A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 15th June 1999.
Anyone who has had to do with selecting candidates for a job or a university place will know there is no necessary connection between the requirements of a job or place and an applicant’s qualifications. Applicants vary tremendously in their estimation of their own abilities and in their commitment to the career path in question.
It is therefore deplorable that the Commission on Racial Equality should once again (report, 8th June) be making mischief by citing differences in the rates of acceptance for medical schools between white applicants and blacks and Asians.
If the CRE wishes to engage itself constructively it could start from the data for those students actually accepted by medical schools and therefore likely to become doctors, namely – white students 3874 out of 5222 places (74%), Asian students 25% and black students 2%. Given that white people constitute about 94% of the population and black people about 1.7%, it is clear on these figures that white people will be significantly under represented in the future makeup of the medical profession.