From The Telegraph (and many others)

Meaningless jargon and trendy buzzwords should be banned from town halls, it was claimed, after one council introduced the term “thought showers” to replace “brainstorming”.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent ordered the change because they feared epilepsy sufferers may be offended by the term used to describe idea-generating sessions.

But charities representing epileptics said the ban was taking political correctness too far.

Once again, The Now Show have it nicely covered:

Tags: john holmes,mp3,political-correctness,the-now-show
Categories: political_correctness
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You are really, really not going to believe this - here are a few brown pearls of wisdom from Tom Hampson of the Fabian Society (the people that brought you political correctness).

UPDATE: Jon Holmes covered this on The Now Show on BBC Radio 4 on 1st Aug 2008 - here’s the mp3

‘Chav’ is way above the threshold of acceptability. It is deeply offensive

In whose opinion?

to a largely voiceless group

HA! Voiceless?! If only! You really haven’t left your Islington flat in a while, have you?

and – especially when used in normal middle-class conversation or on national TV – it betrays a deep and revealing level of class hatred.

I’ll come back to this. Keep going before the coke hits….

The phenomenon of the word has grown over the last five years. Initially it was purely a term of abuse. (You only have to visit the website chavscum.com to see this – have a look at it and be appalled.)

Er, knock knock? Not noticed that it became chavtowns.co.uk a while back? Never mind, doesn’t seem you’re on the same planet anyway

You cannot consider yourself of the left and use the word.

Although I don’t consider myself on the left anyway, how patronising can you get? So, left = mental and unable to have an opinion?! I know several “people of the left” - their opinion is wrong, of course, but I haven’t even for one moment considered such nonsense as that last sentence.

It is sneering and patronising

A little like your article, Tom?

and – perhaps most dangerous – it is distancing, turning the ‘chav’ into the kind of feral beast that exists only in tabloid headlines.

There is nothing I would like more than distance from chavs, and nothing would please me more if they really DID exist only in tabloid headlines, but if I can just get you to pop your copy of Socialist Worker down and look in the real world for a moment, you’ll find they are very much feral, and very much out there.

But who does the white working class have?

WORKING class? If ignorance is bliss, you must be a very happy man, Tom. Chavs are not “working class”. You seem to think they are somehow forced into their position. You don’t have Burberry, prison-white trainers and a Renault Clio Turbo forced on you. You aspire to it. Chavs relish, embrace and cultivate the way they are.

You might think they would at least have the progressive left, but it would seem not.

Since when did “progressive” equate to “ignorant”?

The BBC should specify the word in its guidelines for programme makers and take class discrimination seriously. The new Commission for Equality and Human Rights should show that they understand class discrimination is an issue that can have effects as detrimental as racial or gender bias.

I’m really beginning to wonder if my clock is set wrong and it’s actually April Fool’s Day.

But more importantly, we must stop using it ourselves. From now on – embarrassingly PC though it may seem – I shall audibly ‘tut tut’ and wince whenever I hear it used. You should too.

Should I? Well, thanks for giving us the benefit of Comrade Hampson’s wisdom.

If you need an antidote by now, I suggest The Campaign Against Political Correctness.

If Tom is reading this, here’s something to keep him happy:

David Thompson has also blogged about this. Guardian Article. BBC article.

Tags: chavs,funnies,john holmes,mp3,political-correctness,the-now-show
Categories: chavs, political_correctness
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The evil that men do….

A scouts’ woodland chapel has been demolished - its wooden pews and rudimentary cross and altar removed. In its place is a campfire circle.

The change has been imposed by the Scout Association, which believes the chapel excludes non-Christian Scouts.

The basic open-air structure in woodland surrounding Belchamps Scout Centre in Hockley, Essex, was built between the wars by volunteers.

They used old telegraph poles for pews and built a basic altar and cross. Visiting groups of Brownies, Guides, Cubs and Scouts, have used it for generations.

Centre manager Nigel Ruse, 42, said: “The updating of the chapel was done to turn it into a place of worship for all faiths and not to exclude any one from Scouting.

“This is a case of taking Scouting-forward.”

Last year, it was revealed that the Scout Association banned helpers from putting suncream on children unless they already had sunburn. This was to done to prevent allegations of child abuse.

I’m not a Christian, so I shouldn’t care. But when I see examples of prime twattishness such as this, I really do wonder if the end is nigh…

Tags: political-correctness,religion,stupidity
Categories: political_correctness, religion
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ELECTRIC lights are being left on inside the old Dalkeith High School building — to protect vandals and intruders from hurting themselves.
The astonishing revelation that the lights are left burning for the vandals’ benefit rather than the building’s, came after former Conservative MSP candidate for Midlothian, P J Lewis, said he had been “appalled” to see the lights left on — years after the school’s closure — while he was out inspecting the site with local residents.
The council revealed:
“Some lights — including some on timers — are left on during the winter months to protect potential intruders from fall hazards.
“Midlothian Council as owners of the property have an obligation to do this under duty of care.”

You can read more if you blood pressure can stand it…

Tags: council,political-correctness,school
Categories: political_correctness
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