Ruth Sunderland on the European ruling banning discrimination by insurance companies on the basis of gender -
"Lord Davies is quite rightly trying to tackle prejudice based on sex. Presumably, the ECJ thinks it is doing the same thing - but it has confused unfair discrimination with the perfectly reasonable act of making well-founded distinctions between groups of people."
I can't help wondering if Ms Sutherland is quite up to speed with the actual definition of the word "prejudice". If judging a person on the basis not of their individual traits but instead of the traits of a "group" they are simplistically assigned to doesn't constitute prejudice, I don't know what does. Are we supposed to regard the greater likelihood of black youths being randomly stopped by the police as "perfectly reasonable" on the grounds that "well-founded distinctions between groups of people" are being made?
"The big worry is that this may only be the start. Lawyers say Europe may turn its sights on other areas such as age, where there is already an EU directive against discriminatory pricing that currently gives an exemption for insurers."
Now, I "worry" about a great many things, but I must say the prospect of further blows against discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender or disability doesn't rank high on my list.