Archive for category Political Correctness
Mister Very Important Prisoner
Posted by Carolina Bracken in Civil Liberty, Crime, Human Rights, Political Correctness, Security on 21/12/2010
In 1981, the then Governor of HMP Wormwood Scrubs, John McCarthy, composed a damning letter in The Times bemoaning the inadequacies of the prison system: “From my personal point of view I did not join the Prison Service…to be a member of a service where the staff that I admire are forced to run a society that debases.” How times have changed. Not only will (some) prisoners be re-enfranchised, but it seems that drugs barons and murderers can admonish the Prison Service for failing to meet the standards they themselves have set.
The complexities of censorship
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Civil Liberty, Human Rights, Political Correctness, Politics, Security on 13/12/2010
The last couple of days have witnessed three very different events that have led to calls for action to be taken against controversial individuals. The cases of Julian Assange, Frankie Boyle and Pastor Terry Jones share the common theme of censorship, and demonstrate the difficulty of deciding when censorship is justified.
A Moral or an Amoral Decision?
Posted by Claire Daley in Economics, Political Correctness on 20/09/2010
It is being described by one paper as ‘a battle for the hearts and minds of middle England’, writes Stephen Clarke, and while it’s not clear that the current spat over M&S’s decision to sublet one of its disused premises to the American restaurant chain Hooters is worthy of such grandiose billing, it does raise some interesting questions about corporate responsibility.
Licensed to Hug
Posted by Claire Daley in Political Correctness on 10/02/2010
On Monday, the BBC’s Panorama programme asked “are you a danger to kids?” to highlight the dramatic escalation of child protection measures, and the absurdity of Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks. This crucial issue is detailed in Civitas’ publication Licensed to Hug by Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow.
Imposing Secularism in State Schools Isn’t Religious Neutrality, but Religious Persecution
Posted by David Conway in Education, European Union, Political Correctness, Religion on 10/11/2009
‘Now there’s spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down. Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground.’ So sang Bob Dylan.
I was put in mind of those lyrics by a recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Why the European Equal Treatment Directive is Creating an Offensive Environment
Posted by David Conway in Civil Liberty, European Union, Political Correctness on 27/10/2009
In last week’s positively surreal broadcast of BBC tv’s Question Time, deputy prime minister Jack Straw blathered on about how Parliament had boldly preserved freedom of expression in Britain by deliberately refraining from making Holocaust denial a crime. In yesterday’s Times, Straw was joined by his cabinet colleague, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, blathering on about how wonderful for Britain is its membership of the EU and how Euro-sceptics should stop whinging and learn to love the wonderful new international power bloc that it will finally become after ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
Meanwhile, the fundamental right of freedom of expression in this country is about to be severely curbed by a brand new directive from Brussels which has crept up on us all with all the customary stealth its edicts typically do.