Jottings
News from the UK and around the World
. . . the wild , the wacky , the wonderful , the weird and the downright infuriating
Dodgy debate
Students who attended a debate on Christmas food at the Oxford Union were angered when it turned into a commercial for Sainsbury ’ s supermarkets . Suspicions were raised when they arrived at the debating hall to find it full of cameras ready to record proceedings
A “ secret celebrity guest ” turned out to be Gemma Collins , who appeared on The Only Way Is Essex for several years , and who proceeded to reference “ research by Sainsbury ’ s ” and the retailer ’ s “ lovely ” food , before attendees were told to vote in her favour . After the 45-minute ( fake ) debate , students claimed they had become
“ unwitting extras ” in a television commercial by the Union which , for almost 200 years , has been noted for its high-quality debates with major guests from politics , literature and science . The Oxford Union was accused by others of “ selling out ” and “ hitting an embarrassing low .”
Wokery Wonderland
The last weeks of 2021 delivered a veritable Winter Wonderland of Wokery in the UK . These examples were spotted by your Jottings team , but we bet there are others .
The RAF was accused of “ needless wokery ” after ditching the terms “ airman ” and “ airwoman ” in favour of “ aviators ” in a bid to appear “ more modern and appropriate .” The new guidance was included in an article in the official RAF magazine , AirClues .
The EU scrapped its new “ guidelines for inclusive communication ” which included plans to replace phrases such as “ ladies and gentlemen ” and “ manmade .” Replacements suggested were “ dear colleagues ,” “ human-induced ” and “ synthetic .” Journalist and author Christopher Howse described it as “ pure wickedness ,” and condemned the attempt to control language .
Welsh education chiefs changed the word “ sex ” to “ sexuality ” in the title of its new teaching code , and removed all references to “ male ,” “ female ,” “ boy ,” “ girl ,” and “ women .” The Transgender
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