Surprise, surprise! Sledgehammer used to crack nut.

In the past few days much has been made of the new Equalities Act, which critics say will make life even tougher for employers.
The concept of Third-Party Harassment, for instance, means that if someone takes offence at a joke or banter in the office – even if it’s not aimed at them or anything to do with them – they can sue their employer.
Discrimination by Association means that if a worker thinks they’ve missed promotion because, for instance, their brother is gay, they can sue for discrimination by association. Or they can claim that their employer believed them to be gay even if they are not and use their “sexuality” as grounds for a claim.
Yes, it’s daft, isn’t it.
But not to be left out, Boston Borough Council is making its own contribution in the form of - yes, you’ve guessed - yet another survey ... this time into “Hate Crime.”
Hate crime is defined as “any criminal offence, committed against a person or property, motivated by the offender’s prejudice or hate against people because of their gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.”
The borough tells us:- “It is believed that incidents of hate crime are under-reported.”
We take that phrase to mean that the borough actively wants more reports of such crimes - which, of course, may or may not be justified.
Typically, the survey devotes just eight questions to the matter under discussion - and fifteen
to the “getting to know you” sections which pries intrusively into details of age, race, religion, disability sexuality et al.
It appears that to be guilty of a hate crime, you often need to do no more than “demonstrate hostility” towards the “victim” which we guess could include not talking to them.
Or, in the case of homophobia, guilt can be assumed for showing “fear and dislike” for people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
And the good news for people who like this sort of busywork is that - “For every primary victim there are likely to be numerous other people affected by the attack.”
Obviously, prejudice in any shape or form needs to be eradicated. But it is often merely the result of ignorance, and education rather than criminalisation should be the answer that we seek.
And let’s not forget that there are some groups of people who because of age, religion, or just plain ignorance will be deemed guilty of crimes that they cannot help commit.
Despite the melting pot that Boston has become in recent years, the borough has - by and large - assimilated newcomers from other nations with courtesy and kindness.
What the borough is seeking to do is to create disharmony where none exists.
There are enough other issues of importance in Boston that need addressing without trying to drum up allegations of crime - which is the clear intention of this so-called “survey.”
All that will happen is that this unnecessary intrusion by Boston Borough Council will produce an increase in crime statistics, and once again put the borough high in a league of bad boys, when in fact no real problem exists.


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