At cabinet Questions Tomorrow, a member from the sensible wing of the Tory Party has tabled the following question. He received the following answer from the relevant cabinet member.
Q19 - Would you welcome the undertaking(as published in The Press January 29) of the then acting Borough Commander David Tucker that the Barnet Police will "deal robustly with anyone identified as having committed racist, anti-semitic or other crimes, whatever their alleged justification". Is not the councils close working relationship with the Police most important on this issue?
Answer :Yes, I am glad to say there is a real partnership working between this administration, The Metropolitan Police Authority under the excellent leadership of Boris Johnson and the voluntary sector not least the Community Sector Trust.
Well as regular readers of this blog will know, comments have been made in the press by a Barnet cabinet member, who's name escapes me. I recently had to complete a questionnaire for Barnet Council. It asked me to identify various people's racial groups. One of the groups were WIRT's = White IRish Travellers. Barnet recognises travellers as a distinct racial group.
As such they should not be subject to racist abuse and if they are surely David Tucker should investigate. Maybe someone should ask him why this policy doesn't apply to WIRT's unlike all of the other racial groups in Barnet.
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ReplyDeleteUnfortunately all my dealings with this particular group of people has been negative. Not Racism, Fact. I suppose it could be a bit of a circle where this group gets treated badly by the public and feels like kicking back so the public get tougher so the kick back gets stronger.....etc etc
ReplyDeleteI am open-minded enough to believe there are good people out there, I just have'nt met them. I like to think that I treat people as I find them.
Going on to a certain Councillor and his relationship with the Police, I remember a previous Borough Commander (who shall not be named!) who let it be widely known amongst his troops that if anyone who caught the above councillor driving during his disqualification period would be looked upon most favourably......!
Zwanzig20,
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to pretend that there aren't problems within this group. Thing is that there are whole other groups which also have problems where racism is not tolerated.
I object to these comments because they fertilize racism. I've been out with Irish friends who've been referred to as pikeys, etc purely because they are Irish. One time I was meeting up with a friend for a beer. I was late and he was lurking around outside the pub, he'd been refused service for being a travelller. The guy was an IT project manager with slightly dodgy dress sense.
I'm all for dealing with problems caused by anti social elements, whoever they are, but I really don't like name calling or ill thought out comments from politicians. It's just that other groups socially undesirable elements are banished to disgusting sink estates and forgotten.
Should we no longer speak of the Coleman lest he should appear Rog? Its an unusually reticent approach from you sir.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/4224539.Barnet_councillor_condemned_for_stay_away_gypsies_comments/
Good for you for flagging up the issue incidentally!
ReplyDeleteMay I, somewhat immodestly, repeat my comments on the original story in the local paper ...
ReplyDelete"Every offensive remark this tedious man makes is carefully calculated to attract the maximum attention. Gypsies and travellers are an obvious choice for attack as he knows that many other ignorant and bigoted people will share his half baked views: one might easily extend his argument to say, Polish plumbers or Australian bar staff, but of course that would upset the wrong people, wouldn't it? He much prefers to pick on easy targets and appeal to the underlying prejudices that still lurk in the dark recesses of our society. Why does this man take so much pleasure in confrontation and antagonism? He strikes me as ultimately a pathetic figure;one of life's outsiders, unable to engage with or relate to others in any way but through conflict and controversy. This emotionally immature and self obsessed behaviour is deeply inappropriate for any elected representative. If the Conservative party do not wish to be associated with this man's deliberately offensive remarks then it is time they selected an alternative candidate for the ward he represents. Oh, and by the way,Coleman, I am proud to be descended from some of those gypsies and travellers you so despise - people who spent their lives travelling hundreds of miles a year to earn money to support their families without resorting to hand outs or benefits. Their traditional skills - horse trading, mending pots and pans etc - and way of life has become almost impossible to sustain in modern life, and they have become even more marginalised, but it is no more acceptable to categorise all travelling people in such a dehumanising manner than it is to stigmatise someone Jewish or Muslim, or any ethnic minority."
Some understanding of the historic process by which travellers have been forced onto the far fringes of society, and yes, in some cases beyond the law, might not come amiss, but such an intellectual exercise is beyond the capability of most lazy minded racists, who prefer to deal in easy stereotypes. And scapegoats are always good diversionary material for bullies and dicatators.
If the Conservative Party does not have the balls to distance itself from the nasty, eternally self promoting career of Brian Coleman, perhaps some independent, Tory-lite candidate might like to step forward and stand in his local ward and GLA constituencies on a 'Not Brian Coleman' platform? Just a thought.
Of course it's right of Barnet to recognise the Community Security Trust as a partner in tackling anti-semitic racism in the borough. However Cllr Coleman is quite happy to stir up anti-Irish prejudice as he seems to think, like many people do, that anti-Irish racism is just a load of "light hearted" comments against people who can of course take a joke.
ReplyDeleteCllr Coleman is quite happy to give strong support to the Greek Cypriot and Jewish communities, and why not? However when it comes to the Irish his track record has shown that he could not care less. Take the case of his opposition to the extension of the 263 bus routem, used mostly by elderly Irish, while championing the extension of the 210 bus route to allow access for the Charedi Jewish community in Stamford Hill to Golders Green.