12 Comments

In 96 or 97 I passed the tests to join the fire service , in the final interview one of the questions asked was why do we need more ethnic minorities in the fire service ? I came from a small town in the north of England and everyone was white , on the spot and at a loss I said I didn`t know but I wasn`t racist , I didn`t obviously get in . Two years later , after passing all the tests again I was back for another interview, and having quizzed all the firefighters I knew , what is the reason ??

I learnt for the first time , : its to reflect the community we serve : , The rest of the interview went well and I was in , ( only to get injured playing football shortly afterwards and it not happening , a different tale ).

My point on this, is that this , what I`d consider a left wing ideology has been creeping in longer than people realise, I thought then and think now, I`ve passed the tests, I`m happy to put my life at risk too rescue anyone of any colour or creed and to do that colour or race doesn`t matter.

Incidentally I Still live in the same town of roughly 7000 people and two people are black , both locals and my friends , although last year a family of migrants have been placed here, ha and a Turkish barbers opened although how they stay in business I`ll never know.

Expand full comment
author

'Reflecting teh community we serve' is a very handy, catch-all phrase which anybody should know, if they want a job with a public service!

Expand full comment

The 'old bill' also went along the same slippery slope many years ago when they dropped the 'W' prefix for female officers, and introduced the accelerated promotion scheme. It would appear to have been going downhill ever since, judging by 'confidence ratings' over the years.

Expand full comment

Mizzy the prankster is up infront of the magistrate again soon ( theft ) . He's a young chap who's had the opportunity of seeing how the magistrates operate on several occasions, with such experience he'd make a fine magistrate, also it'd give him something to do, keep him out of mischief.

Expand full comment

Some very thoughtful comments reflecting a thought provoking, honest article. However, I will sum it up quickly: BROKEN BRITAIN.

Expand full comment
author

Yes, the entire piece could perhaps have been reduced to those two words!

Expand full comment

It seems that equality and diversity is widely promoted but this does not include diversity of opinion. Quite a worrying trend which Simon highlights - sometimes I think the country or the elites that rule it have gone mad.

Expand full comment

Diversity, like "Climate Change" and Open Borders has become a religion and as you say, a runaway train of a religion given the farcical levels it has reached as an end in itself

Expand full comment
author

You would be hard-pressed to find a young person in Britain who is not devoted to both diversity and climate change!

Expand full comment

Thanks very much for this, Simon, well-researched and to the point as usual. "Diversity" as it is practiced, is all about very specific types of diversity. Rarely does it refer to wealth or income. Why should people with above average "body mass index" not be consdered in beauty contests, for example. Nor is there any demand so far as I can see that hair colour should be a criterion for employment, as is supposed skin colour. As for gender, so far as I am concerned, it is a characteristic of nouns in such languages as French or German, not of people.

Expand full comment
author

I'm glad that you liked it. Yes, you are quite right, of course. 'Diversity' has a very specific meaning as it is currently used!

Expand full comment

I was always lead to believe that magistrates were locally appointed with the intention of them having knowledge of local crime and sentencing to reflect those local issues. For example if theft from motor vehicles was a problem in the local area, then it would lead to a stiffer sentence than another area.

But central government has imposed sentencing guidelines that mean magistrates are now bound by these restrictions to such an extent that you might as well employ robots to do the job.

Expand full comment