RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Now the hunt is on for ‘racist’ canines in Wales. Has the world gone barking mad?
There’s a classic episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry David adopts a ‘racist’ dog, called Sherriff, who barks at black people.
I can only assume that this inspired the authors of a report commissioned by the Welsh government to recommend that dogs should be banned from the countryside.
The report was drawn up by Climate Cymru BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) as part of an initiative to make green spaces more ‘inclusive’.
It was designed to produce evidence of ‘racism related to climate change, environment and rural affairs’, in partnership with the North Wales Africa Society (NWAS), Sub Sahara Advisory Board and the Northwest Wales Climate Action Group.
On the basis of this ‘evidence’ the Welsh government concluded that ethnic minorities face ‘barriers’ to outdoor spaces on the grounds of ‘exclusions and racism’.
The justification for creating dog-free zones is not fully explained, although during a focus group set up by NWAS ‘one black African female stated that she feels unsafe in the presence of dogs’.
Others were traumatised by seeing dogs ‘fouling on the floor’. It’s what dogs, like bears, do in the woods. Where else are they supposed to go?
The report also states: ‘Some participants expressed apprehension about visiting the countryside owing to their racial or religious identities.’
A report by environmental group Climate Cymru BAME has recommended to the Welsh government that dogs be banned from the parts of the countryside to make it ‘anti-racist’. Pictured: A dog walker on south-western tip of the Gower Peninsula
Why?
There are no barriers to anyone visiting the countryside. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I visited Wales, but I often walk in a sprawling country park near me on the North London/Hertfordshire border and haven’t noticed any hostility to ethnic minorities.
Far from it. Indeed, in July another local park I use regularly, Oak Hill in Barnet, hosted Ghana In The Park, billed as a: ‘Celebration of Ghanaian culture and brings people of all ages and genders together. This magical experience offers a glimpse into the traditions, attributes, and lifestyle of Ghana, while inspiring a sense of community and togetherness.’
It has been taking place since 2005 and regularly attracts 8,000 people. They don’t seem bothered by the fact that Oak Hill Park is also popular with dog walkers.
True, London is culturally more diverse than Wales, where a shade under 94 per cent of the population is white, according to the 2021 census.
But there’s nothing stopping the six per cent ‘non-white’ Welsh residents enjoying the countryside, including the glories of Snowdonia – unless they can’t find it on a map any more.
The Welsh language fanatics have just decided to change the names of Snowdon and Snowdonia to ‘Yr Wyddfa’ and ‘Eryri’.
I suppose to be more inclusive they could translate ‘Yr Wyddfa’ into a couple of hundred different languages, many of them scribble, which are now statutory on all official documents. I wonder what ‘Eryri’ is in Sanskrit.
The report was drawn up as part of an initiative to make green spaces more ‘inclusive’
But maybe the BAME community in Cardiff simply can’t be bothered driving the 112 miles to Snowdonia because of the blanket 20mph speed limit in Wales. By the time they got there, either they’d have lost the will to live or the national park would be shut.
Not that the far-Left Labour lunatics who run the Senedd could care less. They’re determined to make Wales ‘anti-racist’ by 2030. And by anti-racist, they don’t just mean ‘not’ racist, they mean actively seeking out racism, even where none exists – such as in the countryside.
Elsewhere in this report, there is a bizarre assertion that growing food in gardens and allotments is ‘dominated by white women’.
Straight-jackets all round.
But then this is the kind of nonsense we have come to expect from the burgeoning bureaucracy and quangocracy which infests all our public institutions.
Climate Cymru, the North Wales Africa Society (NWAS), Sub Sahara Advisory Board and the Northwest Wales Climate Action Group are just the tip of the iceberg.
In Wales alone there are a staggering 370 of these organisations, all looking for something to justify their existence. Goodness knows how much it all costs the taxpayer.
We may well ask what on earth climate change has got to do with racist dogs in the countryside. Or why Wales needs a Sub Sahara Advisory Board.
Nor is this madness confined to Wales. Ever since Labour launched a cultural revolution in 1997, the pursuit of ‘racism’, real or imagined, has been institutionalised.
This isn’t the first time there has been a concerted effort to make more members of ethnic minorities visit the countryside, whether they want to or not.
I can remember writing a column several years ago after the Environment Agency announced that fishing was horribly white, male and middle-aged. It decided to splash out £100,000 to attract more women and ethnic minorities to the riverbank.
To demonstrate the Government’s commitment, a pilot scheme was launched in Swansea, which involved taking Muslim women and children to a lake and teaching them to fish for trout.
It was headed by Nica Pritchard, the international president of the Ladies’ Fly Fishing Association, who said: ‘A couple of hours out in the countryside and you come back a new woman. If you could just see their faces when we’re teaching them, you’d know we’re really on to something.’
Talk about patronising. It made them sound like special needs children. But what struck me about the accompanying picture of these poor women was that they were forced to wear goggles over their traditional Islamic headscarves on the insistence of elf’n’safety officials.
You couldn’t make it up.
Now the hunt is on for racist dogs. If Larry David popped up in Wales, they’d shoot the Sherriff.
Barking!
