Are White British Men somehow “disadvantaged”

Bukkie

As the mother of two sons I certainly believe white British men are disadvantaged. They have often missed out on jobs and opportunities because they don't tick enough boxes.

Also mother of an adult son (and daughter).
Is it possible that other candidates were more suited to the roles?

snoopy57

I should say so, we should be at the top of society

Why?

Chocolatelovinggran

Tuliptree, I think that your analogy of the person at the race starting line is an excellent one.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJAgPF5FNTQ

The above link is to a video I saw some years ago which uses a race analogy to explain inequality. It's from the US but worth watching

I'm not suggesting discrimination merely pointing out double standards.

Tuliptree, I think that your analogy of the person at the race starting line is an excellent one.

Fallingstar

Cossy

Padstow A big huge thank you, as your post really made laugh out loud! I love your choice of words and have to agree wholeheartedly with your rhetoric.

Yes I must second that 👏🏽👏🏽

As so many were applauding Padstow maybe you can suggest a remedy to solve why do many feel so disadvantaged

Vintagewhine

Funny that people object to disadvantaged groups getting extra help but don't mind rich people's kids having private education, extra coaching and benefiting in lots of ways throughout their whole life but 6 weeks of paid internship makes them shout about it being unfair.

The problem is that there will never be an absolutely equal playing field, and I do think people exaggerate how far private education benefits the majority of children who get it. Certainly certain schools give some ex-pupils an advantage in certain fields, but beyond that I am less sure.

If you discriminate against privately educated children, would you discriminate against children from poorer backgrounds who because they are/were clever, passed the 11 plus then do well and get to university when it was free or now, get into really top state secondary schools? In the 1960s I went to a northern technical university, the majority of my fellow students were northern working class lads, and many have done very well since.

Or working class children whose parents do all they can to encourage them to get a good education and use every possible opportunity to bring their children up in a culturally enriched home. Both DH and I come from such a background.

Funny that people object to disadvantaged groups getting extra help but don't mind rich people's kids having private education, extra coaching and benefiting in lots of ways throughout their whole life but 6 weeks of paid internship makes them shout about it being unfair.

petra

MOnica
i think much of the discrimination and special treatment we give people now etc etc.
I think you know you’re not alone in thinking that thinking.
I volunteer with a retired nurse from Nigeria.
She gets very angry at any government who thinks she’s so helpless and vulnerable because she’s black.
I have asked her if this is a widespread feeling her answer is: only those who have no pride in themselves and believe it when politicians tell them they need their protection.

And I have friends at the gym who tell very different stories growing up in the UK and trying to get into various work situations.

Nursing is probably an area where there is the least discrimination, look at our NHS staff.

We cant generalise from any one person, one has to consider a group as a whole when it comes to social planning.

When my son was at secondary school none of the boys seemed interested in education. This was in the 90s in Cornwall and 99.9% of the pupils were whit British. AS far as he and his friends were concerned school was definitely not cool, all their fathers had managed to get by without any qualifications and they couldn't see the point. Meanwhile most of the girls were working hard and had their eyes on some sort of further education. My son started doing A levels but dropped out after a term and started an NVQ catering course. Since then he has had various minimum wage jobs and on the odd occasions when someone has suggested him for a management position he has recoiled in horror, He doesn't want to join "then"! He's nearly 50 now and still doesn't seem to have grasped that you can't scrape by today like his father and I did.

As the mother of two sons I certainly believe white British men are disadvantaged. They have often missed out on jobs and opportunities because they don't tick enough boxes.

Tuliptree

Giving someone a step ladder to stand on so they can reach the good on the shelf that their taller friend can reach without help because they’re taller is not patronising. The extra help I got with travel expenses that I received so I could get to my work place which my able bodied colleagues didn’t need wasn’t patronising.

I was not dealing with practical aids to working for the disaabled. I was talking narrowly about people being able to compete on a skills and competence level and not being favoured or not because of colour or cultural practices.

Help getting disabled people into work is an entirely different subject.

MOnica
i think much of the discrimination and special treatment we give people now etc etc.
I think you know you’re not alone in thinking that thinking.
I volunteer with a retired nurse from Nigeria.
She gets very angry at any government who thinks she’s so helpless and vulnerable because she’s black.
I have asked her if this is a widespread feeling her answer is: only those who have no pride in themselves and believe it when politicians tell them they need their protection.

There was a stage when reality tv reached a pinnacle of awfulness, I didn't see it but that sounds like grim viewing, channel 5 is usually the purveyor of that kind of thing.

An interesting little snippet- in 2023 when she was 21 (so she's 24 now), when Sophie Corcoran was a student and member of the young Conservatives, she was a contestant in a TV reality programme Rise and Fall on Channel 4.

The sixteen contestants were divided into 'Rulers' and 'Grafters'. The rulers lived in a luxury pent house and the grafters lived in the basement. Each episode the rulers voted one of their group out and the grafters had a chance to move up to the pent house to join them. The eventual winner was chosen from the Rulers to win the £100,000 prize pot.

Sophie I understand remained in the basement throughout. Perhaps she was traumatised by the experience? 😉😂

I am sure they do believe that, and they may be right, they also may be wrong. Organisations chock full of lawyers failed to follow the equality act with regard to single sex spaces.

LemonJam I think it used to be 6 weeks.
I could be wrong.

The NAO graduation scheme does have everyone competing from the same starting line. Nobody is inferior or superior.

This is an internship scheme, for about 6 weeks I think, over the summer, to find out more about the NAO. This helps minority group develop insight into opportunities available, ie to see the possibility of the starting line to then compete at the same starting line as all other applicants. I can't see anything patronising about that.

When you’re on the starting line with your expensive trainers and your coach encouraging you, it’s easy to feel you’ve done it without any help and that it would be patronising to offer help to anyone

“I think all British born and bred people, which covers many people with ancestral roots in other countries, including myself, as I am half Irish, should all be on an equal basis for everything and not need special treatment for any reason.

I am on one of the many women who after WW2 benefitted from the Butler Education Act and help with university fees. Many of us came from homes that could not see the point og educating a daughter we went in to professions dominated by men.

I spent most of my career in jobs where I was the only woman above secretarial level we kept going and pushing without special selection, mentors or anything else and many of us had careers our mothers envied. My best friend at school became a judge, others are medical consultants, engineers.

I think much of the discrmination and special treatment we give people now is patronising and must diminish their self confidence. We keep saying to minority groups that they cannot succeed without help from someone from the supposed superior group holding their hand.

Let everyone compete from the same starting line and if anyone one thinks that someone metaphorically tripped them up, let them take those concerned to an ACAS Tribunal.“

But not everyone can reach that starting line, in order to compete equally, disabled people for example?

Also those that come from very disadvantaged and chaotic households and would hugely benefit from some help to themselves to a starting line they may not even be aware is available to them?

Why do you feel it’s patronising ?

I really don’t understand.

Exactly as I suspected- she is a journalist, seeking a story fro GB news.

That she has only raised £3,000 tells its own story- not even GB news wants to fund her! The Bar Council has well qualified lawyers to defend and firmly believes the internship scheme is complaint with the Equality Act.

Googled to find her:

Sophie Corcoran, a GB news journalist and commentator, is seeking crowd-funding for legal action alleging discrimination in public sector and legal internship schemes. The primary details regarding this are outlined below:

The Legal Challenge & Crowdfunding
Claimant: Sophie Corcoran (GB News commentator, writer).
Crowdfunding Platform: She is raising funds on the CrowdJustice Case Page under the title "Help Me End The Bar Council's Anti-White Scheme".

Funds Raised She has raised over £3,000 via CrowdJustice to pay her legal team to pursue an employment tribunal.
Targeted Schemes: One of which is National Audit Office (NAO) regarding its NAO Diversity Summer Internship.

The Internships in Question
National Audit Office (NAO): Has offered a Diversity Summer Internship since 2015 based in London and Newcastle. The scheme targets those from less affluent socio-economic backgrounds, Black heritage backgrounds, and women.
Bar Council / 10,000 Interns Foundation: Offers 6-week legal internships. Eligibility for the Bar Council scheme is restricted to applicants who are Black or of Black heritage.
Remuneration: The legal internships pay the London Living Wage of £14.80 per hour.

Response from Organisations
The Bar Council: Stated it will vigorously contest the claim and has filed a defence denying all of the claimant's allegations. It confirmed tribunal proceedings will not impact its 2026 intake.
10,000 Interns Foundation: Chief Executive Rebecca Ajulu-Bushell noted that defending claims is highly taxing but confirmed they will defend the charity.

Legal Basis Organisations defend these schemes under the Equality Act 2010, which permits positive action to address disadvantage or under-representation.








The test case may be the 10, 000 interns thing, I can't remember the womans name - alleged discrimination in terms of race. She was crowdfunding last I looked but it could have all faded to nothing.

It has been open to all for the past 11 ears, including middle class white males that believe this NAO internship is illegal to bring a claim against the audit office on one of 2 grounds:

1) That the internship scheme does not comply with the positive action grounds permitted by the Equality Act 2010
2) That the internship scheme goes beyond positive action as I is win fact an employment scheme and thus is discriminatory.

A test case to secure a tribunal or court decision would help settle the argument but I doubt a claim is forthcoming as there are no strong evidential grounds.

Meanwhile those that feel DEI laws have gone too far will continue to condemn such schemes as it supports their views.

Organisations were interpreting the equality act wrongly for years with regard to single sex exemptions, no government stepped in. Just because something has been happening for years is no guarantee it is compliant with a specific legal requirement.