Rules Of Engagement Speech In The Military…

As the Prince Harry video controversy rages on in the media, the usual suspects are lining up to make political and economic capital out of it:

The equalities watchdog will press the armed forces to act to dismantle its "barrack-room culture" in response to the controversy surrounding Prince Harry's use of racist language.

Because it’s everyone else who is out of touch on this non-controversy. It couldn’t possibly be the EHCR itself, could it…?

"They know they have a problem," an EHRC source said. "The processes are only part of the battle - the harder more important battle is culture change. The issue here is barrack-room culture."

Yup, banter between friendly groups of young men using racial epithets only ever happens in barracks.

I guess those two 13/14 year old black youths on my train carriage last week, cheerfully calling each other ‘niggah’ while they played rap on their mobiles were soldiers? *shrug* They looked too young to me, frankly…

The source said that while the move was triggered by the revelations about the prince's remarks, it would have responded to a similar incident involving any soldier. "It's about how the MoD would respond to anyone who used this kind of language." The expansion of the EHRC's role will be discussed at a scheduled meeting between the watchdog and the MoD next month.

Ahhh, growth in the role of the professionally-aggrieved. That always helps things….

Lord Ouseley, who ran the CRE when the army escaped legal sanction in 1998, said: "There is greater sensitivity to this sort of thing among the higher echelons [in the armed forces] and there has been progress, but I do also think there has been some backsliding because enforcement is not happening across the board.

"The government has encouraged light touch enforcement. There continue to be cases of people leaving the army because of the way they have been treated."

If they can’t put up with harsh words, how are they going to feel when people start shooting at them!

As Obnoxio points out, the sheer gall of these race-mongers sitting in comfortable air-conditioned offices, sipping tea and deliberating what people serving in the army should be allowed to call each other beggars belief.

But experts in discrimination law questioned whether the army's response would be sufficient to fulfil its full legal obligations to root out racism. "Public bodies are required by law to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality and good race relations," Ulele Burnham, a barrister specialising in discrimination law, said.

As he rubbed his hands together in glee and made preparations to spend his future fees, no doubt…

The numbers of recruits to the armed forces from ethnic minority groups remains low, despite the latest figures showing an increase: 6.3%, compared with 5.9% a year earlier.

Given that the ethnic minority population is only 7.9 (figures from here), I really think the MoD are pinning an awful lot of hopes for a paradise on earth on achieving that last 1.6…