A recent study of the effectiveness of anti-discrimination legislation in the field of employment has proved a puzzle.[*] Conceived by the Policy Studies Institute in 1987, it was surprisingly funded by the Home Office: 'surprisingly' because Home Office support would lead one to conclude that the Government was seriously considering the need to amend the Race Relations Act 1976 - which would have seemed an unlikely intention in the Thatcher years. Alternatively, the Home Office might have hoped the report would conclude that legislation in this area was a mistake, a view expressed on television by Sir John Wheeler, Conservative chairman of the Select Committee on Home Affairs - if so, those hopes were disappointed.

LRB 24 October 1991 | PDF Download