Small Corroding Words
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In 2010 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) produced a 750-page report entitled How Fair is Britain? It examined disparities in such things as life expectancy, wealth, education and employment between the white majority population and minorities. The minorities receiving special attention were defined by race, colour, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation. Because there are differences in outcome on various measures between the minorities and the majority population, the EHRC suggested that Britain is not fair. In Small Corroding Words, Jon Gower Davies argues that the refusal to make comparisons with other countries - in particular the countries that many members of minority groups come from - robs the report of any claim to non-partisan status, and undermines its moral authority. 'No one who comes to the UK from countries like Somalia or the Sudan, or having come here stays and gives birth, is worse off than where they come from.' The EHRC believes that rights can be claimed against and enforced by the state. Davies compares the EHRC's concept of the state to Rousseau's General Will, 'forcing recalcitrant citizens to realise that they must be free - or else'. However, a world in which rights are derived from or demanded of the state will eventually become intrusive, fractious and subtly oppressive. Duties and obligations are seldom mentioned. Rights remove gratitude: they are a licence to gatecrash the state. Rights demanded by people who haven't earned them and who may not deserve them are diminished by the demanding: and rights demanded of the state will soon enough become obligations and vexatious burdens imposed by the state. 'How fair are our prospects when post-modern subsidised oracles like the EHRC preach and praise rights but not duties, when we are invited by such prophets down an endless series of false and petty claims, demands, loud clamorous and paltry mutterings about "injustice" and the pursuit of hedonism, all with an official face? The EHRC should be abolished.'
About the Author
Jon Gower Davies retired from the University of Newcastle in 1997. He lectured, first, in the Social Studies Department, and then in the Department of Religious Studies, of which he was Head. For 20 years he was a Labour Councillor on Newcastle City Council. He is the author and editor of books and articles on a wide range of topics, including Bonfires on the Ice: the multicultural harrying of Britain and In Search of the Moderate Muslim, published by the Social Affairs Unit; A New Inquisition: religious persecution in Britain today, published by Civitas; and on attitudes to death and dying in the ancient religions of the world, published by Routledge. He has a particular interest in war and war memorials as definers of what he calls 'Eurochristianity'. He was born in North Wales. From there, after the war, he went with his family to Kenya, then a British colony. He lived in Mombasa, went to school in Nairobi, and travelled widely throughout East Africa. After a short spell in the Kenya Regiment, a part of the British Army, he left for England to attend Oxford University. Two years in America, which included attending Brandeis University and participating in the 'Freedom Summer' in Mississippi, ended with his return to England. Since 1965, he has lived in Newcastle upon Tyne with his wife Jean. They have three children, who now have children of their own. He is a communicant member of the Church of England.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I should begin by a declaration of interest: Jon Davies is a close friend and I am generally sympathetic to his world view. However, I have just finished reading this small gem and want to say a few words in praise of it. If you are a left-wing multiculturalist or someone unsympathetic to the UK and its culture, you won't like this, in fact, it will probably give you a nasty turn or two. But it is very solid stuff for all that. Jon, as he never tires of telling me, is devoted to facts, and this book is about facts. Statistics (which he handles with true sociological expertise), history, official reports. He exposes the EHRC Report for the flimsy and prejudiced piece of rhetoric it is. The report depicts and seeks to create a world in which everyone has rights, whether they have earned them or not, and this he takes to task, arguing for rights based in acceptance of British society , its history, and what it means to the vast majority of Britons. He is at his best in showing how much better life in this country is for immigrants, showing in dramatic fashion how much poorer life is in Pakistan, Bangladesh, or India. Given that this is so, he scolds the EHRC and its constant litany of complaint that makes it seem that incomers to these islands must demand rights that they all had back home, when, in fact, they did not. In the end, his conclusion is that the EHRC must itself be shut down It's also worth saying that Jon writes eloquently, sagely, in delightful English, employing his worfds, not to obscure, but to illuminate.
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