Tolerance, Christian values and the law

By Daily Mail Comment
Last updated at 7:50 AM on 19th January 2011

Peter and Hazelmary Bull have been reprimanded for, in the words of Judge Andrew Rutherford, a ¿perfectly orthodox Christian belief¿ that sex outside marriage, straight or gay, is wrong

As the judge accepted, Peter and Hazelmary Bull, aged 70 and 66, are decent and benevolent people.

They have no dislike of homosexuals, whom they often welcome to their small Cornish hotel, treating them exactly as they do unmarried heterosexuals.

Indeed, they had only one motive in refusing a double room to civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy.

In the words of Judge Andrew Rutherford, this was their ‘perfectly orthodox Christian belief’ that sex outside marriage, straight or gay, is wrong.

It is because they live by that belief, held through the centuries in what is still called a Christian country, that today the Bulls face ruin.

They’ve been found to have acted unlawfully under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 and ordered to pay £3,600 in damages.

Of course, some will side firmly with the civil partners in this classic clash between competing rights and attitudes.

After all, Mr Hall and Mr Preddy clearly had reason to feel angry and humiliated at being turned away — particularly if Judge Rutherford was right in rejecting claims that their case was a set-up.

But since no malice against a minority was involved, the Mail feels more sympathy with the Bulls, who argue that Christians are increasingly marginalised.

Yes, it is good that society accepts same sex relationships and recognises the rights of civil partners. But why is it then so intolerant of people like the Bulls?

 

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Is there no place for a good-natured couple, approaching old age, to live by the orthodox beliefs of the religion to which Britain owes its identity?

Ultimately, the fault lies with the last parliament, which delighted in trampling on traditional values.

But was it really necessary for the Equality Commission to throw the full weight of the state — and taxpayers’

hard-earned money — into victimising a couple who meant nothing but well?

Betrayal of trust

Just when you thought the banks’ reputation could sink no lower...

In a resounding victory for a Mail campaign, Barclays has been hit with a record £7.7million fine for enticing thousands of elderly customers to gamble away their hard-earned life savings on the stock market.

Devastatingly, the Financial Services Authority finds that the bank’s salesmen targeted savers as old as 89, who wanted to boost their retirement income, selling them high-risk investments which they insisted would be safe.

Barclays has been hit with a record £7.7million fine for enticing thousands of elderly customers to gamble away their hard-earned life savings on the stock market

The bank even called one of its volatile products the Aviva Global Cautious Income Fund. Aren’t these the tactics you’d expect more of a door-to-door spiv than a reputable High Street name?

Thanks to this newspaper and the FSA, Barclays must repay around £60million to more than 12,000 savers who were misled. But has full justice been done?

In a bitter twist, the unit behind this betrayal of trust was led by Bob Diamond, now the bank’s chief executive, who said last week that no more apologies were needed from his industry. Oh, no?

Doesn’t it stick in the craw that his bank’s fine is still short of the £8million he’s expected to be paid this year?

Misuse of power

As inflation surges, eating into incomes and savings, the energy watchdog finds that ruthless power companies have cranked up their profit margins by nearly 50 per cent in just four months, taking £97 clear from every customer.

An Ofgem spokesman says: ‘If we find evidence that the market is failing consumers, we won’t hesitate to act.’

So what’s stopping them?

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