Friday, May 09, 2008

In Praise of Discrimination

Now there's a headline I never thought I would write. This is from Gerald Howarth's speech during Tuesday's House of Comons debate on the blasphemy law...
“The Minister relied, as Ministers of course do, on the assertion of the Government’s new religion, which is discrimination: anything that is discriminatory is to be resisted, if not completely rejected. Her case is completely destroyed. Of course the law of blasphemy is discriminatory—but then, as was pointed out to her, so is the fact that the Church of England is the established Church. That discriminates against everybody else. It is a discrimination that unless one is a member of the House of Hanover, now the House of Windsor, one cannot ascend to the throne. That discriminates against every Eagle, every Smith, every Howarth in the land. Discrimination is there; it is in our midst. We are discriminating every day of our lives; we discriminate when we go to the shops. The idea that the Government should somehow rest their case on discrimination is a mistake and indicates that they are going down the wrong track.
You can read the whole speech HERE. Now that the newspapers ignore parliamentary proceedings please feel free to let me know of any remarkable speeches in Parliament and I will do my best to highlight them.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

good man. I've been pissed off for ages that 'discrimination' is seen as a bad thing. I remember* when to be described as 'discriminating' was a compliment.

and I remember when there was nothing wring with wanting to be 'élite.'

I'm staring to sound like one of those people who goes on about how the word 'gay' has been hijacked, aren't I? Oh well, don't care.


*no, you cheeky b******, I'm yet to hit 30

Anonymous said...

Iain

I watched the debate on Parliamentary TV and it was rivetting.Said performance by Mr G Howorth quite dramatic.

Whilst the HoC was not exactly full what was remarkable was the opposition numbers and the `all most` absent Gvnmt. The front bench being especially singular --Miss Eagle !

Anonymous said...

Yet the Labour Party believe it is OK to discriminate against the rich and (their words) toffs.
If all their criticism over 'Toffs' had the word transcribed for 'Blacks (or gays or Moslims etc) then their prejudice and discrimination would be held up for what it is - mere rank hypocrisy.
Well done to the MP who made this intelligent response. Let's have more challenges of the NuLiebour nonsense - as long as it is based on intelligence!

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Bless you.

As His Grace says, there were also excellent contributions from Ann Widdecombe, Edward Leigh and Bill Cash.

Evan Harris was odious, and John Bercow was otiose.

Anonymous said...

Don't get this at all. The blasphemy laws need repealing because laughing at a sky fairy is everyone's right, whichever sky fairy it may be. The established church is ludicrous - people who believe in pixies get seats in the House of Lords! And the House of Windsor need repealing because why shouldn't my daughter have the same chance as anyone else to become head of state as she would in Germany?

And yes, I do vote Tory.

Laurence Boyce said...

John Bercow hardly even spoke at all. Maybe we should also ignore everything else you say Cranmer.

What happened on Tuesday was that over a quarter of Conservative MPs voted to retain some ancient, oppressive, and defunct legislation. Not exactly a party to be proud of.

Anonymous said...

I watched the debate too, and it just goes to show what a top quality debater GH is. Blew the opposition out of the water. I liked the points made in the debate about shoring up OUR 'national heritage' against the onslaught of PC multiculturalism etc.

Anonymous said...

The misuse of 'judgemental' and 'prejudice' were attacked in a similar vein by Theodore Dalrymple (can't link to this and certainly won't attempt to repeat his arguments).

Elitist is now only ever used as a slur e.g. Oxford is an elitist university (er, yes it tries to be).

Other amusing altered meanings, rather than misused ones:

The Gay Venture stamp album (I still have mine).

The classic 'Scouting for Boys'

Conan Doyle: 'Great Scott! Holmes ejaculated'.

'What a fine PM we have in Gordon Brown'.

All phrases you'll never see or hear again except in jest.