Double Standards Under British Law

From a report by the Hudson Institute of New York

Last week a video of young, white, working class woman began circulating through the media. In the video, the woman – Emma West – is seen and heard verbally abusing fellow passengers on a train, many of whom are non-white. Ms. West's rant is certainly offensive, and must have been upsetting to those who had to listen to it. She complained, for example, that the train – and Britain – are full with "a load of black people and a load of ****ing Polish," and tells one woman "You ain't British, you're black. Ms. West was promptly arrested after the Daily Mail and Telegraph asked readers to call in with her identity – which was initially unknown. She has since been refused bail – accordingly for her own protection -- she received death threats – and is now spending time in jail. Her children have also been taken into custody. ." Even though Ms. West's diatribe is deplorable, insulting language should not be a crime.

The timing of the emergence of the video is somewhat unfortunate: Ms. West's case is now being contrasted, by several blogs at least, to the court case a few days later of four young Muslim women,. The four women – who were drunk at the time – had repeatedly assaulted Rhea Page, 22, as she waited for a taxi with her boyfriend. Even after she had collapsed motionless on the pavement, she was met with "a flurry of kicks to the head, back, arms and legs." As the four women attacked her, they shouted "kill the white slag."

Those perpetrating such a vicious and racially-motivated attack should expect to receive a sentence of up to five years.

However, Judge Robert Brown, who heard the case, told the women that: "Those who knock someone to the floor and kick them in the head can expect to go inside, but I'm going to suspend the sentence." The four were instead given a 12 month suspended sentence. Judge Brown took this decision because they were not used to being drunk, he said, because of their "religion."

Many British people now feel that they are living in a two-tier system of double standards: one for the white working class, and one for Muslims.

They "feel it?" They surely know it.