Barometer | 12 February 2011

Whose cultures?


David Cameron declared multiculturalism a failure last week. But where does the idea come from?

— In the late 1960s the Canadian government set up a Royal Commission into ‘Bilingualism and Biculturalism’ to unite the English- and French-speaking parts of the country. It suggested a policy to champion other ethnic groups, too. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau welcomed this as ‘the most suitable means of assuring the cultural freedom of Canadians’.

— Canada set up a Multicultural Directorate in 1972, then a Ministry of Multiculturalism in 1973.

— One of the fundamental themes was that Canadians of all ethnic backgrounds should learn at least one of English or French.

Order in court


Lord Hoffman has called for Britain to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights. How bad is Britain’s record at the court?

Judgments Cases with at least in 2010 one rights violation

278       Turkey      228

217      Russia       204

98          Italy          61

42        France        28

29       Germany      6

21           UK           14

1          Norway       0

Source: ECHR

Admissible evidence

The government wants to force universities to admit more students from poor backgrounds. Do children from independent schools really have a better chance at getting into university?

Applications in 2010                     % accepted

101,366               F.E. college             70

166,030           Comprehensive          77

91,190           Sixth-form college        77

42,386         Independent school       81

33,305           Grammar school          83

Source: UCAS

Racing demons

German police have seized a game of cards featuring history’s dictators. In that version Hitler trumped every other dictator in the ‘most murderous’ category with 55 million victims, though some historians would claim others to be more deserving of the top slot:

Chairman Mao   70 million

Genghis Khan    37.75