Tim Worstall

Anti-English Dsicrimination

The English Democrats are an odd little party from what I know of them. Yes, they campaign for an English Parliament but there’s more than a whiff of more strident nationalism there too. Still, this cheers:

A nationalist political party which sued a
hospitality company for anti-English discrimination has been paid
£5,200 in an out of court settlement, it was claimed yesterday.

The
English Democrats Party took legal action against Royal Armouries
International, which provides corporate hospitality at the Royal
Armouries museum, after a booking for a conference room in Leeds was
cancelled.

The party, which campaigns for an English Parliament,
said RAI initially claimed the room was double-booked but later said it
was concerned about potential damage to its reputation. The English
Democrats said RAI’s actions were in breach of the Race Relations Act.

That there shouldn’t be such discrimination laws (a private company should be able to rent facilities to whoever it wants, or not, as the case may be) is one thing, but if they are indeed there then they do have to be applied impartially.

Just as those "no platform" rules which stop thugs like the BNP from speaking on University campuses should not exist, but if they do should also apply to fellow thugs like Respect and the SWP.

In

5 responses

  1. DocBud Avatar
    DocBud

    This is the Royal Armouries that has a peace garden or some such dedicated to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but not to the victims of Japanese aggression.
    It is free to enter which, once I’d visited, I judged to be about the right price. It’s rubbish, which is probably why they gave it to Leeds.

    Reply
  2. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    Anti-English discrimination is systemic in HM Treasury spending:
    “Scottish residents are now receiving £1,500 a year more in state cash than their English counterparts, and benefit more than anyone else in the UK from spending on health and transport . . The Treasury said some £8,623 per head was spent on Scotland in 2006/07 – a 5.4pc increase on the previous year. Meanwhile, public spending per head in England increased by only 4.2pc to £7,121. . .
    “The Treasury documents show that £1,788 per head is spent on Scottish health – £241 more than in England, and £389 on transport – some £184 a head more than in England. Scotland receives the biggest share of state incentives for employment and science and technology grants, while Scottish students receive £121 more each than their English counterparts, the figures show.”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/05/02/cnscot02.xml
    Discrimination against London is even worse:
    “London contributes up to £11 billion from its taxes to the rest of the country says a new research report written by academics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), published this week (Tuesday 9 November) by The Corporation of London.
    “London’s Place in the UK Economy 2004, written by Professor Ian Gordon, Dr Janet Stockdale, Tony Travers and Professor Christine Whitehead of LSE, states that although London receives an above-average per capita share of public expenditure from central government this is far outweighed by its very high tax bill.”
    http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/newsAndEvents/archives/2004/London_FinanceReport.htm
    “London is a major net contributor to the Exchequer: Our estimates suggest that London continues to be a substantial net contributor to UK public finances, by between £6 and £18 billion in 2003-04, despite the deterioration in public finances at a national level, with the mid-point of the range of estimates implying a net contribution of £12.1 billion.”
    London’s Place in the UK Economy 2005-6
    http://www.oef.com/On-Line%20Services/ClientsTriallists/LPUK05FULL.pdf
    As for the civil service being based in London:
    “Fewer than one fifth of all permanent civil servants (FTE) work in London. Over 70 per cent of civil servants work outside London and the South East. The regional distribution of civil servants has not changed notably over the 8-year period. Compared with the 1997 base year, the greatest increases were in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and East of England regions. The greatest decreases over the 8-year period occurred in the South East and London.”
    http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/reports/2005/location/index.asp

    Reply
  3. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    [but if they do should also apply to fellow thugs like Respect and the SWP.]
    “thugs” in what sense Tim? I’m really not aware of any links between Respect or the SWP and violence; if you look at the report of the inquiry into the Oldham riots a few years back I think you’ll agree it’s hard to pin anything on SWP or Respect that’s even remotely similar to the stuff that the BNP was criticised for.

    Reply
  4. pete Avatar
    pete

    The Royal Armouries in Leeds doesn’t have a reputation to damage. It is one of those white elephant museums set up about 10 to 15 years ago. Some, like the pop music museum in Sheffield went bust and closed. The Royal Armories stayed open by going down market, staging dinosaur jousting competitions and other such events.

    Reply
  5. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    “Some, like the pop music museum in Sheffield went bust and closed.”
    Do you mean this?
    “The £15m National Centre for Popular Music has engaged the services of insolvency experts to help save the cash-strapped attraction just seven months after it opened.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/478616.stm
    At least the museum building is now being used to provide student facilities for Sheffield Hallam University so there is something to show for the lottery money spent.
    In this case, £14m of public money just disappeared:
    “The South Yorkshire Trading Standards Unit is to close on 31 July [2006] over a £14m shortfall in its accounts. The discrepancy came to light after the death of the unit’s general manager in December 2005 and is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/5149450.stm

    Reply

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