Political correctness has no boundaries.  The remake of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons has been given a makeover by the BBC.  Ransome’s character, Titty, has been renamed Tatty to avoid offence. Thank heavens for that – we wouldn’t have felt able to watch it without the change! We assume that health and safety will demand risk assessments before any sailing scenes take place. Also that the children will be expected to rescue immigrants found floating in clapped out dinghies. Then we thought about LBGTQ quotas.  We’ll watch the ‘coming out’ episode with interest since there must be one! Also, not much chance of reruns of old Dick Barton episodes based on this PC change. The BBC’s level of sensitivity about something so innocuous seems mindless when you consider the language used in so many of their programmes. Presumably, to use the vernacular we hear in numerous BBC series, they don’t give a fuck about those.

    I couldn’t help thinking of a GP I used to know.  His Czechoslovakian parents had the surname Janus but wanted to give him a British forename. Choosing Hugh didn’t register on them. Fortunately they chose Michael as his middle name and that gave him an option he instantly seized.  Any jokes about his name would almost certainly demand police intervention in this prissy PC era.

    Some interesting statistics emerged this week.  About 30% of new graduates are working in non-professional jobs that don’t require a degree.  Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, is concerned that the graduates who are taking on lower-skilled jobs are pushing those without degrees out of the labour market.  We see it differently and applaud the graduates for joining the real world.  They’ve put their degree in their back pocket temporarily and joined the world of work.  Good on them.  They’re learning a work ethic that gets you out of bed every morning – a discipline from which they will benefit throughout their working lives.  They can keep looking for a better job with a big tick already on their CV.  Very few employers worth their salt would mark them down for taking low grade or menial work - just the opposite in fact.   

    We’ve been aware of individuals who live in parallel universes for quite some time and believe they should be allowed to do so unless they cause harm.  Now we’ve heard of one that could do lasting damage.  Rachel Tomlinson, Head of Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire is convinced that children should never be labeled as naughty. We agree with the comment about labeling but can’t imaging reasoning with a six year old who has a hissy fit in the local supermarket.  Anyone who shops sees examples of naughty behaviour from small children, generally with mothers who seem blissfully unaware of the effect her child is having.  The thought of a school turning out children without boundaries doesn’t bear thinking about. American psychologist, Carl Rogers, (we guess Rachel is a disciple) coined the term ‘unconditional positive regard’. He means accepting people as they are without judging them.  We’re not judging the child, Carl, we’re judging their behaviour and making clear what is acceptable and unacceptable, without reworking the English language to find gobbledygook terminology.  Carl and Rachel are probably suffering from zelotypia – from my favourite book again.

    Another attack takes place, this time committed on a beach in Algeria.  The terrorist selected an easy target and one beyond protection in reality. So much of what we are seeing must trace back to the Bush/Blair highly questionable war in Iraq.  And here in the UK we have a government that can’t even force Chilcot to publish an interim report on events leading to that war.  How can we expect these pygmies to protect us?  More folk should be shouting RIP Chilcot.

“The minority is always wrong – at the beginning”

    Lucy Pawle from CNN was shocked to see what she thought was an ISIS flag being carried on the gay pride march in London.  The black and white flag looked similar to the backdrop to ISIS beheadings.  Lucy’s mistake is understandable since she probably has little experience of anal sex toys.  Based on size and shape, these toys should be made available to the security services.  They’d make any suspect talk, even though their voices would be soprano.