Finally, Jack Straw sees sense:

Liverpool fan Michael Shields, who was jailed for 15 years in Bulgaria for the attempted murder of a barman, has been pardoned.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw issued the royal pardon, saying that Mr Shields was “morally and technically innocent”.

Link to BBC coverage

Statement by Liverpool Football club

Shields, 22, was convicted after a disturbance following Liverpool’s European Cup victory in Turkey in 2005.

He was later transferred to a prison in the UK.

His pardon follows a campaign by his family, MPs, clergymen, Liverpool players and many others, who believe he is innocent.

In 2005 another man, Graham Sankey, originally admitted involvement in the attack on the barman, but subsequently withdrew his statement and now denies any involvement in the attack. However, it has since been reported that at the time of the attack, Michael was asleep in his hotel room.

This man spent 4 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. I’m just glad that he is finally free.

Michael Shields, You’ll Never Walk Alone…..

Last week, the British government put forward plans to introduce a new law that will allow firms to discriminate in favour of female and ethnic minority job candidates . The entire country has been debating this since it was announced, with most people it would seem against the idea. Personally, I’m in favour of it, and I think the problem is that most people don’t understand the law.

First of all, the ‘positive discrimination’ aspect is just a tiny part of the legislation, which also targets age discrimination, and tackles the gender pay gap in the public sector. Secondly, this is not an affirmative action law, as operated in the US, which forces you to choose ethnic minorities over other people. As far as I understand it, affirmative action means that, for example, when a university is picking new students, they have to pick a number of black people, and this most likely means that some white people will be overlooked for blacks who may not be as qualified as them. This creates resentment a lot of the time. The UK law is not the same though. The UK law means that if you are recruiting staff, and for any reason you have to decide between two equally qualified candidates, you can pick a woman or an ethnic minority in order to ‘balance out’ your team, allowing you to have a more diverse team. So why would you need a law to do this? Well, because this protects you against an employment tribunal.

Make no mistake about it, women and ethnic minorities need some help out here. A couple of years ago, I saw a hiring manager glance at a CV, and toss it in the bin after looking at it for less than one second. When I asked him why, he said because the person had an Indian name. A few weeks later, the same person said he had decided to hire only ‘white British people’, because they gave the least trouble. To be fair, we had a team member who was of Bangladeshi origin (born in the UK), who left the company suddenly, using a story which we found to be a lie. However, I think it was unfair to tie this behaviour to his race.

It’s not too long ago we had a case of a Pakistani man looking for job in Wales, who was told there were no suitable vacancies. He decided to write a similar CV, with a Welsh name, and fewer qualifications. And guess what, within 3 hours, he was asked to apply for a position paying £33,000 p.a.

So how many times has this happened to me?  How many times have I applied for a job I am more than qualified to do, only to have my CV tossed in the bin because I don’t have an English name? How many times does this happen daily to other applicants in recruitment offices all over the country? The truth is that I will never know. Take a walk around the City of London, and all you’ll see for the most part are white men. Of course, they are in the majority in the population, so that’s not too much of a surprise. But check the boardrooms of major UK companies, check key positions in the government, and black men and women are few and far between. There are a few exceptions though. Like Trevor Williams, Lloyds TSB’s chief economist, who speaks regulalry on BBC’s breakfast show.

But as you can see, he’s the only black man on the board. And I suspect there are very few black man on boards of other banks and financial institutions in the country. I certainly didn’t see any at the Mansion house dinner.

But will this law help? I don’t think so. As long as the people making the decisions are not forced to pick ethnic minorities or women, they will always be at a disadvantage. Until there are more ethnic minorities in influential positions, and more hiring managers who are ready to pick people solely based on ability and talent, this new law is just a drop in the ocean. It’s a step in the right direction though, and hopefully, in the not too distant future, attitudes will change.

And you know what? I like to think that the two jobs I have gotten since I got here, I got them because I was the best person who applied for the job. If I found out that I got the job for any other reason, I would not be happy. And I think most ethnic minorities or women would think in the same way.

I still remember when I was working in London, we had someone come in to fix the photocopiers. He was black. When he asked who he was to report to, he was directed to me. You should have seen the look on his face. When he left, and I was signing off his job, he said he was proud to see a black man doing very well for himself in ‘The City’. And you know what, it wasn’t until that day that I realised that I was the only place person in  my office. And when I went out for lunch later that day, I walked down the length of Fenchurch street, and I could count the number of black people I saw on one hand. Coincidence? Maybe. But it had never occurred to me. An d from that day onwards, I became more concious of myself, of my race, of the colour of my skin.

I heard an argument on TV that a white working class man in the UK is less likely to go to university than any other section of society, and that if anyone needs help in the workplace, it is them. That’s not an argument I want to get into, the whole ‘working class white man’ story is something that perplexes me completely, but they are becoming more and more of a political force in the guise of the British National Party. And from my Nigerian roots, I know how much emphasis our people put on getting an education. However, statistics in the UK show that blackboys don’t do too well at school. All sorts of reasons have been postulated as to why this is so. But the truth is that, at least, they are in school in the first place.And I’ll stop here, because I don’t want to say anything controversial.

I just hope that by the time my daughter starts looking for her first job, she won’t get chosen because of the colour of her skin, or her gender, but because of her ability to do the job.

Politics. It’s always been said to be a dangerous game. A group of human beings who claim to work for the people, but most of the time, have nothing but their own self interests at heart. Give them power, and then it’s a recipe for chaos. And most of the time, it’s the innocent followers/citizens that end up paying for their mishaps.

Let’s take a look at some stories from the last few days:

1. Pakistan: Sadly, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday, and has been laid to rest in the last few hours. Her killing has left her country, Pakistan in political turmoil, and as I type this, the country is erupting in violence. The military dictator, Pervez Musharraf is now in a difficult situation. Some accuse him of having her killed, as she was set to become prime minister after next month’s elections. The obvious suspects are the Muslim extremists, who disliked her liberal stance. However, what happens now? Who will clamp down on the extremists?  Pakistan is crucial in the West’s ‘war on terror’, and the stability of that country is essential. The next few days will be interesting. What will the West do, sit back and hope things work out, or interfere? Sadly, the Bhutto’s have seen this before, her father was executed after a military coup, and both her brothers died violently.

2. Nigeria: The EFCC has been doing a stellar job in tackling corruption. While some might say that they have been a tool in the hand of the government, oppressing the opposition, what cannot be denied is that Nigerians believe that you can no longer steal money when you are in power, and get away with in. At the moment, seven ex-governors whose terms ended this year are being prosecuted, and three of them are in jail, including the ‘all-powerful’ James Ibori. So what does the government do? Sideline the head of the organization by sending him on study leave. Nuhu Ribadu has done a wonderful job heading the EFCC, but has stepped on several toes. Now, it seems that politicians have had their way, and this will be a major blow to Nigerian president, Umaru Yar’adua’s credibility. Again, what happens over the next few days will be very interesting…….

3. UK: The government has been talking about immigration for a while now, as British citizens believed that it is out of control. Sadly, immigrants like myself are those that suffer the backlash, as the government squeezes out out of existence. I currently have the right to apply for British citizenship, but let me add up how much it has cost for me to get there:

• £500 – Priority application for 2 years resident’s permit in 2005
• £35 – Life in the UK test (Does not include cost of study materials and a day off work to take the test)
• £950 – Priority application for indefinite leave to remain November 2007
• £710 – Citizenship application + Nationality checking service

Total : £2160 in the last 2 years. That’s a lot of money, and that’s only because I’m the only person in my household applying. I met a man at the Home Office applying for indefinite leave to remain for his family of five.

If it costs so much to be a legal migrant, no wonder people are going down the illegal immigrant route.

The government has been talking about ‘the biggest shake up of the immigration system ever’ which is about to happen, and at the heart of this is a points based system for non-EU migrants. But this my friends, is just politics. The UK has had a points based system for migrants since 2002 called the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. And for all the government’s huffing and puffing, the ‘new’ points based system is identical to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. So nothing new there, just a massive announcement about nothing. They are also talking about banning non-skilled non-EU people from coming to the UK. Again, nothing new there. There is currently no visa or scheme for a non-skilled migrant to settle in the UK. What programme are they canceling? Which visa have they announced they will get rid of? None. Because again, it’s just a massive announcement about….nothing. A new clampdown on forced/sham marriages? These measures have been in place for a few years, a foreigner cannot get married without applying for permission to marry from the home office, despite the high court saying this was illegal and a breach of human rights. Another announcement without substance.

The only new things in all the proposals? Shortening standard visitor visas to 3 months from 6, which to be honest is not a bad idea, but for family visas, the government is ‘considering’ making UK based people pay a cash bond of up to £1000 when they invite people to visit the UK, and this will be forfeited if the visitor does not return home. What? this year alone, my wife and I have invited almost 10 people to visit, all of whom have returned home, but this measure would mean that we might have to think twice about it. And a lot of people agree that this is just a bad idea and that innocent people would be the victims.

So what do the conservatives come up with. Well, for them, a £1000 bond is not even good enough. No sir. Under a conservative government, if you invite someone to the UK, and they don’t go back home, you could go to jail. So the government lies through it’s teeth, and the opposition gives us a completely senseless alternative. Nothing new there then.

This is what happens when you put politicians in charge. You get a whole lot of hot air, no real decisions made, and a bunch of men in suits, just looking after themselves, ready to do anything to prolong their tenure. Or in the case of Benazior Bhutto, senseless, unnecessary death.

May her soul rest in peace.