Obnoxio covered this latest example of rent-seeking by the Race Relations Industry most admirably here, complete with revealing photo of said Dr Campbell!
My favourite bit is this: Dr Campbell told the BBC ... "And we have to ask the question whether there seems to be an acceptance that if another black youth is killed they are just another one that we don't have to worry about."
You said it, mate!
The headline's a bit unfortunate too - it's not just 'cuts', is it? It's 'bullet wounds' as well, for example.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
"Cuts leave black youths to die"
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4 comments:
I suspect there's a tendency to think, oversimplifying I know, that this will happen
Takes a lot to make me feel sorry for a Minister. Campbell manages it. I'll comment on Campbell in more detail later if I've been able to check a few more facts, but this episode from the Derrick Campbell story can be shared immediately. Bottom line – don’t take anything he says seriously, although you wouldn’t anyway.
In December 2006, the deeply respected leftist blogger Unity at the Ministry of Truth wanted to lampoon David Cameron and his instinct for latching on to trendy causes, so he thought of a blacked-up Dave, in the style of Ali G. The MP Bob Piper (Sandwell) thought the idea was good and picked it up.
http://tinyurl.com/5wozm9
Unfortunately, most people didn’t understand the joke. Unity had uncharacteristically overshot his audience; even at MoT too many of them couldn’t understand the commentary. Besides, Praguetory spotted the target and drew publicity to it. Bob was in big trouble; the Tories threatened formal complaints in case anyone thought Dave really HAD blacked up, and many people, including even Gary Elsby, pointed out that this was a gift to opponents so it really ought to come down. Amongst the complainants was Derrick Campbell, with whom Piper had worked. Campbell said it was offensive, and Piper accepted it had gone awry.
Then Campbell went on to darkly intimate that Unity was a bad influence, the implication being that MoT had a racist agenda. This is like suggesting the Queen is really a Nazi wrestler called Adolph; German origin, knowwarrahmean. Piper had to firmly repudiate any such suggestion, but Unity was quite understandably prickled, especially since he could show a track record of research and story-following against some deeply racist and nasty characters. What had Derrick Campbell been doing eh? Unity was unimpressed with the goings-on in Sandwell and unluckily for Derrick, knew the area well, which is how he knew Piper.
In fact, so well did Unity know Sandwell that he was able to pick up on comments made by Campbell in connection with the government’s decision to push through the adoption regulations which were upsetting to the Catholic adoption agencies. Unity noticed these through the Stirrer website for which Campbell wrote:
"In this so called tolerant society we spout that people have the right to express their preferences, choice and ‘free will’, but being forced to accept something that is abhorrent to true Christians, and clearly against nature, is a worrying situation."
http://tinyurl.com/668wec
To deal with the tedious stuff: Campbell wasn't making the argument that adoption should be by heterosexuals as a default, or that gay adopters be used only when the best interests of the child require it. He was gay-bashing. Mind you, he soon dropped his precious religious convictions as events in May 2007 showed.
He made similar comments in the Primary Care Trust meeting (PCT). It isn’t absolutely clear what adoption rights have directly to do with the PCT - adoption being a local authority matter, not NHS, they just provide health records - but at any rate, it was spotted that there is something of a mismatch if you are going to head a unit called ‘Race Equality Sandwell’ you can’t easily justify the exclusion of those people whose legal sexual arrangements you happen to disagree with. Or maybe you can, depending on which dozy tribunal you ask. Whatever, you can see it is a problem for the Diversity and Equality committee of the local NHS if one of their number starts drawing lines at who they will or will not regard as equal.
Derrick was pushed in to a groveling apology and by 14 May 2007 it was being minuted that everyone at the PCT had been upset and did not approve of that sort of thing here, and Derrick was very, very sorry and unreservedly withdrew the statements (at point 05/07/30)
http://tinyurl.com/5avr7u
So now he knows how Bob feels – except Bob made a stupid joke whereas Campbell really does despise gays - always assuming he wrote the piece, which seems at odds with him having been awarded a PhD in philosophy in 2005. The single commenter saying 'This is satire, right?" offers the best explanation for it.
At that point Unity hadn’t had occasion to compare the versions of the Derrick Campbell story, which shifts about depending on who he is telling his life story to, or try to find out what the doctoral thesis of his PhD covered and which Liverpool university actually awarded it, or which church Campbell has been ordained in, but perhaps he’s doing that right now.
I feel sorry for Unity and even Bob Piper, and heaven help me, Tom McNulty. They all failed to realize that they were dealing with somebody who would cheerfully stitch them if there was a headline or a quote in it.
(Sorry for use of tiny urls, but I'm having trouble linking some of these. Don't know why. The tinys work.)
WOAR, fine comment as ever. You have triggered a whole new post Obnoxio.
Nightjack has looked at the accounts for Campbell's outfit, and whaddaya know, he has deduced that Derrick is needful of finding some more income pronto.
"Dr Derrick is a director of Rights and Equality West Midlands which has posted accounts recently. Yes there was definitely less money sloshing round the REWM coffers last year
Grants 2006 £609,132
Salaries 2006 £75,039
Travel 2006 £3,739
Conferences 2006 £3,344
Grants 2007 £244,760
Salaries 2007 £5,960
Travel 2007 £352
Conferences 2007 £244
In 2006/2007 they applied for grants of £419,147 and were knocked back for all but £80,687.
Either a) there isn’t much money going around for Race projects these days or b) the applications were not up to much.
I am guessing b)"
http://tinyurl.com/5fvl33
The plot is thickening with the slightly-changing names of the organization compared to things such as Race Equality Sandwell, which usually means something interesting is going on.
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