Banned wagon
A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit
TO discriminate against somebody on the grounds of race or sex can these days land one with a very large compensation bill. To discriminate against somebody on the basis of their age, however, is not just allowed; it is positively encouraged by public authorities. Families in need of a home in Tipton in the West Midlands may find themselves turned away by the local authority because they are not old enough. Sandwell Borough Council has designated an estate of 119 houses and flats as a 'mature area', and has barred anyone under the age of 45 from moving in. Existing residents under that age have most graciously been allowed to stay.
Substitute the words 'mature' with 'white' and 'under the age of 45' with 'of black or Asian origin' and you can see just how crude a measure it is. The implication is that young people will ruin the neighbourhood. Never mind the elderly folk who from time to time are caught shattering windows and vandalising cars; all young people are irresponsible and that is that. What makes the ban particularly obnoxious is that it came about as a result of a petition by 86 elderly residents in reaction against five blameless young tenants who had recently moved in. Not a single complaint had been registered about the young tenants' behaviour, but the residents decided all the same that they just didn't like young people.
Is this really what public housing is for: so that groups of residents can colonise it and then bully the council into preserving it for their own type? If the oldies of Tipton really can't stand the thought of sharing a neighbourhood with anyone under 45, perhaps they should give up their subsidised tenancies and club together to buy a remote farm in the Welsh hills, where they will have only a few sheep as their neighbours.
Ross Clark
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