Forward Partnership blogs

Banning the causing of offence- how far to go?

karamat — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:53:51 +0100

Rod Liddle bemoans the embourgeoisement of football. He says that we have gone too far in banning foul language and other bad behaviour from our foot ball grounds. Furthermore, he seems to be of the view that laws are not what changes behaviour; it is evolution of society. I am not sure whether the kind of culture we have where certain words and phrases are taboo would have come about without the law. He does have a point as to the limits; how far is far enough?

In another part of the same newspaper, Jeremy Clarkson raises similar points. He points out that whatever is said on TV could potentially offend some organisation who has a “website and a spokesperson”. He points out that having banned the f-word, the n-word and the like perhaps we should stop. He is particularly concerned at the practices and policies of the BBC where a ‘compliance’ procedure has been developed to make sure that none of its employees says anything which could possibly offend anyone. What will happen to challenging programmes and comedy, I wonder!

Do we racialise too much?

karamat — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:53:11 +0100

Since the start of the 2007-08 football season 15 Premier League managers have quit of been sacked. Only oneof them caused people to ask the question: whether his departure was to do with his race.

Fortunately, this was balanced by this article by David James.

However, it was interesting to note that the ground had been set before his departure by a couple of articles. One presented him as a role model to others, while another one was actually written by Ince himself in which he talks about racism as a cause of there being no black managers in the Premier League.

Media hideously ageist and sexist!

karamat — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:48:46 +0100

There is not much to add; this article says it all.

Gender equality; plenty still to do!

karamat — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:26:19 +0100

I came across the excellent contribution from the Observer newspaper last week which was to mark 80 years since women were given the vote. It began with an assessment of that journey by Rachel Cooke which provides an excellent introduction to the whole debate and struggle.

Cooke hopes that the impending ‘Equality Bill’ will succeed to bring about “real rather than notional equality”.

The series of articles includes an interview with Anna Ford who reminds us how hideously sexist and ageist the BBC (and other media) is. Why else would we find ourselves in a situation where people like Kate Adie, Angela Rippon, Anna Ford and Moira Stuart are found to be too old but David Dimbleby and John Humphrys are not?

Clash of cultures amongst ethnic minorities (and a ‘joke’/offence from the Spanish basketball team!)

karamat — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:30:02 +0100

There was a time when the term ‘culture clash’ meant conflict between an immigrant/minority and the so-called ‘host’/majority culture. Not surprisingly, now we hear of such conflict between different ethnic or religious minority groups.

Here, in Birmingham, England, we have had strife between Asians and African Caribbeans which culminated in riots in the Lozells area. This was started by a rumour through a black radio station that a black girl had been gang-raped by Asians. This was then fuelled by a black newspaper which was later reprimanded by the Press Complaints Commission. We have also had isolated troubles such as the one in Slough London between Sikhs and Muslims which then resulted in the project ‘Aik Saath’.

Obama (and Hamilton) tell us the future is..Mixed race!

karamat — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:04:06 +0100

Steve Jones in an excellent article points out that men and women are on the move and are having lots of sex on the way. This, according to him is leading to greater assimilation. He poses the question: how far was your birthplace from that of your partner and how far apart were your mother and father and your grandmothers and grandfathers born?

In answer he says that ‘in almost every case the distance has increased over the generations and continues to do so (my wife and I first saw the light 3000 miles apart; my mother and father about 3)’. For me and my wife it was 4000 miles and my parents only a few yards.

Gender and the US election!

karamat — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:23:35 +0100

Before we move on from the election, it is worth reflecting on its gender dimension.

First Camille Paglia had a go at Hilary Clinton for being too dependent on Bill’s connections, advice and interventions. She seems to be saying that women have to go it alone.

Then, Suzanne Goldenberg, author of Madam President; is America ready to send Hilary Clinton (now, woman) to the White House, makes the point that actually both Palin and Clinton have helped people to consider the possibility that perhaps one day the US will have a female president. .

Do we still need employee networks such as CWN and NBPA?

karamat — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:11:47 +0100

Once upon a time, in the recent past:
• Women were not allowed to eat at most City restaurants unless they were the guest of a male member of the club
• City’s boardrooms and trading floors were similarly restrictive with women mainly confined to roles as secretaries and other supporting positions
• (a bit before this) Women were sacked if they got married or pregnant

It was at time like this that the City Women’s Network was set up, initially given the ironic title ‘The Little Ladies’. Apparently, they had to keep it a secret for fear of upsetting the men; some women could not safely receive mailings at home while others could not tell their husbands about the network. Seems unbelievable but it is true as pointed out in The Observer.

Mixed heritage

karamat — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:24:46 +0100

This article by Laura Smith provides a comprehensive perspective of the dual heritage debate with further resources.

There is also a collection of portraits which challenges the awkward silence surrounding mixed race, and celebrates a diversity of culture, tradition and history and a website on multiple heritage.

Who do they say I am? Obama’s identity

karamat — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:19:35 +0100

There was a time when anyone who had the slightest shade of brown or black would be classed as black. At least they would struggle to be accepted as white. The situation has changed slightly but will hopefully change to a much greater extent as in the future. The debate has been given a real kick up its backside by one Barack Obama’s election. The event is so momentous and recent that I can’t actually believe it has happened!

I wonder how they would answer if Obama were to pose the question to his entourage (disciples!): Who do they say I am? Although I have been watching his campaign from the start, the first Blog entry I made was 42 weeks and 3 days ago. From those early days many people, including those on his campaign team, have been presenting Obama as an African American. I don’t think he came out to challenge this.