The equality agenda: a clear case of smoke and mirrors

In his book _The madness of crowds: gender, race and identity_ the author Douglas Murray (2020) suggests that much of contemporary society is obsessed with a particular idea of diversity and equality that is all-encompassing and all-consuming. He argues that this obsession is propagated: ‘from the top of government and through almost every institution in our societies today’ and is written into all employment law and employment policies. Embedded also in current social policy, it is a view, he argues, that propagates the belief that ‘everybody is the same above the neck’ and that: ‘everybody is equal and […] given the right encouragement and opportunity, everybody can be whatever they want; that life is entirely about environment, opportunity, and privilege.’ In this work, I trace the broad outline of the emerging equality agenda as it occurred in America and the UK with a particular emphasis on Northern Ireland and argue that Murray (2020) is wrong in his assessment. The work highlights the differences between the two countries and claims that equality of opportunity, understood here as improved education, healthcare, childcare etc. and equality of outcome, are more rhetoric than reality.