Nice to see Oxford City Council is still very stupid

They've had a long range of bad ideas, the most recent being the decision by the councilor in charge of Oxford's recycling and waste collection services by changing the collection of household waste (food etc) from every week, to once every two weeks. She has said she is not for turning (whichever ward shes in, i hope she gets voted out). It's a national scheme (though councils were told to bury plans about changing from the current setup to this marvelous scheme to increase the rat population in the UK before this weeks local elections). So what is Oxford City Councils latest brain wave ? Faith based home improvements. So if your religion demands that you cook over an open flame, the council will pay for a gas cooker to be installed. It's utter drivel, it basically creates further divides in the local community which a political party like the BNP will take advantage of. Stuart Craft leader of the Independent Working Class Association pointed this out fairly well: "This is a potential recruiting document for the British National Party - it's nonsense and it's unfair. This is a secular society, the council should not be pandering to separate religions." The best quote about this story comes from a Muslim councillor by the name of Dr Tia MacGregor: "What this strategy is saying is if you want something because of your faith, you get it. What about Jedi Knights - would they have a cupboard fitted to put their light sabres in?

"If the council wants a budget for home improvements they have to be for everyone, you can't discriminate in terms of their faith."

What is needed is in fact a system that works for everybody. Though Oxford City Council can't change a lightbulb without spending several hundred pounds talking about it (Cornmarket's revamp cost more than the local and county council estimated, it went from about £1 million to about £5 million in the end). And the view of the council is just priceless (it's so politically correct i could cry but i won't): "This is part of a much wider programme of choice for tenants and ensuring we are culturally sensitive.

"It's not going to be a drain on resources, it's about recognising and working with the variety of people in the city and realising they are not all identikit."

This is one of the problems in the UK, we are dividing communitys along cultural lines. We should all be treated the same, while recognising the value of each culture that is either native or imported through immigration into the UK. People should be free to follow a religion if they so wish or not follow one. But when it comes to local and national government services people should be treated equally but fairly, rather than politicians pandering to religions. The Catholic Church for example tried to scupper new equality laws for homosexuals and lesbians by threatening to close it's catholic adoption agencys in the UK and appealing to members of parliament who are catholic to vote against the bill. They failed in the attempt to block the bills passage through Parliament. This Is Oxfordshire article.