Carl Borg-Neal, the former Lloyds worker sacked for asking a clumsy question in a race seminar who with the help of the Free Speech Union won an £800,000 payout, has written about his ordeal and victory in the Mail. Here’s an excerpt.
Unlike several of my colleagues, I was looking forward to attending a mandatory ‘race education’ seminar arranged by my employer, Lloyds Bank.
I was keen to learn more about this important issue and how best to treat my colleagues in the workplace.
But little did I know, as I logged on to the virtual meeting on July 16th 2021, that it would mark the end of my near 30-year career.
Because, in the meeting, I mistakenly uttered the N-word while trying to provide an example of what constitutes inappropriate language after the trainer’s lack of understanding of a question I asked on the subject.
I appreciate that it is a highly inflammatory term, but I had no racist intent at all. I suffer from dyslexia and as a result of my condition I often speak before my brain has had a chance to process my thoughts. This was a typical example of my disability clouding my judgement. It was an honest mistake.
But months later – after a painful and protracted disciplinary process – I was fired for gross misconduct.
Racked by stress, I struggled to sleep and experienced severe back pain. I was put on a cocktail of drugs, from the strong painkiller codeine to anti-anxiety medication. I stopped leaving the house. I couldn’t bring myself to exercise and gave up coaching my local junior rugby team at home in Andover, Hampshire.
I put on weight and my cholesterol rose to a dangerously high level. My friends and family were worried for my wellbeing – but their pain was nothing compared to the shame and terror I was experiencing.
Thankfully, late last year – two-and-a-half years after that fateful seminar – an employment tribunal found I was wrongfully dismissed and discriminated against by Lloyds on the grounds of my disability.
And just this week, I was awarded almost £800,000 in compensation (before legal costs and tax – I will take home only around £350,000) while the bank faces a total bill, including fees, of nearer to £1 million. …
I remember the day of the course vividly. I was working remotely, sitting in my study overlooking a nature reserve. It was a bright, sunny morning and at 11am I logged into the seminar on the Microsoft Teams software, excited to learn more.
It began with warm words from the lead trainer, who happened to be a black lady. She told us to “speak freely” as this was a “safe space” where we need not worry about saying the “wrong thing”. Rather, we were encouraged to “ask questions… learn and be clumsy”.
Perhaps I was being naïve, but I believed her.
After what felt like a didactic lecture on institutional racism, she moved on to telling us about the difference between “intent” and “effect” with regards to language. And so I asked what I thought was a perfectly innocent question: “If you hear a person of an ethnic minority use a word that might be considered offensive if used by a person not of that minority, how should you handle the situation?”
I was concerned about unwittingly saying the wrong thing – and wanted to know how to avoid that.
My dyslexia — which was informally diagnosed during my school years and confirmed by a doctor as part of the subsequent tribunal – means I often struggle to articulate myself.
From the vacant expression of my trainer on screen and the thundering silence that followed my question, I assumed I had not been clear.
This is nothing unusual for me given my dyslexia and I’ve developed a strategy of either rephrasing my point or providing an example.
On this occasion – to my eternal regret – I chose the latter and added: “The most common example being the use of the word ‘n*****’ in the black community.”
In hindsight, of course, I should not have said the word out loud. But it was an honest mistake – and after all, this was a “safe space” for saying “clumsy things”, wasn’t it?
Nothing could have prepared me for the reaction from the lead trainer. She quickly became extraordinarily agitated, shouting at me with wild hand gestures. I tried to apologise but was told to “shut up” or else I’d be kicked out of the meeting. … I would later discover that the lead trainer was so “traumatised” by my language that she apparently took five days off work. …
It was only when I began litigation proceedings against Lloyds in August 2022 that my luck changed. I heard about the Free Speech Union and in February 2023 – in desperation – reached out to them for help.
They instructed Doyle Clayton solicitors – experts in employment law – to fight my case. Finally, in a fair and just hearing over video-link last summer, I was able to explain how my dyslexia had contributed to the case without being ignored or shut down. …
Since news of my victory broke earlier this year, numerous former Lloyds colleagues have sent messages of support. Everyone knows that justice has finally been served.
But the truth is that I lost the job I love and the life I knew. And not because I did anything wrong, but because Lloyds refused to examine properly the case against me – perhaps for fear of being hounded by woke ideologues who smelled the blood of a white middle-aged man. Lloyds was never “by your side”, as its adverts claim.
I do not expect an apology – but I hope that my case sets a precedent for others suffering similar injustice.
Worth reading in full.
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Good morning once again fellow grumpsters.
Morning, Hunts re emergence has done me in !
I live in hope that his re emergence is the final death toll for the Tories and that they most definitely do not rest in peace.
Good morning HP and one and all.
Good afternoon!
Somewhat surprised to find it isn’t my turn to be Chancellor today. Disappointing.
Relax. It’s not even lunchtime yet.
Morning piggles.
And a bracing Good Morning to you HP! Once more unto the breach (between the armchair and the desk) dear friends!!
Three downvotes (at time of posting) for offering a greeting. Odd. Maybe a symptom of the aggressive nature of faceless communication.
Thanks FL. I don’t understand people downticking a genuinely kindly meant “good morning.” There are some sad characters lurking on this site at times. If I post something controversial, which I do occasionally, I expect some saddo downticks but not for “good morning.”
Personally I only very rarely downtick.
“Molly Russell coroner calls for separate social media platforms for adults and children”
I really do wish that we would stop using tragic but individual cases to try and pivot large pieces of legislation and regulation as ‘Who-evers Law’. They always end up as either some facile and poorly thought through solution, or as an overburdening of businesses to try to stop the one in a million situation, at additional cost and complexity for the other 999,999.
Indeed. It’s the whole pernicious nonsense of “if it saves just one life”. Rampant safetyism.
Give me a boy of seven on a separate social media platform to his parents and I’ll get the trans humanist agenda sorted in a generation.
“Ebola outbreak reignites debate over international travel checks in U.K. and U.S.”
Is this the same Uganda where the Chinese have found trillions of un-mined Gold deposits.?
Crikey, I’d better make myself a bigger tin foil hat..
Don’t worry the wonderful Devi Sridhar will look after us all !!!…
By the way, is Monkey Pox still a Global Emergency..?
It turned out to be a Gay emergency and since ‘Gay’ is a protected species it would be discriminatory to make a big deal about it. So there was an emergency vacancy – now filled… Ebola.
Hurrah..!
The Monkeypox global emergency fizzled out so we need a new one to keep the planetary emergency company.
“Elon Musk is under federal investigations, Twitter says in court filing”
“In a surprise development…”
I still want to know who’s putting up the $44bn…
That information is in the public domain, it’s about half a dozen banks and investment houses plus a good chunk of his own cash.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/tesco-bars-shopper-buying-sandwich-doesnt-have-app/
The insidious march of the ‘Smart-phone’ is a truly disturbing aspect of modern times. we are sleep walking into tyranny and the clever thing about smart-phones is that people are buying the phones and paying for the contracts which are then being used to subjugate them. With the China lockdowns we could see that you needed an app on your phone to operate the security system on your housing complex, if you were not covid cleared you could not open the door out of your house.
By making smart-phone apps ‘de-rigueur’ for shopping it is an easy way in for total digital control of life. In a supermarket the other day the checkout lady told me I needed an app on my phone to operate the stores loyalty scheme, when I said I did not have a phone she seemed genuinely horrified, how did they let this sub-human low life into her shop, I thought she was going to call security and have me thrown out.
What a clever trick, to be a functioning human being in today’s world you must have and operate the instrument of your own oppression.
I don’t use one either. The supermarket which is close to my place did introduce a “loyalty scheme” with id cards and an online account, which was introduced to discourage us from taking trade to the competitors up the road, and evidently to maximise their profit one way or another. It was quite generous for a while, but I stopped using it later on. Still a good store, and I usually pay by debit card (so they know who I am, or at least my account number), but I don’t want them to have too much detail, as long as I can buy what I want.
I am fine with using my Nectar or Waitrose card, Nectar got me quite a few tanks of fuel already, and I mostly pay by card, though sometimes with cash, with which I pay all my restaurant bills now btw.
But I have not, and will refuse to to so for as long as I can, used a self-checkout.
They are the real menace and the Trojan horse to full automation and slavery.
I absolutely will not use those self checkouts. Firstly, they are depriving people of jobs and secondly they invariably don’t work. And I use cash.
Don’t worry we will be chipped at some point !
What do you think the jabs are all about.
Smart phones? Slave phones!
“The coming war on press freedom”
From my point of view, press freedom doesn’t include breaking the law to try and get some tittle-tattle on people to splash across their front pages. This is a momentous time in the world and in our society. Surely there is more to get their journalistic teeth into than some satisfying piece of trivia about Meagan Markle.? Perhaps, instead of moaning about the possibility of having their wings clipped, the papers should give it one last go at writing articles of substance about things that matter..?
…the ‘war’ came, it rewarded them well and now they are purely instruments of paid propaganda…
they wouldn’t know freedom or independent investigation if it hit their arses on the way out….
“Graham Norton….rambled on about how celebs should not comment on difficult topics like transgenderism.”
Or indeed other difficult topics like freedom of speech.
According to the left, Freedom of Speech, has become about permitting all kinds of nasty people to say all kinds of nasty things with impunity. On the contrary, Freedom of Speech is just the natural progression of ‘Freedom of Thought’, and as our society is always changing and expanding its view, new ideas, new thought, new concepts are essential to our very existence. Without it we just end up in total stagnation. By seeking to limit free speech, by association they limit free thought on ‘difficult’ topics like Transgenderism. Asking questions and being contrary is not a crime, not yet at least…
Aren’t they trying to criminalise ‘Freedom of Thought’ now in case it upsets some
loonysensitive souls?Igor Chudov and his compelling sub stack piece on quintiles of deprivation seem to blow the doors off the ‘excess deaths has nothing to do with the wonderful jab’ mendacity fest. He lays it out very clearly as per.
Second that – it’s an excellent bit of analysis. Something else for the medical establishment to studiously ignor.
The key words here are ‘after visiting hours’, which changes the claim entirely. Now, I’m fine to bash the NHS when they deserve it but new mothers need to rest and bond with their babies, having too many hangers-on everywhere all day and night is not conductive to that and it’s also a PITA for the staff. By all means visit during the allowed hours but it’s absolutely right to kick them out so the new mums can recuperate. I say this as a father by the way.
As a friend of mine said, when he was asked if was attending the birth, ‘Of course not. My work is done’
For anyone who hasn’t had time to read Robert F Kennedy Jr’s book “The real Anthony Fauci”, the documentary version is essential viewing. I still haven’t worked out how to paste a link in this comment box (and it’s long) but you subscribe for a free viewing via
http://www.tomwoods.com/fauci.
It’s a mighty book but hard to stomach in one sitting. Will try the doc.
I’m reading it but it is heavy going with all the stats it covers , however I rest easy having the book in my possession , it acts as a kind of comfort blanket , a subconscious push back against one of the most dangerous men to have ever had sway over people’s health & for such a long period of time , thanks for posting the link, I have this vision that keeps me going of Sean Connerys character in “The Offence” having Fauci in that chair instead of Ian Bannen as he loses his rag !! If Only .
Agree it’s heavy going – that’s because it’s so thorough and well documented. It’s not so much a comfort blanket as a wet blanket. For me it reveals how corrupt, rotten and cowardly our medical establishment has become. Why is it that Fauci has been able to continue his evil work for so long? We must keep vigilant, keep questioning and keep supporting all dissenters in the hope that one day the truth will prevail.
Still 3 days to go but here’s the direct link
https://www.therealanthonyfaucimovie.com/trailer?sub4=dbe1e7306b0146c68b3015fb8cda874a&afid=368
Saturday brain teasers. What’s in a letter?
Here’s a starter example – Welcome developments vs. Wellcome developments.
Big profits for Big pharma.
Morning all…a rare bit of good news from the EU, coming hot on the heels of the EU/Pfizer vaccine enquiry…
https://mobile.twitter.com/mislavkolakusic/status/1580924517526175747
Mislav Kolakusic MEP
@mislavkolakusic
Breaking!:
Thanks to the enormous public interest caused by our fight in the EU Parliament and the existing evidence, The @EUProsecutor has opened an investigation into the procurement of vaccines.
I call for an independent investigation without any political influence.
..he continues…
The EU Commission should immediately terminate contracts for new doses of fake #vaccines against #Covid 19 and demand the return of the 2.5 billion euros paid so far.
Everyone who lied that #vaccines prevent the spread of the virus must be held accountable.
The purchase of 4.5 billion doses of the covid-19 vaccine for 450 million EU residents is the biggest CORRUPTION SCANDAL in the history of mankind.
Johnson did a similar trick too. His bank accounts need investigating!
Austria’s former foreign minister on the real battle going on. https://thecradle.co/Article/Analysis/16825
Global finance vs global energy: who will come out on top?
There is more to the current struggle between the oil-consuming west and the oil-producing nations than meets the eye and it runs far deeper than the war in Ukraine
Good article..and quite frankly, the facts are quite evident when you think about it……
What a propaganda ‘circus’ they are creating to hide some very basic and obvious things?
This is a long(ish) article by Freddie Ponton, but really worth the time…which I think compliments yours…and is more in relation to Europe.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2022/09/29/chaos-by-design-the-roots-of-the-eu-energy-crisis-and-frances-green-deception/
Obviously. Musks Twitter investigation has nothing to do with him asking the Pentagon to fund Ukraines spy satellite, oh no, not at all!
Correct…can’t have it falling into the ‘wrong’ hands….or how are the army of bots going to make sure that the Democrats win the next election fairly?? LOL!
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the army of people saying that Pfizer never claimed the vaccine would stop infection?
can I just remind them?….
Twitter:
“Excited to share that updated analysis from our Phase 3 study with BioNTec also showed our Covid 19 vaccine was 100% effective in preventing #Covid 19 cases in South Africa. 100%.”
Albert Bourla 4th Jan 2021
Someone should tell him…….
Also from a Pfizer press release…13th Jan 2021..
“The ability to vaccinate at speed to gain herd immunity and stop transmission is our highest priority.”…….
(I knew I’d kept all this crap on my computer for something!!??)
Because it didn’t.
It said it reduced symptomatic infection by 95%… although this was relative reduction, not absolute reduction… so intentionally misleading.
Symptomatic infection risk was only 0.88% unvaccinated, reduced to 0.04% vaccinated (hence 95% reduction) but in reality a 0.88% risk is nothing, so a 95% reduction of nothing is nothing.
Pfizer never claimed in its submissions to Regulatory Agencies that its mRNA crap stopped transmission or reduced severity of disease.
However the Pfizer CEO – who refused to attend the EU session – did falsely make these claims and the political slimeballs and useful idiots in the media did too.
On the other hand none of the companies publicly corrected the misinformation being spewed by Governments and media. So they are complicit.
Thanks for the Reuters fact check but we will beg to differ…I think when you say something is 100% effective in preventing something, and you talk about herd immunity it’s taken as read…
’None of the companies corrected the misinformation’…no because they were busy backing it up…
There are way too many ‘claims’ about the vaccine stopping transmission, from Gates, GAVI, CDC, Fauci, WHO,European Parliament..UK Government…you name it. Repeated thousands upon thousands of times in the media….If you want to think the Pharma companies just didn’t say anything because it was an oversight feel free….but no, that beggars belief..
372.000 Excess Non-Covid Natural Cause Deaths in the USA from 4.21 to 9.22.
Are they due to: Gene-therapy caused explosion in cancer and cardiac events,
or are they due to: Long Covid (as per Big Pharma, Govs, MSM).
Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 from The Ethical Skeptic….
“Finally, we end with the most important chart of all – the chart which indicates deaths which are not from accidents, suicide, addiction, assault, abuse, despair, disruption, nor Covid-19. The Excess Non-Covid Natural Cause Mortality chart which we began monitoring on May 29th 2021. What I called then, the ‘What the hell is this?’ chart. As one can see, we have lost 372,000 younger Americans to something besides Covid and non-natural death, during the period from 3 April 2021 to 10 September 2022. The current rate of mortality in this ICD categorization, is around 5,000 – 6,700 per week (the database shows a most recent five-week, weekly average of 6,700 deaths – subject to lag of course) – which exceeds most weeks of the Covid pandemic itself (save for the absolute peak periods).
By now, if all these mortality excesses were indeed a holdover from Covid-19 itself, they should have already begun to tail off. Unfortunately they are not only not tailing off, in many cases they are still increasing.”
httpsps://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/10/14/how-tumor-deaths-from-covid-jabs-hidden.aspx?cid_source=telegram&cid_medium=social&cid_content=mercola&cid=lead_20221014
https://theethicalskeptic.com/2022/08/20/houston-we-have-a-problem-part-1-of-3/
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/macleod-great-global-unwind-begins
For those who want to have some background info and explanation on how and why their pension funds in the UK are gambling and what that now means…
https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-destroyed-covid-vaccine-doses-rafila
Romania has so far destroyed about 3 million expired COVID-19 vaccine doses, health minister Alexandru Rafila said. Another 3 million doses will most likely have the same fate, as they will expire by the end of the year.
Asked how much money Romania put into the vaccines it did not use, Rafila spoke of EUR 100-200 million.
“Of course, it’s complicated to calculate because you also have to add the doses that are still in stock and that we haven’t used and are unlikely to use. I think we have about 7-8 million in stock at the moment, and with the others I told you about, we will probably reach a consistent figure. If we’re talking about 15 million vaccine doses, it’s probably EUR 100-200 million, I can’t tell you exactly….
Minister Rafila also said that, under the contract, Romania is still to receive millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“It’s a delicate situation, I personally tried to find a solution. Beyond appetite, there are some contractual obligations. This year we are going to receive about 11.2 million doses of vaccine, and next year about 19 million doses of vaccine. This is the contractual provision. […] I had discussions with the Commission and the producers. I hope, and we are on the verge of obtaining a reduction of about 80% of this year’s contract, and the vaccine that should come to Romania should be with the new formula,” Alexandru Rafila said.
About a month ago, the the Health Minister said that Romania has 8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that it might have to destroy once they expire as neither the population nor other countries are interested in them.
Only about 11% have availed themselves of the ‘latest booster’….!
WTF…can you imagine how many other countries are in the same position….the waste of money! Von Der Liar should go!…
Dear oh dear. Beethoven has been discussed and performed in Japan, no problem. This says more about the hang-ups of the NZ arts body than anything else. Have a Maori arts festival by all means, but celebrate the likes of Shakespeare too, the greatest writer in the English language, lest it be forgotten.