“Ultimately, Britishness is about Britons. It grows and evolves from the bottom up. It can never be defined by one motto or one politician, but by millions of individuals whose identity is the product of many ingredients.”

Read the whole response here. 

A few days ago I wrote about the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List, in which my colleague Iain Dale appeared.  As I argued then, the Pink List “is evidence enough that when it comes to equality and non-discrimination, there is much yet left to be done.  And insofar as that is the case, the Pink List can only be a good thing.”  But as much as we as a country have yet to achieve in the arena of non-discrimination and equality, there are many countries for whom what we have achieved is merely a distant possibility.  One such country is India. 

Until a few hours ago homosexuality was illegal in India.  Under a piece of colonial law, same-sex relationships were described as an “unnatural offence”, and everything other than vaginal intercourse between heterosexual couples was illegal.  But now, following a decision by the high court in Delhi to overturn the legislation, homosexuality is no longer a criminal offence. 

One of the four lawyers fighting the case to legalise homosexuality is a close friend, Mehak Sethi. His determination to defend human rights and the notion of equality was evident from the first day we met on our masters course. And he, like the millions of others across the globe fighting for equality in the most adverse of circumstances, stands as an example to us all. They are people prepared to put principle above everything else (often including personal safety), people for whom the pursuit of liberty is a force which drives them forward every day, and people who know that the objectives they seek may not be accomplished in their lifetime. 

We often take what we have for granted, people like Mehak remind us how truly fortunate we are.  India has taken a massive step forward in terms of equality today, and people like Mehak will be in the front line fighting to take the next step. 

[Also, to clarify, although the Times of India refers to Mehak as ‘she’ he is actually a ‘he’; Mehak is apparently a girls name.  Needless to say I never made jokes about that when we studied together…]

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When it comes to health Brown is promising "enforceable entitlements to prompt treatment and high standards of care", which in plain English means creating legal ‘rights’ to treatment within specific time limits.  Great!  So rather than come up with a plan for ensuring that treatment is delivered within acceptable time limits, Brown simply proposes to create a new kind of target (albeit one that’s framed as a mechanism for empowering patients).  End result, nothing changes. 

Brown is pathologically incapable of doing anything other than misdirect and mislead.  Given a choice between actually doing something for the good of the country, and doing something which the country might simply believe to be good, he will choose the latter. 

The argument in favour of banning the burka is that it will protect women from being forced to wear it.  Hmm, maybe I’m missing something, but doesn’t that mean we arguing to favour one form of illiberal action for another; women shouldn’t be forced to wear the burka, so we’re going to force them not to wear the burka?  Whatever way you cut it, the argument simply doesn’t stand up. 

Personally, I don’t like the burka.  I don’t like that I can’t look somebody in the face when I’m talking to them, and generally I just find it unnerving (which if we were all being honest is what we would admit was the real motivation behind any inclination toward banning the garment).  But being made uncomfortable by something isn’t reason enough to undermine one our most fundamental values; the exercise of liberty. 

That’s not to say there shouldn’t be times when a burka can be banned.  I see no reason for example why an employer shouldn’t be allowed to ban it, particularly for those jobs which require face-to-face contact with customers.  But to ban it completely is clearly a step too far. 

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As you may know the Independent on Sunday has published its annual Pink List of the most influential gay people in the UK, and Iain Dale has risen 18 places to 26; not bad going for one man with a laptop and a blogger account!  But as Iain points out, the question was rightly asked by the IoS as to whether it was right to publish such a list in the first place; “After all, no one would publish a Top 100 Straights list, would they?”

But whilst the question must always be asked when such lists are compiled, it must also be remembered that although significant progress has been made in terms of equality for gay people in the UK, there remain issues of discrimination which we are far from resolving.  The existence of such things as the Pink List are double edged, on the one hand they remind us of the progress that has been made in terms of equal rights, but on the other they remind us that true equality is still far from being obtained. 

Regardless of how far we may have come as a society, we are reminded contstantly of how far we have yet to go.  This point was brought home to me when I was in Florida a couple weeks ago and I heard from a gay friend who’s partner had decided to come out to their family.  Of all the reactions my friend’s partner expected, I’m sure having one of their family members threaten to commit suicide wasn’t one of them; but that’s exactly what happened. 

The mere fact of having a debate about whether there should be a Pink List is evidence enough that when it comes to equality and non-discrimination, there is much yet left to be done.  And insofar as that is the case, the Pink List can only be a good thing.clomid and lovenox Coming Off Clomid clomid ovarian cysts
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The body of opinion on the blogosphere was overwhelmingly in one direction; Night Jack had a right to anonymity, and it was fundamentally wrong of The Times to unmask him.  I beg to differ, why on earth should there be any expectation that anonymity should be protected (by the law or otherwise)? 

Don’t get me wrong, The Times’ justification for unmasking Night Jack (that it was in the public interest) was completely absurd (as Iain Dale pointed out, the absurdity of their argument is made clear by virtue of the fact that they’ll continue to use anonymous sources).  What’s interesting to the public isn’t the same as what’s in the public interest.  The Times unmasked Night Jack because they knew it would create a buzz, and a buzz sells a few more papers and gets a few more page views online (and that’s what the newspaper business is all about).  That’s what it was about, and to attempt to justify it any other way is at best disingenuous. 

But just because their justification was absurd, doesn’t mean their action was.  When you put yourself into the public arena – whether as a blogger, a singer, an actor or otherwise – you have to accept that you’ll be subject to the scrutiny of others.  As a political blogger, that means accepting that others will challenge your arguments and question your motivations; it comes with the turf.  And if you’re an anonymous blogger you have to accept that people are going to want to know who you are, they’re going to make efforts to find out who you are, and more likely than not, they’re going to figure out who you are.  Their motivations will be many and varied, maybe they simply want to undermine the anonymous blogger, maybe they’re simply curious, maybe they want to confirm that the blogger in question, who purports to be both authentic and authoritative, is in fact authentic and authoritative. 

But whatever the motivation, one simple truth remains, anonymous bloggers take the risk of exposure the moment they first hit ‘publish’.  When you step into the spotlight, you invite the audience’s scrutiny and you have no right to expect that you will not be unmasked. 

Would I have unmasked Night Jack?  No.  But should others be prevented from unmasking anonymous bloggers given the opportunity?  No. 

Damian McBride may have exited the stage, but we’d be foolish to expect for even a second that Labour will do anything other than campaign in the dirtiest ways possible.  When things like this happen, especially at a time when the Conservative Party is so unified in purpose, we would do well to look at those on the government benches for answers.