CoffeeHousers' Wall, 15 - 21 December
Peter Hoskin 11:00amWelcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section.
There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.
But, more than anything, we want this Wall to become a means of better communication between the Coffee House team and you, the readers. If you want us to write on anything in particular – add a comment to the Wall. If you want to ask us any questions – add a comment to the Wall. If you have any thoughts about this feature – add a comment to the Wall. The Coffee House team will do its best to get involved in the conversations that you start.
To give the Wall a splash of colour, you can even send your photos and videos in to me on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk and we’ll select the best to put at the top of the post. Any pictures of polticians doing the constituency rounds? Any videos of interesting debates? Do send them in.
You can access this Wall throughout the week by clicking on the Wall button on the righthand side of any Coffee House page.
Previous
wrinkled weasel
December 15th, 2008 11:29am Report this commentA homeowner in Tyneside was recently cautioned about the Christmas decorations on the outside of her house in case it offends minorities. Apparently the council official asked if she thought she was being racist by displaying festive lights on a mixed-race estate. The council have since backtracked and offered the lady an apology. The local ethnic communities were appalled by the action of the council, one saying that it set race relations back twenty years.
However, how is it possible that a council official feels he or she can take this responsibility on?
The act was tyranny at its worst. It's the kind of scapegoating of one individual by those who claim to uphold the rights of others. Political Correctness is in a bad way. It does not abolish scapegoats, it merely replaces one with another. It sets Gays against Straights, Muslims against Gays, Sikhs against Muslims. All of these have figured in preposterous news stories recently.
Some hard questions have to be asked about the way local government employees are indoctrinated with the cult of "equality". Perhaps it is time to recognise that the ultimate consequence of applying this relativistic nonsense. Allowing an uninformed busybody to act like a Gauleiter and backing it up with draconian and illegitimate legal powers will lead to infighting and alienation - the very thing it was supposed to stop.
Paul B
December 15th, 2008 11:56am Report this commentPleased that Chris Hoy rightly won the BBC Sports Personality of the year. A brilliant athlete and a quite charming man.
British cyclists richly deserves all the plaudits its receiving- it is totally dominant. Would bBe nice to see a British team enter the Tour De France, with Wiggins winning the yellow jersey and Cavendish taking the green points jersey.
Well done to all those concerned in the sport.
Burt
December 15th, 2008 12:23pm Report this commentCan any one explain the recent poll results?
In the real world sentiment seems very anti Brown & Labour.
Paul B
December 15th, 2008 1:27pm Report this commentWicked Weasel.
The councils actions remind me of German officials throughout the second world war. They, in affect, egged each other on to further wicked deeds in the belief that they would please the Fuhrer. The council official responsible for the above action was probably acting in the the belief that his/her letter would tick a box in said officers annual appraisal and find agreement with the local diversity officers. It stinks
colin
December 15th, 2008 1:32pm Report this commentThere's been the velvet, the rose, the orange and the tulip revolutions.
If we had one here, what would we call it?
David Bouvier
December 15th, 2008 3:27pm Report this commentcolin - I would call it the overdue revolution
philip riley billingham
December 15th, 2008 3:30pm Report this commentOne of the defining characteristics of contemporary local government workers, apart from the spite and bile they spout at any who dare criticise them, is their glee at taking offense on behalf of other people. I've worked with Moslems, Hindus, Sikhs, Atheists, Agnostics and goodness know who else. No-one has ever said to me that they've been offended by anyone celebrating Xmas, never ever, not once. I dare say that this is because they aren't offended, in much the same way that Moslems celebrating Ramadan doesn't offend me, or anyone celebrating anything doesn't offend me.
I can only assume that local government workers do get offended by other religions celebrating their own particular religious festivities.
Anthony
December 15th, 2008 9:22pm Report this commentPete, the icon at the side of the Coffee House home page for the Coffee Housers’ Wall links to last week’s wall, not this week’s.
As to the state officials who hate Christmas, I’ve re-written this old carol to reflect where modern Britain is at for them:
The Twelve Days of ‘Winter Season’
Twelve jihadists jihading
Eleven lawyers lying on their behalf
Ten Shariah-finance-laundered donations to terrorists
Nine spineless cosseted-from-terrorism judges
Eight Shami Chakrabarti interviews
Seven hate preachers
Six unexploded car bombs
Five sightings of Jeremy Bowen
Four secret documents ‘accidentally’ left on trains*
Three niqab-disguised, taqiyya-inspired fugitives
Two Salafist ‘advisers’ to the Met
And the Left and Right stuck up a gum tree.
* Choirs can do a harmony underneath this line of ‘That just happen to be passed to the Not-So-Independent and the BBC’
The producers of this production of The Twelve Days of Christmas would like to give special thanks to Sir Ian Blair for playing the part of the Christmas pudding, a role he rehearsed to perfection in his three years at the Met.
He was ably assisted in this production by his m’learned friends of Her Majesty’s Bar and judiciary who clubbed together to take the role of the turkey. I hope all the ghosts of all those killed by jihadist terrorists from Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future give them (and the even worse security services and government) nightmares. It’s thanks to them they won’t be with their families.
Joe Camel
December 20th, 2008 8:53pm Report this commentThree or four months ago Rod Liddle asked the rhetorical question, Have we ever faced an enemy more stupid than Muslim terrorists?
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/2075071/have-we-ever-faced-an-enemy-more-stupid-than-muslim-terrorists.thtml
The time has come to ask the same question about their advertising copywriters. Advertising space in the Washington Post isn’t cheap. But whoever forked out for the Palestine isn’t getting his money’s worth. What else except stupidity could explain it?
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/12/making_the_sale_for_palestine.cfm
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