Magic Statistics

That’s why we need “human rights” kommissars—to tell us what all those laws mean.

The equality laws of England and Wales are made up of 116 acts, statutory instruments, codes of practice, and directives.  They fill 4000 pages.  If laid end to end, they would be as high as 243 double-decker buses or as long as ten football fields.

The laws are out of date, confusing, inconsistent and, in some instances, contradictory.  They are, says Frances Gibb, Legal Editor of The Times of London, “an impenetrable thicket”.

So, what does the British government propose to do about this?  Pass another law, of course.

This week Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, will unveil ministers’ plans for a single Equality Bill, bringing together all the legislation on discrimination of the past 35 years — pay, race, disability — and also age and gender orientation.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission says this is doubleplusgood.

A new Act, the commission hopes, will move from prohibition (“you must not”) to permission (“you may”) and to positive encouragement (“you should”).

The next move is to command (“you must”), or else we’ll have you re-educated.

Last month’s article by Toronto Star reporter Noor Javed on the prevalence of polygamy among Muslims in Greater Toronto prompted a deluge of criticism and outrage, says the Star’s Public Editor Kathy English.  After careful investigation, Ms English judges the newspaper’s reporting “accurate, fair and balanced” and praises the personal courage of Ms Javed, who is herself a Muslim.

Some especially disturbing criticisms descended to personal invective.

One "open letter" that came to my office, the Star's letters page, and is now circulating in the online blogosphere, accuses Javed of demonizing Islam itself. "If your intention was to spark debate on polygamy in the community then the Toronto Star was not the forum for it," the letter states. "There is already ample anti-Islamic sentiment in the world and it is not befitting for a Muslim to add to it.

"As a Muslim woman, you had an Islamic obligation, to defend this aspect of your faith, not to deliver a further blow to an already bruised community."

No criticism of Islam allowed.

Aly Hindy, the iman of Saluhuddin Islamic Centre who openly told Javed that he has "blessed" numerous polygamous unions, now accuses the Star of bias against the Muslim community. In an email to several hundred people, now posted online, Hindy's son, Ibrahim, states that the Star has an "agenda" to "caricature" the Muslim community and Hindy as "backwards, as anti-women and even anarchist …"

Last week, Hindy submitted a lengthy opinion article suggesting that Javed had quoted him out of context and was inaccurate in her reporting. In fully investigating this, including listening to Javed's tape-recorded interviews with Hindy, I found these charges to be without merit. The Star declined to publish Hindy's article. We did tell him that the Star would publish a letter to the editor to clarify his perspective. He has thus far declined to submit a letter.

Maclean’s was hauled before several “human rights” commissions for refusing to publish an article by Muslims who didn’t like the Mark Steyn article.  The Star should prepare itself for the same.

h/t: Jihad Watch