Any attempts by the government to force businesses to employ those supposedly subject to discrimination is both patronizing and counterproductive—patronizing because it suggests that the group is incapable of obtaining a job on its own merits, or that their kind is so hated that, even though they are best suited for the job, none will employ them; and counterproductive because granting extra-legal privileges to one group invariably makes every other group revile them and so increases prejudices and discrimination.

This article is an extract from the book ‘Principles of Good Government’ by Matthew Bransgrove