Animal Farm

[j4bberw0ck]

The story of Animal Farm (by George Orwell) starts when the animals evict the cruel, neglectful farmer and decide to run the farm themselves. Then they vote the pigs in to look after all the day-to-day organisation. "All animals are equal" is the motto - until the pigs start to make exceptions to suit themselves and make their admin job easier..... and reward themselves for their hard life in the service of the animals........ and when they're asked why, they reveal the motto which now, magically, reads "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

Forgive me if you already know all that, as I'm sure many do, but the Government's been at it again.

A. Everyone remember the Equality Act, 2006? The one which obliges the Catholic Church to act against its faith and treat homosexual couples on the same basis as heterosexual, when considering adoptive parents?

Remember the hand-wringing, the agony of certain politicians - yes, they understood the Catholic position, but oh dear, oh sorry...... equality for all is more important........

Section 52 of the Act concerns "Public Authorities" and says:

(1) It is unlawful for a public authority exercising a function to do any act which constitutes discrimination.

It then says,

(3) The prohibition in subsection (1) shall not apply to-

• (a) the House of Commons,
• (b) the House of Lords,
• (c) the authorities of either House of Parliament,
• (d) the Security Service,
• (e) the Secret Intelligence Service,
• (f) the Government Communications Headquarters, or
• (g) a part of the armed forces of the Crown which is, in accordance with a requirement of the Secretary of State, assisting the Government Communications Headquarters.

So what they really meant was everyone is equal, except for politicians, who are more equal than others.

B. Last week the Government voted through an amendment which prevents the public from using the Freedom of Information Act to get information about correspondence and e-mails sent by MPs to public bodies.

All animals are equal......

(Basic information about the legislation is from the Independent website)

[_Ju_]

That is a politician being a politician. Unfortunately, no matter how often a government is voted in or out it will never change, because all fledgling politicians aspire be in the position of, as you say, being more equal than others.

Still, here it's not too bad. Corruption is not as in your face as in other countries (like Portugal, for example). And if it is found out, it makes headlines and isn't swept under the carpet by obliging editors et al who all owe their allegience to a special influencial boy's club before owing the public any honesty.

[ywindythesecond]

The story of Animal Farm (by George Orwell) starts when the animals evict the cruel, neglectful farmer and decide to run the farm themselves. Then they vote the pigs in to look after all the day-to-day organisation. "All animals are equal" is the motto - until the pigs start to make exceptions to suit themselves and make their admin job easier..... and reward themselves for their hard life in the service of the animals........ and when they're asked why, they reveal the motto which now, magically, reads "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

Forgive me if you already know all that, as I'm sure many do, but the Government's been at it again.

A. Everyone remember the Equality Act, 2006? The one which obliges the Catholic Church to act against its faith and treat homosexual couples on the same basis as heterosexual, when considering adoptive parents?

Remember the hand-wringing, the agony of certain politicians - yes, they understood the Catholic position, but oh dear, oh sorry...... equality for all is more important........



Section 52 of the Act concerns "Public Authorities" and says:

(1) It is unlawful for a public authority exercising a function to do any act which constitutes discrimination.

It then says,

(3) The prohibition in subsection (1) shall not apply to-

• (a) the House of Commons,
• (b) the House of Lords,
• (c) the authorities of either House of Parliament,
• (d) the Security Service,
• (e) the Secret Intelligence Service,
• (f) the Government Communications Headquarters, or
• (g) a part of the armed forces of the Crown which is, in accordance with a requirement of the Secretary of State, assisting the Government Communications Headquarters.

So what they really meant was everyone is equal, except for politicians, who are more equal than others.

B. Last week the Government voted through an amendment which prevents the public from using the Freedom of Information Act to get information about correspondence and e-mails sent by MPs to public bodies.

All animals are equal......

(Basic information about the legislation is from the Independent website)

Re "B. Last week....."
What motivated the amendment?

[j4bberw0ck]

No idea, to be truthful; avoidance of future embarrassment, maybe?

I look forward to the day when MPs and Ministers decide that they're so much equal than the rest of us that they reserve traffic lanes for their own exclusive use, or exclude themselves from some inconvenient aspect of environmental legislation.....

After all, they've already voted themselves a pension scheme the rest of us can only dream of - based on fortieths of salary at pensionable age. The Brussels lot are even worse - special allowances for duty free goods, special pension scheme, huge salaries, and not many questions asked.