Angela Rayner to Put ‘Banter Police’ in Your Office
Angela Rayner is accused of plotting to censor workplace banter by forcing firms to hire ‘diversity officers’ tasked with policing overheard conversations. The Mail has more.
Last night, the Tories warned that the so-called ‘banter police’ would have a “chilling effect” on businesses already struggling under the weight of high taxes and excess regulation under Labour.
Under Ms Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill, employers must try to protect their staff from harassment by third parties.
It means, for example, that a worker could take an employer to tribunal if they feel jokes or banter they overhear was offensive on grounds such as race, sex or religion if their bosses didn’t do “all they could” to prevent it.
That is likely to lead to firms taking on more diversity officers to monitor what people are saying to help them prove they had taken sufficient steps to protect their workers.
The Bill fails to stipulate any ring fence allowing the expression of opinions on political, moral, religious or social matters …
The Bill requires bosses to give trade union representatives time off for matters “relating to equality in the workplace” – further adding to costs, and to the number of potential busybodies monitoring speech. …
The number of employment tribunal claims relating to “banter” in the workplace rose by 45% in 2021 alone, and bosses fear the new legislations will cause this to spiral even faster.
The changes would be a boon for outfits such as Inclusive Employers, which offers “banter workplace training”. …
The new laws will also roll back moves by the last Conservative government to stop Whitehall spending taxpayers’ money on “diversity, equality and inclusion” initiatives.
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Everything in the language around this, even by those objecting, is infuriating. By talking about failing to include “ring fencing” or talking about a “chilling effect.”
This is a bit like finding out the state plans to kill your children, and then complaining there is inadequate provision being made in the state supplied funeral or that the deaths might have a “chilling effect.” No the problem is the State Killing your children.
What is the matter with people that they can’t get the most fundamental principles about free speech right? We are doomed if we acquiesce on these grounds. This isn’t a topic open to negotiation we don’t allow any of it to be chipped away.
Everything about this kind of tactic wreaks of the soviet Political commissars placed in many organisations to spy on everyone. I really can’t see how this will benefit anyone except zealots like this government. In fact it will instil fear into all staff and if used will no doubt cause tit for tat reprisals and paralyse management and the workforce.
That aside she’s not the kind of girlie you would take home to meet mum!
Exactly. Just like during the lockdowns, when people were angry that Boris and his chums had a party and Cummings had his “eye test”. Why the heck weren’t these people protesting about the flipping lockdowns themselves!
Yes. Yes yes YES!
How is that going to work in practice?
I work for a middle sized company. We have about ten HR women who sit in their office all day. They never talk to anyone. So how they are going to police banter…?
More likely we’ll all be told to do an online course. That way they can tick the box that we have been trained and we’ll carry on as before, except with even more loathing and contempt for wokism.
Interested to know what you classify as a middle sized firm – there are maybe 150 of us which I would classify as medium, and we have one HR person
I think your prediction of how this will play out is likely to be pretty accurate. As a knee jerk reaction to new or newly proposed legislation regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, we were told to do an online course in it (suspect Croner advised us to do this). I refused and nothing more was said. I imagine the intention is for it to be self policing so that people self censor).
Middle size: about 350.
3% HR. Amazing, isn’t it?
Blimey!
Well, somebody has to put up all those posters.
I think this week we have neurodiversity awareness week (or month, can’t remember). I might develop Tourette’s.
I’m pretty sure some of my team are on the spectrum – possibly more common than average in our line of work (software development). We don’t have special awareness weeks or months – we have an ongoing policy of trying to provide excellent goods and services to our clients so they pay us well, and of treating each member of staff as an individual, according to their contribution. Rocket science apparently.
And people scratch their heads over why there is virtually no growth in our economy when 3% of staff at a company produce nothing of any use.
Only 3% of staff producing nothing – that’s good. Famous quote from Henry Ford when asked about how many people he had working for him. He said “about half”!
More opportunity for banter training course providers to sprout like mushrooms, all sucking from the taxpayer teat. Grift Central.
Very easy. Install microphones and cameras throughout the workplace to record all dialogue.
Easier than that. It just needs HR to take seriously anyone who claims to have been offended or claims that someone else could be offended. A couple of disciplinary meetings, maybe the odd firing, will have the desired effect without actually employing a ‘Banter policeperson’
I saw a dystopian video during lockdown, it portrayed a chap coming back from somewhere to find cameras everywhere, including in his home, car and even in the street. Drop a sweet wrapper; beep; a fine! Swear; beep; a fine; bad mouth the government (in your home); beep; a fine!
Be careful what you wish for! Btw – the bathroom was exempt from cameras!
In the sixties Science Fiction stories ships of the ‘bad guys’ all had Political Commissars on board to ensure that the Captain remained loyal to the regime.
‘Banter Police’ may start out policing overheard conversations involving race, sex or religion but I expect they would quickly morph into policing political ‘wrongthink’.
Big Brother (or possibly Big Sister) is coming to a workplace near you. And if you think that you have escaped because you are self employed or retired imagine the repeated impact of all those notices at the reception or counter:
At this premises we operate a
Zero Tolerance Policy.
Swearing, threats or any act of
violence will NOT be tolerated.
Anyone giving verbal abuse
or using offensive banter
involving race, sex, religion
sexual orientation, car parking,
politics, the monarchy, or
unacceptable flirting to
members of staff will be
asked to leave immediately,
and may be reported to the
Ministry of Free Speech.
People will be scared to speak with each other. I’m in Central Europe and have heard first hand what happens. It’s still evident 35 years after the fall of socialists, it has a fundamental change in the way people interact with each other, the sad thing is that people seem to think it won’t happen again because things are so much “better” , in comparison our standard of living has gone down, for them it it was previously so bad that they think poverty has gone away, even Ho Chi Minh would have been seen as a blessing.
Those ‘we will not tolerate abuse to our staff’ notices are already depressing enough, as they mean you are bound to get really bad service. They should be replaced with ‘Service here is bad. We don’t care enough to do anything about it. Please don’t take out your frustration on our staff’.
The funniest thing I see at work is the poster “How to fight modern day slavery?” I’m always tempted to write on it “Don’t buy anything from China.”
Please do write on it….I would do so. Its amazing the restorative power of wielding a felt tip and making your views known. There’ll be many other colleagues who agree with you
Nice one!
Frustration on our staff – meaning questioning something they said or a procedure they have put in place that you may not understand or perhaps (God forbid) with which you disagree.
‘Ministry of free speech’ – please don’t give the barstewards ideas!!!!!
Another complete waste of OUR money. Apparently upholding the LAW is not on any Civil Servants mind as important. Lets prosecute the lot and get rid of most of them, particularly in Councils.
Marxo-fascism of this kind is rooted in a profound hatred of humanity derived from the madleft’s equally profound spiritual sickness. In this case the sickness expresses itself as the need to micro-manage all aspects of what people say, think, and believe – because, to the madleft, personal independence is the most intolerable thing on earth.
“personal independence is the most intolerable thing on earth.” Absolutely, they loath it, you might get ideas above your station see, and we can’t be having that can we?
Excellent notion, our Ange. These watchers should be in every office, pub and factory, and on every train and bus. Preferably in double measure in organisations like the police and the Army.
The troublemakers who want to entrap those they don’t like into ‘controversial’ conversations and report them will add to the alienating effect that this measure will have on the political parties in the public mind.
I quite agree. And the watchers should have watchers – just so that they don’t ignore some speech that madleft finds “hateful”. And of course the watchers’ watchers should have watchers, and so on ad infinitum.
Tīd for fæderan to leornian eald Englisc, þonne þa onwæclīcan halfwita willa beon nān the wīsra.
Time for patriots to learn old English, then the easily offended halfwits will be none the wiser.
And what happens when more “banter officers” are employed? “Banter crimes” will increase obviously because the “banter officers” will need to justify their jobs.
Which will show just how correct Our Ange was to introduce this vital piece of legislation!
And yet the Student Union government morons say they want growth while doing everything they can to reduce it. Perhaps they growth they are referring to is in the national debt and unemployment.
It’s time to leave 1984, and flee to another time.
We had covid marshals, now we will have banter marshals. There sadly will be plenty who want the job.
DEI is a flawed Marxist academic theory weaponised by liberal progressives. It’s fascism in disguise.
There is a correlation between innovation and free speech. I understand the Industrial Revolution was centred in Britain because Europeans were self censoring due to the fear of the Spanish Inquisition. Most ideas are stupid, but once in a while a nugget of value springs from this banter. Socialism has brought little in the way of innovation because free speech is frowned upon. So if this government wants the economy to grow, it needs innovation, it needs free speech and it needs people not being afraid to say stupid things.
But innovation comes from free thought. They cannot stand free thought of any kind. One may see through their stupid ideas. Take Millibrain…
Next They will be putting automated banter police in Siri.
PS: IIRC, there was a parody video short published around 2019 in which a Siri-like machine eavesdropped on domestic conversations and implemented an automated online fine for whoever in the household committed a “microaggression” against another family member, or criticized government policy, or uttered an unacceptable word or concept. Fast-forward to 2025 and the Germans have implemented something close to such a system, but it has glitches! https://www.eugyppius.com/p/german-youtuber-faces-16000-fine
What do you think Alexa type devices are really for?
Will the ‘banter police’ wear black or brown shirts?
Does this apply to civil servants? Could they bring proceedings against an incoming administration for upsetting them through its ‘racist’ or ‘trans-phobic’ policies?
The Cultural Marxists imposing their tyranny on us all. You take away people’s freedom by removing their ability to have an opinion and speak freely. That way people will stop speaking freely for fear of being banned, silenced and ostracised. This has nothing to do with “fairness” or “equality”. It is about total control over the masses so Political Agenda’s can be imposed on them and they will just accept it.
Maybe, because they’ve destroyed thousands of jobs, this is their idea of creating them??, bloody feckin eejits.