baldysblog.co.uk

We have in the UK something called “The Equality and Human Rights Commission” which I think came from the “Race Relations…something or other”. It has in charge of it a typical product of the “Race relations industry” a chap called Trevor Phillips who pops up every now and again to talk crap.

I suppose it was inevitable following the election of Barak Obama that we would hear from Phillips and sure enough we have. According to Phillips if he had been British, it wouldn’t have happened because British political parties are “institutionally racist”. I don’t know about this “claim or excuse” but Phillips is not correct because he doesn’t seem to understand the issues.

It Isn’t the Same…

However important an ally, however close we are culturally to each other in many ways there are many differences between us and indeed the political processes involved in the USA and the UK are poles apart plus there are considerable cultural differences too. The whole issue of President Elect Obama and him being of mixed race and how he reached the Highest Office in the land, needs and indeed can only be seen within the context of the USA, it has no parallel within the UK and that is nothing to do with racialism within Britain.

Contrast and Compare

Technically in the US, it is the Electoral Colleges of each State that elect the President, their votes must be cast to reflect the votes of the electors of that State. However that apart and in simple terms, the public vote directly for the President which means that there can be a “Black, Irish, Catholic, Christian, Gay, Muslim etc. etc.” vote.

There is absolutely no way that the British Electorate can directly vote for a Prime Minister, they vote for a local MP who belongs to this party or that. It also follows that unless they all live in one place, there can be no “Black, Irish…vote” that can directly sway who becomes PM.

After a General Election, the Leader of the largest party is ‘invited’ by the Queen (who is our Head of State), to form a Government. The Leader of that party is the “First Among Equals” and therefore Prime Minister.

It follows that anybody wishing to become a future British Prime Minister has to start at the bottom and work their way up through the Party Machine, learning their “trade” and wining supporters along the way. From this you can say that “therefore” as Trevor Phillips does, such party machines are institutionally racist or and more realistically, perhaps there just aren’t enough black people putting the effort in for the “party machine” to pick the “Obama type Winners”.

The Real Barriers

Race is not the real barrier to personal progress in the UK, where and to whom you are born are the determining factors. Does that sound like a “Class Issue” ? Well to the stupid and uneducated, it will but if comparing the UK to the USA for example, they should realise if they have half a brain that it is really about “expectations”.

The USA is a country and culture of “Optimism” and from that a “Can Do” attitude. If a young woman who was considered “white trailer trash” became pregnant and decided to ‘keep her baby’, she would stop smoking, drinking and ‘position’ herself, by herself to bring up her child. That is not what would be the attitude of a similar person in the UK and I’m not making it up, would she even stop smoking ?

In the UK

The reality in this country which applies equally to white kids from sink council estates (the ‘Projects’), the children of poor immigrants from the Indian Sub-Continent or black children, is the stability and support of their home environment combined with ” parent’s aspirations ” to encourage, develop and push them forward to a ‘better life’.

Also where roughly 12% of the US population is black, in the UK, only about 5% are from an “ethnic minority” which also includes Asians, Chinese etc.

I am not sure that Lewis Hamilton would want to be seen just wholly in this perspective but it is quite noticeable that in harnessing his talent, he is and has been totally supported by his Father and his family and that is what is the crucial difference.

The things that would prevent a young black Englishman born in Peckham from becoming Prime Minister of the UK is not his colour, it will be a lack of support, a lack of ambition and a lack of personal effort. To reach any High Office requires a high degree of personal commitment and especially during the ‘dark days’ when nothing seems to work, this is where close family support really counts over the years to provide the unqualified succour and support to help you keep on going.

Done

I am coming up to 63 years of age and have given the last 5 years of my life to looking after my Parents plus existing on Government “hand outs”. I am grateful for the hand out/support but once my Mum passes over, I will go back to earning my own money, that is an “American Attitude”, living on “My Rights Disability Allowance” is a “Labour inspired UK Attitude.”

I personally reject this “institutional racism” crap or should one call it “a ready-made excuse for failure for people who would fail always anyway ?” Frankly when you look at the present incumbent of the Office of Prime Minister, a one eyed, mentally challenged, ill mannered incompetent from north of the border. If this clown can persuade his colleagues to make him PM (we are yet to be consulted), being black can hardly be considered an impediment, in fact it must be a considerable asset.

As for the UK and most of the public, the colour of a candidate is of no great importance, competence is and I wonder whether or not most of the “positive discrimination” to select ethnic candidates is totally counter-productive. In truth the only real area where work should be carried on is not about ethnicity or colour but sex, whatever else we need more women politicians and this is a priority. And if you want to know the reason why, all you need to do is look at those we currently have who have come through the ‘current system’ – the majority are rubbish, check out Harmon, Blears, Hewitt, Kelly et al !