gross inequalities that I have no doubt feature nowhere on the Government’s radar. 1. The discrimination against Christians such as the owners of Asher’s Bakery in Belfast, Adrian Smith of Trafford Housing and Brian Barkley of the Red Cross who have all been punished for opposing gay marriage. Add in those who want to adopt or foster but who fail the political correctness test. 2. The unequal treatment of men in custody arrangements following family break-ups and the callous disregard of those who want to do nothing more than see their own children. 3. The guaranteeing of anonymity to women who make false allegations of sexual misconduct against men while the latter suffer months or years of suspense, lost livelihood and public vilification. Add in the refusal to prosecute the women. 4. The exclusion of men from the right to apply for constituencies subject to all-women shortlists. 5. Members of ethnic communities or minority religions allowed to wave placards or make comments about whites and Christians which would never be tolerated the other way round. 6. The deliberate disadvantages built into our tax system against full-time mothers. 7. The denial of rights in the womb to children with minor handicaps, which by law protect their ablebodied counterparts. 8. The denial of drugs and treatment to those who cannot afford to buy them when the NHS fails or Nice refuses.
I could go on but what would be the point? It has been made quite clear the working assumption behind this audit is that those who suffer inequality are invariably women, black or poor.
The answer will almost certainly be yet more positive discrimination against everybody else.
Of course the Prime Minister is right that children from inner-city council estates are less likely to go to university than those with wellheeled parents but the reasons for that lie in the deep awfulness of too many state schools, the ineffectiveness of the war against drugs and the virtual non-policing of truancy. No audit is a substitute for proper action on those fronts.
What an utter waste of time and money, Prime Minister.