Capitalism and regulation
Boo hoo. So, Ms. Nadia Eweida is not allowed to wear her ickle cross? That’s capitalism, honey. Now, I don’t support dress codes in public education (or other public services). Come to class naked, in a three-piece suit or in a leather gimp suit for all I care (which will get the most reaction, I’m not sure - probably context-dependent).
But in private sector employment, it’s different - because of who pays. If you work in the private sector, you do not have free expression protection on the job - you trade some of your liberty to make money. If you are working at McDonalds, you don’t have the right to tell customers that the burgers taste like shit, or express your right to free movement by walking off the job. These rules can be as arbitrary or barmy as employers want to make them. If you don’t like the rules, resign and work for someone different. Once you’ve resigned, you can even use your right to free expression to complain about the company and ask people to boycott it - and if people agree, they will boycott it.
So sayeth Ms. Eweida: The judge has given way for BA to have a victory on imposing their will on all their staff
. Yeah, that’s because they are your employer. They tend to have the right to impose their will on you - otherwise, they’d just be some company out there.
Personally, the fact that they’ve wound up the burgeoning British religious right - including Anglicanism’s lead buffoon Dr. John Sentamu - is all the more reason that I’m likely to fly on BA.
