Fruit Cake

So, have you seen the #ashersbakery #ashersverdict?

In case you weren't following, Ashers' bakery in Northern Ireland refused to ice a cake with a message in support of gay marriage because of their Christian beliefs. The Supreme Court has decided that this is illegal.

OK, let's start by ignoring my long-held belief that homophobia is anti-religious. That religions are about hope, faith, love - about positivity, inspiration and inclusion. No true religion preaches hate, discrimination or alienation.

We'll ignore all of that.

I also want to ignore my initial skepticism around the publicity of this case. I had originally thought this was a particular group of "militant homosexuals" - people targetting a known offender and wanting either to make a showpiece of them; or a name for themselves. You know the types - it's the bride-to-be who goes to the cake shop owned by the ex to make a point. I hate militant homosexuals - they have the effect of irritating, aggravating or worse inflaming the situation worse.

That wasn't the case. Gareth Lee - the man who brought the case - has not publically commented on it. At all. Over the entire period of the case. Unlike the bakers, who have made it their thing. I had presumed that he had targetted the business on the basis of their homophobia to make a point. There is also absolutely no evidence of that. I'm not aware of the specific circumstances here, but from the sounds of things he didn't target them deliberately. It could very well be that he didn't realise they were Christians; it could be that he had no choice - that there were no other bakeries that he could get to. As I say, aside from bringing the case, he has otherwise not courted any publicity.

We're doing this on pure basics.

So,under the Equality Act 2006 (which does apply to NI unlike the equal marriage laws)  it is against the law to discriminate. The are no grounds to justify discrimination. This is not about one 'right' or 'belief' outweighing the other; this is about anybody being able to buy any product or service from any supplier.

They can refuse (freedom to contract) to sell to any individual customer for any reason so long as it is non-discriminatory. You can do so for personal reasons - a fall-out with the family - or for credit reasons. However it would be illegal for me to refuse to serve someone on the grounds of a discriminatory reason - their religious or philosophical beliefs, say. And so it is illegal for someone to refuse to serve me on the grounds of my sexuality. A discriminatory reason is not personal to the individual - it has nothing to do with that person as they are - it is because that person holds a certain characteristic. If you could sell to the person if they didn't have that characteristic, that is discrimination.

Let's be clear about this - when you open up a business, when you extract revenue out of society - you comply with law. You have to comply with all laws - regardless of whether they accord with your particular views. You may have to comply with the laws on allergy disclosure despite the fact that you don't believe someone is truly allergic. You have to comply with disclosures on weights or other measures despite the fact that you don't believe people truly care. Similarly you have to comply with equality legislation.

And there is very good reason behind equality legislation. It forces equality. Sometimes you can't just rely on the good in people to do the right thing.

Take disabled people.

Under the same Equality Act as the Ashers' bakery case was brought under, it is a legal requirement to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. If this wasn't legislated for, there would be so many shops and other businesses which would be inaccessible because they didn't have a ramp where one could easily be provided; didn't have a hearing loop because it cost a few hundred quid (or not even that); didn't have a website which was reader-compatible. The Equality Act has forced people to consider these adjustments - to broaden their customer base.

But, the basics of it is the law - the law does not say that you have to prioritise one protected characteristic over another; it says that you cannot discriminate against ANY of those protected characteristics. The same bakery - despite the beliefs of its owners - would not have been able to discriminate against any other protected characteristic.

Whether that be the Asian chap who lives a few doors down the road;

Or the Catholic from the other side of the Falls Road;

Or the Republican from South of the border.

Indeed, the owners of the shop rely very much on the same Equality Act to require other people to provide them with goods or services. Regardless that their religious or philosophical beliefs are homophobic. We can't refuse to serve them on the basis their religious or philosophical beliefs are contrary to our own properly equalistic and humanistic beliefs. We can't refuse to serve them because of their Christianity.

There have been some that have said "well, why couldn't the gay's just boycott the bakery"? In the days of Blogger and Worldpress and Facebook and Twitter or Tripadvisor where a negative review can apparently spread like wildfire; could they not just do it that way? - Cripple a business by letting them know they don't accept gays?

Well no.

Not if it's your only bakery in the region. What if they are the only people in 20 miles than can bake your wedding cake for the day (in Northern Ireland this is an issue just as it is in Wales, or Cornwall, or Cumbria, or even some of the villages of the Midlands). Or what about your local shop - your only convenience store for miles - what if they decide they don't like you because you hold hands with your boyfriend (take me away from my rant about Public Displays of Affection)? What if they refuse you not because you want a gay message icing on your cake, but just because you were gay?

What if they were to refuse you just because you were a woman?

What if they were to refuse you just because you were black?

NO BLACKS NO IRISH NO GAYS. Remember those disgraceful signs in B&Bs of the 50s, 60s, 70s? Would they have disappeared without the Race Relations Act etc?

The unfortunate fact is that sometimes, without legislation we just simply can't achieve what is morally or socially correct. And the Equality Act seeks to do that. To the benefit of the Irish.

You are entitled to promote certain policies, views, etc. - take a look at the Co-Operative Bank's Ethical investment policy or any of a multitude of companies who invest strategically (indeed the Church of England did so recently by divesting some coal-based-fuel investments); but what you cannot do is do it to the discrimination of a sector of society. The distinction is that the Co-Op and others are making the choice as to who they buy their services from. The customer gets to choose where they buy from; you do not choose which group of customers you sell to; because if you remove the choice from the customer, then you may deny the customer that service absolutely - remember, yours may be the only service.

You can be Christian without being homophobic.

And if you can't; then don't set up in business where you might have to serve the general public at large.

And, they didn't have to eat the cake - only make it and then it was gone. 

And all this happened just a couple of days before the Irish Republic holds their referendum on equal marriage.

Why Wireless Won't Work

So, after the experiment that was the standalone smart watch, last year I bought a nice, big, shiny new phone. A Windows Phone no less – yes, I’m one of the few (or the “early adopters” as I like to think).

One of the features of the phone is wireless charging. Some prophets have predicted this to be the next “must-have” feature, just as all mobiles have cameras. They are rolling out wireless charging facilities at McDonalds and Starbucks. So, will it be the end of all cables?

No.

Despite the phone having the facility, it didn’t have a charging plate in the box (you still have the ability to charge by microUSB). That was a luxury extra which I had to buy. So I bought a couple – one for home, one for work. And this is the reason why it won’t work – I couldn’t buy one for the car because they don’t exist yet. You see, it order for the plate to charge the phone, the phone has to be so close so as to be almost physically in contact with it. I couldn’t have bought a charging plate for the car because unless it was built into a cradle, the phone would slide off at each and every corner.

Now, it may well be that they create a cradle which does charge your phone whilst driving. Great. It’s going to save me all of that one second of not having to connect a cable as well as clip it into the cradle. And I will still have to cope with cable-clutter – don’t forget, there is still a cable going to the charging plate, even if it is hidden under the bar of table of your McDonalds.

But it isn’t a normal cable. Well, not “normal” yet. What do I mean? Well, microUSB cables are ten-a-penny. When I randomly woke up in a hostel in San Francisco for a long weekend, my hostel bed had a normal electricity socket and then two USB ports. Similarly in the UK there are planes, trains and automobiles which provide USB ports as standard. But the wireless plate doesn’t use USB so that you can use your normal plug adaptor. It uses its own transformer – it has to. The 5volt-1amp output of the USB is not powerful enough for inductive charging – it needs 12volts.

So compatibility is an issue on the one hand; but compatibility is an issue on the other hand as well – as well as not being compatible with existing technology, it isn’t compatible with competing technology. Remember the disc wars – when HD-DVD competed against Bluray and eventually lost. There are two competing standards of wireless charge: Qi and PMA. Oh, and of course, Apple has gone off all on its own. Now, this isn’t a killer. Remember when you used to get an “all staff” email asking if anyone had a charger for a Nokia 8210 and Deborah would reply-all that she only had one for a Motorola Razr? Now all phones (except Apple, obviously) have standardised. They all use MicroUSB, they all use microSD memory cards, they all use Jpeg format for photos. Wireless will get there. Maybe. Until then you may have to choose whether to go to McDonalds (Qi) or Starbucks (PMA).

So, you’re going to have to buy a whole new, incompatible infrasystem to charge your phone. But – and I’ve hinted at this – it isn’t even wireless. As I say, you have to have your phone in such close proximity to the plate that it’s just easier to place it on it. But what it doesn’t have which cables do have, is stability. Which I found out to my cost. One evening I put my phone on the charging plate next to the bed and then fell asleep. At some stage I obviously dreamt that I was a dog, bounding through fields, and knocked the phone off the plate. Charging stopped and I spent most of a busy next day fretting that my 34% battery would not last. With a cable, it connects in and – particularly violent dreaming aside – it stays plugged in despite a few knocks. Indeed, the cable is actually more useful  for this – if I connect my phone by cable, then I can go round my roundabouts and watch it sliding around in the footwell. Moreover what I can do is actually hold and use the phone whilst it is on charge without having to hold an actually-quite-chunky charging plate against the back.

The novelty (and it really is novelty) has worn off. Indeed, only if charging plates become so widespread that they are embedded in train tables; bar tops and dashboards will I be able to travel without my single microUSB cable. In fact, I’m actually going to unplug my charging plate and revert to cabled charging. Not only is it not a function, it’s actually a disruption now. I have my worry which I don’t have with cables that there may be a disconnect; but there is a further interference – the transformer, because of what it is doing, makes a slight pulsing sound all the time. All the time – not just whilst connected. There is also a tiny little light on the plate which illuminates to let you know it is charging; presumably to alleviate that niggling fret that the phone is not correctly placed on the plate; but that tiny little light illuminates an entire bedroom when connected.