Forward Partnership blogs

Work is life

karamat — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:04:18 +0100

Although I have a generally fulfilling life which includes much more besides work, I have to say I cannot imagine not working.

I grew up in rural Pakistan where older people go on contributing to society well into their old age. I came to the UK and discovered that sadly here we do things differently and expect people to stop working for no other reason than because they have reached the age of 65, regardless of how young and able they might be.

I am very pleased that all that is about to change with the removal of the Default Retirement Age.

Fresh look at equality

karamat — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:05:58 +0100

There has been a great deal of political correctness which has sadly constrained development of equality. It is to be welcomed that Baroness Warsi is bravely challenging orthodoxies and taking a fresh look at funding of ethnic minority organisations. I said something on these lines about 9 years ago but it fell on deaf years. However, I would still caution against throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Instead of stopping such funding altogether, perhaps the organisations concerned should be encouraged to open their doors more widely and use their expertise to serve all groups, not just their own. This will make a much needed contribution to creating a more cohesive society.

Need to reconsider racist incidents

karamat — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:54:18 +0000

Sometime ago, I happened to be in a school where a 10 year old white boy was about to be arrested for making a racist remark; he had used the ‘N’ word when referring to a black pupil. He admitted doing it. It was obvious he hadn’t realised it was wrong to use such words. He thought it was a normal way to describe black people. So quite innocent! Fortunately, I was able to intervene and, with a lot of help from senior people in Education, the police were persuaded not to go ahead with the arrest.

The Head emailed me the next day and said had the arrest had gone ahead, it would have put their community relations back at least 10 years.

How to tackle ‘race’ if you are black and you want to down play your race!

karamat — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:53:50 +0000

Patricia Williams yet again helps to sum up the ‘post-racialness’ of Obama. I continue to believe that the President’s example has implications for many a multi-racial workplace.

An example of how he decided to not act on a ‘race’ issue for fear of being seen to be too black was provided by his indecision in the Jack Johnson case.

Racism in the workplace! Its official!

karamat — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:49:56 +0100

There is racism in the workplace! So say the government based on their research whereby they used dummy CVs being presented by people from different ethnic groups. This reminds me of a similar piece of research carried out in the 80s by the then Commission for Racial Equality. I may even have the booklet they produced.

What is interesting in this article was the measured response by
Iqbal Wahhab who only a few weeks back was trying to raise this issue but without much success.

Using racist language, parodying chauvinism in the UK and more serious issues in South Africa

karamat — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:25:03 +0100

Another controversy centred on racist language! This time on Strictly Come Dancing. It’s explained here by Rod Liddle. He also refers to a range of other recent incidents in the media.

Probably the best comment on this was from Sarfraz Manzoor who with a little help from Bruce Forsyth puts it all in perspective.

Then there was an article from Rod Liddle. This helps us to understand what we can and cannot say on race, sex, etc.

From ‘Black’ to mainstream

karamat — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:33:12 +0100

Excellent piece from Roy Williams which talks about the progress made in the world of theatre, what is ‘race’, attracting minority people into theatres, what Black writers can and cannot write about etc.

It should be read widely, not just by those with an interest in the arts!

Was calling Obama a “liar” racist!?

karamat — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:56:48 +0100

Here is a story where a white US politician shouts out to a black president “you lie”. Then an ex-president, in his 80s, from the Deep South says the act was racist.

Here are two comments; one from a black journalist, Keith Richburg and the other from a white; Andrew Sullivan.

Not sure whether the race of any of the parties is relevant.

You decide!

Gender equality; still much more to fight for!

karamat — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:51:49 +0100

According to an article by Jack Grimston women are doing very well compared to men; at least in education upto and after leaving university and getting good jobs. Then what!

Are they simply window dressing in those ‘high places’ they reach as was pointed out in the discussion surrounding Caroline Flint and her resignation from government.

The Observer asks whether its institutional prejudice (there is much we can transfer from institutional racism).

Role of race in the treatment of a black man: the case of Trevor Phillips

karamat — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:32:13 +0100

The saga continues at Equality Commission. While I welcome what Mr Phillips has done during his time here and at the previous commission, it would appear that some things he has done point to his poor judgement. It is interesting to note that he has claimed that his treatment was affected by him being black