Anti-English discrimination
On behalf of the English Community Group (Leicester) I wish to thank Nick Knight for his letter regarding our community organisation and asking for evidence concerning how the British state systematically discriminates against the English (Mailbox, February 10).
I wish to list just a few examples:
English ethnicity is excluded in the Census and also from ethnic monitoring forms, essential if the English as an ethnic group are to receive appropriate levels of government funding and policies.The label "White British" not only disenfranchises the English from its legal identity but as an identity based purely on skin colour it provides far less legal protection.
The English have no official bank holiday patron saint's day; no English Parliament; no specific English anthem; no English passport; there is no consultation of the English regarding our inclusion in the European Union and of mass immigration into England.
There is no English Olympic team; English flags are being taken down by councils; local English food produce not marked as English; no original Old English language, history and culture is taught in schools.
English university students are forced to pay full fees while Scottish students receive it free.
The English have higher airport taxes; a health apartheid where English patients are charged for prescriptions while Scottish patients receive theirs free; no English community centres, and where thousands of charities and community groups exist for ethnic minorities, there is only one charity, the Steadfast Trust, for the English.
Finally, to reassure Nick that we are ideologically separate from the English Defence League (EDL), we are focussed entirely upon the needs and concerns of the English community, as opposed to the EDL which is concerned solely with militant Islam.
The EDL does not recognise English ethnicity, preferring to hide behind a false British identity and encompassing a multicultural approach to its movement.
The English Community Group (Leicester) remains a community-orientated and ethnic-specific organisation totally distinct from the EDL.
Clive Potter, chairman, English Community Group (Leicester)
Evidence is needed for these claims
While I'm not entirely convinced by Clive Potter's claims that the English Community Group is ideologically separate from the EDF, [sic] I applaud Clive and his colleagues for wanting to channel their energies into political debate, rather than pointless and costly public demonstrations ("Standing up for the English", Mailbox, February 7).
If the British judicial system and our institutions of government are systemically flawed in the way that Clive alleges, his group will be doing everyone in Britain a great favour by exposing it.
But this is a very serious allegation.
Before they expect anyone, including the City Mayor, to take them seriously, they need to produce some sound evidence and, like all other such groups in an advanced 21st century democracy, subject it to both public and professional scrutiny.
Nick Knight, Leicester
Standing up for the English
One of the reasons why the English Defence League (EDL) chose to march again in Leicester is the fact that the English community in the city have been neglected for decades by both the local council, the wider establishment and media.
As members of the English Community Group (Leicester), the first of its kind within England, while we agree that the EDL should have the right to march and express its views, we neither support the EDL or share in its "British" identity and multicultural sentiments.
Along with millions of Englishmen and women we feel that we as a community have become marginalised and ignored by the liberal establishment who recognise every other racial and ethnic group, yet deny the English those same rights, benefits and privileges.
This is what helps create a ghettoised English resentment which feels that it can only voice its anger through street protests.
Our group has tried to meet Sir Peter Soulsby, City Mayor of Leicester, for months yet he has ignored us. Yet in the run-up to the EDL march he has met with other community groups which are, like ourselves, ethnic-specific.
Under current legislation the English are recognised as being members of a racial nation known as the English and that the indigenous English are a protected racial group in law.
The liberal establishment fails to recognise the English as a legitimate community and they are thus being effectively administratively "ethnically cleansed".
Sir Peter Soulsby's conduct in ignoring our community group has resulted in our group serving his office with an Equality Discrimination Questionnaire under the 2010 Equality Act. This means the City Mayor is now under legal notice to explain his conduct and to seek to recognise and work with the English community of Leicester.Failure to do so may result in legal action being taken against the office of City Mayor.
The English have a legal identity and are not a "mongrel nation", a claim levelled against us by the liberal establishment and the multi-cult extremists who wish to deny us our identity, culture and heritage.
Our mission is to ensure that the English within Leicester begin to enjoy the rights, benefits and privileges that they are entitled to enjoy under the Equality Act.
Clive Potter, chairman, English Community Group (Leicester)
