I replied individually to Gavin to pass on some advice I was recently given -
wait and see what the next census is going to come up with rather than going it
alone. My other thought on the subject was that one might consider using the
nationally agreed and recorded categories (so as to be able to make comparisons
with other data, whether census, Labour Force Surveys, or HESA, UCAS etc) and
perhaps have a second level of categories to deal with local circumstances.
(The particular bee in my own bonnet is the distinction between British minority
groups and overseas academics and students - we could look quite good
statistically but our black and asian stars are mostly not born in the UK).
I'm now joining the discussion because the 'what about the Scots' bit shows up
the gaps between fairness in an overall human sense and compliance with the law,
which is both statute with a certain logic to it but with arbitrary bits (like
English and Scots as nationalities which can be discriminated against) because a
particular individual has won a case. There are all sorts of other
inconsistencies, like why we can't discriminate against Sikhs but can against
Rastafarians (on grounds of religion) - and what about such a richly diverse
ethnic, or cultural, or religious, group as the Jews?
Roll on the day when we no longer need to frighten people with what happens if
they offend against the SDA, RRA or DDA, and get them to think in terms of
positively fostering equality of opportunity.
Vive la revolution
Jenny
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|