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Duh!

Caste

Read an article recently about discrimination on the basis of "caste". In India (and presumably the Diaspora) there is an ancient system of social division, which I don't really understand but it's used to deny people jobs and other things.

So, understandably, there's a move towards outlawing discrimination on these grounds. In English law, this would be recognising caste as a "protected characteristic" like race, age, sex and the rest. You'll notice I haven't done an exhaustive list of "protected characteristics" for three reasons:

• I'm too lazy to look it up
• I'd probably leave one out
• I wanted to make a point!

My point is that it will be years before caste is added to the list in the laws and that doesn't seem right. It should be on the statute book today. Transgender people only got on the list a few years back. It's nonsense.

I'm not a lawyer but it would seem better if unjustified discrimination were outlawed pure and simple and there was no ever growing "list".

Polish Takeaway

I see we have one of these locally. History repeating itself as each wave of migrants tempts us with their cuisine - and that word itself I suspect is not native :-)

Anyway, there was a menu in the widow. A list of incomprehensible items with prices. I reflected on how more customer-friendly the equivalent menus were in 1970s Chinese and Indian takeaways. Sure, they had foreign words but each item also had a number for embarrassment-free ordering. And there were English descriptions too such as "rices with vegetable" which served to inform and amuse.

But history hasn't repeated itself exactly. The owners of Indian takeaways in 1970s Britain were often the only people of that ethnicity in town. Pioneers. Very few of them were nurses, engineers, doctors, etc.

With the Poles it's been different. The pioneers arrived a decade ago. The Polish takeaways, grocers, etc. came later and are not there for to provide the occasional exotic treat for the English natives. They're for Polish people.

A couple of dancing things

•  Went to a traditional French dance and two girls start playing flute and harp. Lovely, but what IS it? Lot of people struggle for a bit but eventually we all settle down to a much slower Mazurka than normal. Great! I could feel and savour every step!

• Several dance teachers have irritated me lately - mainly by talking too much. Nice people, good dancers but no idea how to teach. Some other teachers - who get a significant part of their income from dance teaching are much better.The paying public demand it. Some of them that have proper businesses and franchise systems have clearly been trained to teach. All that mucking about with money and accreditation is an anathema to some but it works!  
  
  

Gardener Tax

Our Council is fed up with collecting garden refuse in reusable green bags free of charge. Instead, they are offering to rent us bins - a snip at £36/year. Or we can drive to the tip. They just don't get this environment lark do they?