The cultural bond of bureaucracy appears to transcend borders. How else to explain Whitehall’s struggle to shake off the shackles of the EU? This week has brought a particularly egregious new example of groupthink uniting British bureaucrats and their counterparts in Brussels.
On Sunday, it was reported that the Cabinet Office had advised ministers against using the word Christmas in a campaign slogan, lest those who don’t celebrate the occasion are offended. Two days later, it emerged that the European Commission had rowed back on an official guide attempting to put an end to references to Christmas and – going even further than Whitehall – Christian names, claiming that the document required more work. Helena Dalli, the European Commissioner responsible for equality, had declared in the withdrawn guide that mentioning Christmas could be deemed an “intolerance” as “people have different religious traditions”.
It never ceases to amaze me that attitudes reserved for intolerant religious extremists in other countries are so often evangelised by “progressives” in the West, and that too in the name of inclusivity. There is a saying in my native Bangla language: religion is personal, festivals are universal. In other words, don’t ram your faith down other people’s throats, but welcome everyone to your festivals, celebrate them with your neighbours, whatever their religion may be.
In countries such as Bangladesh it is the fundamentalists who attack this sentiment, sowing division and preventing religious festivals from becoming events which unite people across communities in goodwill and brotherhood. Here in the West, the mean-minded decree that celebrating Christmas (an event and period of huge religious and cultural significance to the majority of the population, of course) would cause offence to non-Christians is propagated by the priests of diversity. In the process, it panders to the most extreme elements of minority communities and alienates the rest. And so, it achieves precisely the opposite of what they apparently set out to achieve: bringing people together.
Saqib Bhatti, the Conservative MP, speaks for me and countless other non-Christian ethnic minority Brits when he says: “As a Muslim, I find it ridiculous we can’t enjoy this special time of year.” Like Mr Bhatti, I too “look forward to showing my new son his first Christmas tree. The idea you can’t mention Christmas is completely ridiculous”.
Whether based in Brussels or Whitehall, the ability of the Blob to spectacularly misjudge the implications of their policies is as wondrous as their failure to learn any lessons. And these blunders aren’t harmless. We the citizens pay the price, not just in funding these people and their counterproductive ideas, but – more dangerously – in the damage caused to community cohesion.
This article is an extract from The Telegraph’s Beyond Brexit Bulletin. Sign up here for the latest news on Brexit straight to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.
