Tuesday, January 16, 2007

British Race watchdog forces ethnic prize to admit white writers

A literary prize for writers from ethnic minorities has been forced to include entrants of all colours after complaints that it discriminated against white writers. Arts Council England and Penguin UK had to rewrite the rules a year after introducing the Decibel Penguin Prize, a short-story competition for British writers of Asian, African or Caribbean origin.

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) decided that the prize could breach Section 29 of the Race Relations Act. Had the rules not been changed, the watchdog could have begun legal proceedings against the organisers.

The Decibel Penguin Prize was set up to encourage diversity - even though Andrea Levy, who won the Whitbread with Small Island, and Zadie Smith, who shot to fame with her first novel, White Teeth, are among bestselling ethnic-minority writers who relied on talent rather than positive discrimination. Diran Adebayo, an acclaimed British writer of Nigerian parentage, argued recently that the quality of a book mattered more than whether its author happened to be black or Asian.

Julien Crighton, a businessman from Nottingham who lodged a complaint about the prize with the CRE, told The Times that it had seemed that Penguin "were being politically correct for the sake of being politically correct. Even though the intentions might be good, it doesn't accomplish anything - particularly with public money being involved. If my children grew up to be writers they wouldn't be part of it."

Arts Council England has now confirmed that skin colour will not be a factor in future. For the second year of the contest, the focus will be "personal stories of immigrants to the UK". That way, a spokesman said, "the spirit" of the original prize can be retained.

Although the CRE said that the case was closed, the Arts Council spokesman seemed less sure. Acknowledging its acceptance of the CRE's comments and that the rules had been changed, he said: "We understand that this is an area of the law which is open to interpretation and we are in ongoing discussions with the CRE." He added: "We did check the situation beforehand. We believed we were acting lawfully, but they got in touch with us."

In recent years the funding body has undertaken various initiatives intended to ensure that the arts reflect society's diversity. It sees the Decibel prize as part of that work. The ten winners' submissions appear in a Penguin anthology. Penguin and David Lammy, the Culture Minister and the prize's patron, who is black, declined to comment. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We fully support initiatives to stimulate as wide a range of creative work as possible, from as wide a community as possible."

Source



THE DECAY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN LEFT-DOMINATED BRITAIN

By Theodore Dalrymple

The English used to pride themselves on their fairness: what wasn’t fair wasn’t cricket. Maybe other people didn’t take them at their own estimate, but it is now beyond dispute that substantial numbers of Britons are completely without any sense of fairness or justice. For them, the law is merely one of the instruments with which they wage the perpetual war of each against all. The police and the criminal justice system well know this aspect of modern English life and have even managed to turn it to their advantage.

For an example, look at a recent case in which I was due to give evidence as a doctor: Mr A assaulted Mr B, who hitherto was his best friend, or should I say mate. (I have seen many a nose broken by a best mate.) Both were, as usual, under the influence of alcohol and other mind, or at least behaviour -altering, substances. Mr B was bloodily injured and called the police.

By the time they arrived, Mr A had left the scene. The police took a statement from Mr B, and then, about a week later, arrested Mr A. Because of what is known in the trade as “previous”, or sometimes as “form”, the magistrates remanded Mr A into custody.

On the day of the trial Mr B did not turn up to give evidence — unlike me. There was a vague rumour that he wanted to withdraw his complaint. The trial was adjourned for two weeks, but on the second occasion Mr B still did not turn up — again unlike me and unlike a different legal team for both the prosecution and defence. The question arose whether he should be summonsed. In the meantime Mr A escaped from custody. A week later he was rearrested and tried for his escape.

Meanwhile, the original charges will not go ahead because Mr B has made it clear that he will not testify. Whether Mr A has successfully intimidated Mr B, or whether Mr B has thought better of it, and does not wish to be known on his housing estate as a grass, cannot be known.

The result of the expenditure of thousands, probably scores of thousands, on this case — readers might be relieved to know that very little of it ended up in my pocket — is as follows: if Mr A were guilty of the assault he would have got away with it, bar the slap on the wrist he received for escaping from custody; if he were innocent, he would have felt aggrieved at yet another injustice committed against him, which reinforced his casus belli against the whole of society.

Would Mr B be charged with wasting police time, I enquired naively? Oh no, I was told by lawyers on several sides of this case, we don’t do things like that. Anyway, what was I worrying about: as a barrister once said to console me when I complained of having waited three days in court without having given my evidence: “The meter’s still ticking.”

Cases such as the one I have outlined are very common. All my doctor and lawyer friends are familiar with them. Their prevalence is part of the dialectical relationship between the degeneration of the public service, which is now a vast trough from which a large class of educated people feed, and the appalling behaviour of the public that makes the expansion of the public service necessary, or at least justifies it, in the first place. As a 16th-century German bishop put it, “the poor are a gold mine”.

Lack of integrity and straightforwardness have a corrosive effect on the entire population. The police are now institutionally devious, if I may coin a phrase. A recent book by a PC Copperfield, called Wasting Police Time, tells us how the police improve their abominably low clear-up rates by various scams, for example charging both parties to a neighbourly scuffle with a crime, and getting both parties to make statements against the other on the promise that no charges will be brought.

Hey presto, two crimes have been solved for the price of one incident, to which almost certainly the police should not have been called in the first place. As to the burglary across the road, the householder will be lucky to receive any attention from the police other than a crime number.

Surely the imperative for high clear-up rates, and the tendency of a part of the population to use the police for purely temporary and personal ends, could be solved by increasing the number of prosecutions for wasting police time, at least until the habit of wasting police time itself became less widespread.

In the meantime, comrades (to quote the late Josef Stalin in another context), life is getting ever better, ever merrier: at least for the apparatchiks and nomenklatura of that vast organism that is spreading faster than killer bugs in the hospitals under its jurisdiction, the public administration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Source



Judge's book fans flames of culture war

Yet another skirmish in the Culture War erupted last Tuesday when a much-anticipated book went on sale: "The Tyranny of Tolerance" by Missouri Circuit Court Judge Robert H. Dierker. The book's theme is captured by its subtitle, "A Sitting Judge Breaks the Code of Silence to Expose the Liberal Judicial Assault."

Even prior to publication, however, the book prompted calls for Dierker's sanction or removal from the bench. What is going on, and what is likely to be the result? The bare facts follow.

As a personal matter, Dierker is an advocate of what could be described as right-wing values. Professionally, he is a judge with 20 years experience who was re-elected last month by approximately 70 percent of the vote. In a recent Missouri Bar survey, 90 percent of lawyers said Dierker should be retained. In short, his job performance is generally well rated. "The Tyranny of Tolerance" expresses Dierker's experience-based belief that liberals are imposing an ideological agenda through the court system. By interpreting the law in a radical manner, they are essentially rewriting it without going through the legislature or the process of a vote.

The book's first chapter was circulated In advance to legal professionals for their comments. Entitled "The Cloud Cuckooland of Radical Feminism," the chapter blasts "femifascists" for their role in destroying the traditional role of the courts: to enforce the law without bias. State Senator Joan Bray, among others, took exception. "I probably meet his definition of femifascist," she said. Last month, Bray filed a complaint about Dierker with the State's Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline, which has the power to issue a public reprimand and to remove a judge from office.

Bray accused Dierker of violating "Judicial Canon 2.03 Canon B" by using his office for personal gain. She wrote, "Judge Dierker stands to receive monetary gain from the prestige of his office when the book is marketed and touted as the words of a sitting judge thus enhancing its marketability." With that one accusation, Bray provided enough controversy to ensure the book's marketability. Dierker is keeping the flames alive through a series of radio and TV interviews this week. What is likely to occur as a result?

Dierker is unlikely to be removed or even seriously sanctioned even though his critics have some ground to stand on. Their strongest point is that Dierker tends to mix his personal views with his judicial opinions and that makes for biased rulings. In short, they believe he is not capable of impartially adjudicating a wide range of cases including sexual harassment ones. They point to an order Dierker issued in a 1999 sexual harassment case. The order's opening paragraph stated, "From Anita Hill to Monica Lewinsky, the cry of 'sexual harassment' has been selectively raised to advance certain groups' political agendas under the guise of promoting equal opportunity in the workplace, or under the banner of 'equality' in academe."

I agree with Dierker that feminism has devastated the legal system but, even with such agreement, I am acutely uncomfortable with this purely political statement within a legal document. It is wrong for liberal judges to use the bench to pontificate; it is equally wrong for conservatives. When called to task for the language, Dierker wrote, "Samuel Johnson advised that, before publishing anything, you should read through your work, and strike out your favorite phrases. It is sound advice for lawyers and judges."

Nevertheless, the order in question moved from stating personal opinion to offering a reasoned consideration of the points of law. Moreover, my research has not uncovered a single case in which Dierker was reversed due to bias. Dierker's great flaw is his tendency to state personal opinion before moving on to the business of law. Does a strong personal opinion make a judge incapable of rendering an unbiased judgment? Absolutely not.

Ideally, a judge is an intelligent, aware human being who is conversant with law, social issues and how to weigh evidence.O f course such people will reach conclusions on issues that define the society around them, issues like abortion, the death penalty, and sexual harassment. It is absurd to demand that judges be moral and political blank slates; it amounts to a demand that they be unintelligent, unaware or incapable of reaching a conclusion.

Lack of bias requires one thing only: when on the bench, the law must take priority over personal opinion. When on the bench, Dierker should learn to keep his mouth shut except on issues of law. Elsewhere, he has the same First Amendment right to express his opinion as anyone else. From a selfish point of view, however, I wish Dierker had not published. His book makes advocacy more difficult for writers like me who agree with him but prefer to reason rather than to rage. Dierker makes some solid points but they will be lost in the circus that passes for political discussion these days. It is a circus Dierker has invited. As Bill McClellan, a commentator for the St. Louis Dispatch observes, "Thoughtful, biting criticism from the right went out with 'God and Man at Yale'. William F. Buckley has given way to Ann Coulter." The left is just as down-and-dirty. 2007 deserves a better opening.

Source

No comments: