Greek government was forced to send a
rescue aircraft to retrieve the passengers,
PC Corner
Researchers at Queensland University in
Australia claim that non-cyclists rate bike
users as “not completely human.” The
Professor in charge of the study wants
cyclists to be referred to as “people on
bikes” and wants everyone to learn how
to grow “a culture of mutual respect.”
Writing in the Daily Mail last month,
Janet Street-Porter received this news
angrily. “Cyclists are more aggressive
than militant Scottish Nationalists and
Brexiteers,” she wrote, adding, “and
that’s quite an achievement.” She
concluded, “Respect works both ways. As
far as I’m concerned, cyclists need to
learn manners, and until they do, they
are as toxic as vegans.”
Meanwhile, a school in Barcelona has
removed 200 children’s books from the
infant school library because they’re
“sexist.” Cataluña’s regional government
decided that amongst its library of books
for children up to age six, only 10 per
cent were written from a “gender
perspective,” while 30 per cent included
“toxic” stories. A further 60 per cent, it
claimed, had less serious problems.
Amongst the victims have been
“Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding
Hood,” and books about St George. Tales
of the region’s patron saint (who is
shared with England on April 23 each
year) have been replaced by “Santa
Jordina” (Saint Georgia) and “La revolta
de Santa Jordina” (The revolt of Saint
Georgina) which place a girl in the role
of hero. Sorry, heroine ...
Complaints, complaints...
It’s like déjà vu all over again. This time,
one complaint (that’s one, as in “fewer
than two”) has led to a housing
development in Nottinghamshire
ordering a resident to take down the
Union Flag flying in his garden.
Andrew Smith from Hucknall moved
into a property with his wife last
October. He’s a project manager now,
but previously served six years in the
Royal Signals including action during the
Gulf War, and says he is “proud to be
British.” He says has received over 70
positive comments from neighbours but
a single complaint prompted property
managers Harron Homes to threaten
him with the full force of his covenant
agreement with them. They claimed to
have been instructed by a solicitor to
remove the flagpole because it is a
“nuisance,” adding that this has “nothing
to do with patriotism or the flag’s
origins.”
25
Mr Smith knows who the complainant is
because the individual has told him that
the flag, which measures five feet by
three feet, is spoiling his view. But he
says he will stand his ground.
“Every morning I feel like saluting it,” he
says. “We are becoming weak and
spineless. Who are they to tell me not to
fly the flag?”
Meanwhile in Sale, Greater Manchester,
Wilf is not a happy bunny. Actually, he’s
not a bunny at all; he’s a cat. Wilf
belongs to Wendy Snell and they live
together in a house which is next to a
builders yard owned by a firm called
Travis Perkins. When the firm lodged a
planning application to expand its site in
2017, residents objected based on traffic
and noise levels. Wendy says the last
straw was when the business erected a
new banner outside her front door
reading “Now Open.” So, she explained,
“That’s when I decided to order my own
banner,” which she did and hung hit
across the front of her house. It includes
a big picture of Wilf and reads, “Travis
Perkins depressed my cat.”
Animal Corner
Talking of a depressed cat, news reached
us last month of a donkey found
Continued overleaf