British Political Culture

1. British Political Culture 02/15/13

2. Britain to Restrict Workers From Bulgaria and Romania LONDON, Oct. 24 — Britain plans to severely restrict the ability of people from Bulgaria and Romania to work here after those two countries join the European Union in January, the government said Tuesday. The new policy represents an enormous change for Britain, which has been one of Europe’s main champions of expansion and openness in the European job market. In 2004, Britain, Ireland and Sweden were the only three European countries that granted unfettered access to their job markets to immigrants from the eight Eastern European countries, as well as Cyprus and Malta, that joined the European Union that year. John Reid, the home secretary, said new rules on workers from the two countries would be strict.

3. A Rightist Harnesses British Discontent bodyguard helped Nick Griffin, center, the British National Party leader, flee egg-tossing protesters in London on Tuesday. Mr. Griffin, a smartly dressed and articulate graduate of Cambridge University, has worked hard to move his party beyond the confrontational street politics of its past into mainstream politics while remaining true to its core beliefs. But that transformation, if it succeeds at all in a country where voters pride themselves on their refusal to put extremists into Parliament, promises to be a bumpy one. The British National Party opposes what Mr. Griffin calls the “creeping Islamification” of Britain, supports voluntary repatriation of immigrants and wants to take Britain out of the European Union and NATO.

4. Monday, September 27, 1999 Published at 20:27 GMT 21:27 UK UKGays win military legal battleThe four were backed by civil rights group Liberty The Ministry of Defence has suspended further action against homosexuals in the military, after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the current ban was unlawful.

5. Nations Remember: a cleavage has two sides . . . So what are they? The Union Jack The cross of St George, patron saint of England since the 1270's, is a red cross on a white ground. After James I succeeded to the throne, it was combined with the cross of St. Andrew in 1606.The cross saltire of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, is a diagonal white cross on a blue ground.

6. How deep does it go? In the rest . . . .

7. Political Manifestations Good Friday Peace Accord Established a regional assembly for NI approved in a referendum by a large majority of Catholics and a small majority of Protestants 2002 Blair suspends the Catholic/Protestant assembly and imposes direct rule due to evidence Sinn Fein (the Catholic paramilitary group associated with the IRA) had targets for political violence (that’s what it means to be devolved) 2006 looks like they will reinstate it

8. Political Manifestations: AT-A-GLANCE 324 seats needed to win “Young people in Scotland may not trust their representatives but they believe devolution can bring government closer to the people, a new survey finds. “ Regional parties and . . .

9. Race and ethnicity: what’s the cleavage? 3-6% “non-white” two broad categories stemming from their origins in the former colonies of the British Empire. The term Afro-Caribbean embraces blacks with origins in the West Indies and Africa, while the other designation — Asian — includes people whose background is Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan Report in 2001: whites and ethnic minorities in Britain had become deeply divided and that they were leading separate lives with no social or cultural contact and no sense of belonging to the same nation (no cross cutting cleavages)

10. Baroness Warsi says Muslim prejudice seen as normal Prejudice against Muslims has "passed the dinner-table test" and become socially acceptable in the UK, a senior Conservative is to sayhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12235237

12. Muslims’ Veils Test Limits of Britain’s Tolerance

13. Blair Criticizes Full Islamic Veils as ‘Mark of Separation’ veiled Muslim woman at a protest against Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, who said such veils made communication difficult. NYT Oct 18 2006

14. Shabina Begum, 17, sued her school for the right to wear her own form of Muslim dress. Ms. Begum sued the school in 2002 after it insisted that she wear the required uniform, which, she told the BBC on Wednesday, she believed "did not satisfy Islamic clothing." Represented by Cherie Booth, a human rights lawyer and the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, she argued that the school had denied her the right to practice her religion. Britain's highest court ruled Wednesday (March 2006) that a secondary school was within its rights to bar a female student from wearing a jilbab, a loose, ankle-length gown, instead of the regular school uniform. Overturning a lower court ruling in favor of the student, Shabina Begum, a five-judge panel in the House of Lords pointed out that the school, Denbigh High School in Luton, had already taken great care to make its uniform acceptable to its students, 79 percent of whom are Muslim. "The school was entitled to consider that the rules about uniform were necessary for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others," one of the judges, Lord Hoffmann, said in his written opinion.

15. Schools allowed to ban face veil BBC March 20, 2007 Schools will be able to ban pupils from wearing full-face veils on security, safety or learning grounds under new uniforms guidance issued by ministers. It says efforts must be made to accommodate religious clothing, but stresses the importance of teachers and pupils being able to make eye contact. It comes after a girl failed in a legal bid to overturn her school's niqab ban. Islamic groups have been divided in their response - some "shocked" and others welcoming the guidance. Headteachers' leaders have applauded the decision, saying that it would provide "clarity" and "reassurance" for schools. The issue of religious dress has become an increasingly complicated one for schools in recent years, with a handful of high profile court cases over the right to wear a full veil. A court victory by a Buckinghamshire school (which cannot be named for legal reasons) has prompted the updated guidance. The school argued the veil made communication between teachers and pupils difficult and thus hampered learning. Teachers needed to be able to tell if a pupil was enthusiastic, paying attention or even distressed but full-face veils prevented this, it said. This position was upheld by the High Court - which refused to grant a judicial review - and is expected to form a key part of the guidance.

16. 'Dismayed' There were divided responses from the Muslim community. The chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Massoud Shadjareh, said he was "dismayed" by the DfES guidance. "Successive ministers dealing with education issues have failed to give proper guidance when requested by human rights campaigners about schools' obligations regarding religious dress, including the head scarf. "To now proceed to issue guidance against Muslim communities is simply shocking," he said. But the Muslim Council of Britain's education spokesman, Tahir Alam, said that the new guidance did not "alter the position very much" and said "the vast majority of schools are able to solve these issues locally". 'Equality issue' Ayshah Ishmael, a teacher at a Muslim girls' school in Preston who wears the niqab away from the classroom, told the BBC wearing the veil promoted equality. She said: "You're judged for who you are and not what you are, so I think there are two arguments to the whole equality issue." The DfES said it was not ordering or advising head teachers to ban the veil, simply confirming that they have the ability to do so if they wish, so long as they carry out proper consultation.

17. How Deep? Oldham Riots: 2001White and Asian youths rioted for three nights July 2005 See: Obama could never be a British PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpvxhcoeOQc

18. Tottenham Riots 2011 • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14434318

19. Political manifestations: political organization ·There is little political organization around an identifiable group focus like that in the United States. ·Among the reasons are the proportionately smaller size of Britain's minority groups, a reluctance to identify issues as ethnic, an absence of a tradition of grievance redress and mixed residential patterns that do not produce such high concentrations of individual groups. ·In British politics, the Labor Party generally gets 90 percent of the black vote and 60 to 70 percent of the Asian vote. " No nationally supported right wing nationalist parties (one short lived in late 60's) at national level--some success in local elections e/g BNP won 3 seats in municipal elections in November 2002 and in the elections in 2001 won 10% of the vote in Oldham

20. The concept of hate crime has been developed. Judges can consider prejudice against someone because of their disability, sexuality or faith an aggravating factor in a crime. One of the last measures to go through Parliament before the election should be a controversial new law that would make incitement to religious hatred a specific offence - something that faith groups, principally Muslims, have long called for The Race Relations Act was strengthened in 2000 as a response to the handling of the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation. It now includes a positive duty on public bodies to promote race equality meaning bodies such as the police must prove they treat people equally, rather than simply say they will do it. RACE RELATIONS