The evils of political correctness

I applaud Mr Joe Aquilina-St John for his very accurate description of Britain as it is today as described in his article "Political Correctness - downfall of a Great Nation" (The Sunday Times, April 13). All he says is true. Sadly his article would not have been printed in England for fear of offending foreigners.

I have been living in Gozo for about a year and I am very conscious of living in someone else`s country. I recently told a local lady that I am very careful about the way I behave as I do not want to offend any local people. She said: "Don't worry, the law in Malta and Gozo is the same for everybody". Her reply made me think; this has got to be the answer.

In Britain, for example, Sikh men wear turbans, if they want to ride a motorcycle British law says a safety helmet must be worn. The Sikhs refuse to remove their turbans so they cannot wear a safety helmet; the same applies if they want to join the police force; they wear turbans instead of the standard uniform helmets. If a white person tried to break the rules in this way they would not be allowed to do so.

If non-whites are unable to abide by British law owing to their religion or whatever other reason they should not live in our country. Why should they have special treatment? It discriminates against the natives. Discrimination and racism laws in the UK would not be required if the law was the same for everyone.

I worked in England alongside an Asian lady, just the two of us in a computer room. I was part-time, she was full-time. I had been employed to help her as she was complaining that she had too much work which forced her to work longer hours. Most people would be pleased that the boss had hired assistance. But not this lady. She told me: "Why have you been employed? I don't want you to help me, I won't be able to work overtime now". She did her best to upset me and get me to leave but I didn't take the bait, until one day I was feeling unwell and she really got on my nerves so I just walked out.

The managing director, who was also the owner of the company, phoned me at home to ask what was wrong, so I told him. He confided to me that he would like to sack this woman who was big trouble but if he did so she would take him to the Race Relations Board and he did not want the hassle. He also told me I was the only person who had tolerated her for so long (three years).

The next day I went back to work, I told the MD that no foreigner living and working in my country was going to force me out of my job. I told the Asian lady what I had said to the MD and she was very quiet after that.

The Midlands man mentioned in the article was eventually sent to prison as he persisted in offering his house to whites only. His neighbours had begged him not to sell to non-whites because if they caused trouble the police wouldn't want to know, and then they would have to move and no-one would want to buy their house.

Last November, before I left England for Gozo, I had to get some funds from my local bank and noticed the new bank manager was an Asian lady, all the other staff were white. At the end of March I returned to England for two weeks and once again, before coming back to Gozo, I went to the bank; guess what? All the staff are now Asian! What has happened to the white staff? I don't know. I just couldn't wait to get back to Gozo.

There are numerous tales to tell but the situation won't change, the government does not care, they forget the natives put them in power and can just as easily remove them but that won't bother Mr Blair because he is happy welcoming new countries to the EU as he is hoping to be the President of Europe, whatever the cost. So what is to be done?

The young people of England have grown up with the problems, the senior citizens who have known a Great Britain are sick and tired of it all, most of them are probably on the National Health's very long waiting list waiting for major surgery or even on a trolley in a hospital corridor waiting for a bed. Incidentally, it is not the colour of people`s skin that is the problem - it is their bad behaviour and attitudes that contribute to the tensions.

Mr Aquilina St John would do well to return to Malta, although it saddens me to see Malta join the EU. You can say goodbye to your celebrations on Freedom Day as your country will never again be as free as it is now.