Videos set in Africa must have Africans in them

This makes no sense. There were and are white enclaves in Africa

Taylor Swift's latest music video is being battered by critics who claim it is racist and pandering to 'rich white fantasies' from a colonial era. 

The video for Wildest Dreams, which was revealed during the MTV VMA Awards coverage on Sunday, has a mainly white cast and revolves around two 1950s-era movie stars - played by Swift and Gran Torino actor Scott Eastwood - filming in Africa.

There are only two black actors, who play soldiers, and they appear in the background. The mock film crew are white.

Director Joseph Khan insists the video is a 'love story' and has no political agenda. But music fans have rushed to Twitter to describe it as 'colonial garbage'.

The footage was also also slammed by a number of editorials.

NPR's Viviane Rutabingwa, who has an African heritage, said: 'We are shocked to think that in 2015, Taylor Swift, her record label and her video production group would think it was OK to film a video that presents a glamorous version of the white colonial fantasy of Africa.'

The video's director, Joseph Khan, released a statement to Daily mail Online, saying: 'Wildest Dreams is a song about a relationship that was doomed, and the music video concept was that they were having a love affair on location away from their normal lives. This is not a video about colonialism but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950.

'There are black Africans in the video in a number of shots, but I rarely cut to crew faces outside of the director as the vast majority of screentime is Taylor and Scott.

'We cast and edited this video. We collectively decided it would have been historicially inaccurate to load the crew with more black actors as the video would have been accused of rewriting history. This video is set in the past by a crew set in the present and we are all proud of our work.

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'Male' and 'Female' OK: Citing Free Speech Concerns, Washington State University Revises Syllabi

As classes are beginning for a new school year, Washington State University is revising several class syllabi due to concerns over free speech.

"Over the weekend, we became aware that some faculty members, in the interest of fostering a constructive climate for discussion, included language in class syllabi that has been interpreted as abridging students’ free speech rights," WSU Interim President Daniel J. Bernardo said August 31. "We are working with these faculty members to clarify, and in some cases modify, course policies to ensure that students’ free speech rights are recognized and protected.”

Several professors at Washington State University had course guides advising incoming students to avoid certain terms.

Professor Selena Lester Breikss teaches “Women & Popular Culture” at WSU. On her syllabus she informs students that they risk failing if they use “oppressive and hateful language” – such as “referring to women/men as females or males”:

Use of racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, classist, or generally offensive language in class or submission of such material will not be tolerated. (This includes “The Man,” “Colored People,” “Illegals/Illegal Aliens,” “Tranny” and so on - or referring to women/men as females or males) If I see it or hear it, I will correct it in class since it can be a learning moment for many students. Repeated use of oppressive and hateful language will be handled accordingly – including but not limited to removal from the class without attendance or participation points, failure of the assignment, and - in extreme cases - failure for the semester.

"No student will have points docked merely as a result of using terms that may be deemed offensive to some,” said President Bernardo. “Blanket restriction of the use of certain terms is not consistent with the values upon which this university is founded."

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Must not complain about badly behaved children

A nursery carer who labelled the children in her care w****** and a******s after she was bitten and spat on has been suspended from her job.

Hayley Neeson, a trainee 18-year-old early years worker, wrote a series of expletive-laden Facebook posts about the children at Forgewood Nursery Centre in Motherwell.

She uploaded the shocking posts after what she said was her first day back at work, during which she said she had been spat on, bitten and headbutted by children.

Neeson first described them as a 'bunch ae w******', before responding to a friend's reply with 'Aye... a a*******', the Daily Record reported.

However, her posts triggered outrage among parents and the community, and MailOnline understands she has now been suspended and an investigation into the incident at the North Lanarkshire-run nursery is under way.

One furious mother told the paper: 'I was lying in bed on Monday night with my little boy when I saw her post and was absolutely disgusted.

'People on her Facebook were outraged as soon as it went up and putting up comments saying they wouldn’t like their children to be at her nursery.'

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Must not say that pink suits girls

An online listing by Halfords has been labelled 'patronising' after it said a pink bicycle helmet was perfect for young girls because it made them look pretty.

The heavily-gendered blurbs were posted online alongside two images of the Bell Amigo Bike Helmet in pink and blue.

Information about the blue helmet - built for 'boys ready for action' - outlined some of the safety gear's features including good air vents and a stylish visor.

But the pink helmet was described as for 'lovely little girls who really enjoy playing on their bikes and looking really pretty when they do'.

It continued: '[The helmet] protects those lovely little heads and can be fitted to feel perfectly cozy and cool to wear.' 

Members of the public took to social media to criticise the post, using #HalfordsSexism to vent their fury.

Kate Gray, mocking the tone of the advert, wrote on Twitter: 'PUT THIS WIDDLE HELMET ON YOUR PRETTY WIDDLE HEADS YOU PRETTY WIDDLE LADIES, OH YES, WHO IS A GOOD GIRL.'

And Elizabeth McWilliams wrote: 'I cannot believe @Halfords could write something so horribly patronising that sounds like it's from another century.'

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Leftists hate mentions of the Nazis (unless they are doing it)

Hence the complaint below.  They don't present any evidence that the comparisons are inaccurate though

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott loves a rhetorical flourish, but it may be time for him to change up his metaphors.

In an interview on the Sydney radio station 2GB on Thursday, the prime minister linked the Islamic State's brutal techniques of oppression to the Nazis' attempted genocide of the Jews.

"The Nazis did terrible evil but they had a sufficient sense of shame to try to hide it," he said. "These people boast about their evil, this is the extraordinary thing." The discussion came as the Australian government weighs up whether to join U.S. air strikes in Syria against the group.

The term "Nazis" immediately trended on Australian Twitter, as people expressed their disgust with the comparison.

This hardly the first time Abbott has reached for the National Socialists to make a point.

On the same radio station in September 2014, Abbott made a very similar argument about the terrorist group. "We’ve seen in the century just gone, the most unspeakable things happen, but the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis, by the communists and others, they were ashamed of them, they tried to cover them up," he explained. "This mob, by contrast, as soon as they’ve done something gruesome and ghastly and unspeakable, they’re advertising it on the internet for all to see." ....

Surely we can agree it's time all politicians retired the Nazis from their verbal repertoire.  [What?? No more "Bush=Hitler" placards?  I guess not.  But will we see "Trump=Hitler"?  Seems likely]

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PM Abbott is sticking to his guns

Must not portray slaves in games

An internet game called 'Slave Tetris' in which players stack as many Africans as they can into a ship's hold has been pulled after it caused a furious reaction online.

It was a segment of a wider game called Playing History: Slave Trade aimed at educating people about the horrors of slavery.

The different shaped blocks of classic title Tetris were replaced with emaciated black figures wearing only different coloured shorts.

As in Tetris they would appear at the top of the screen and players would have to arrange them so they fit together, in this case inside the hold of a slave ship.

The game was designed by Danish firm Serious Games Interactive, whose CEO Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen wrote his PhD thesis on the 'educational use of computer games.'

He was savaged on Twitter over Slave Tetris, with on user calling him a 'clueless white Dane' and another saying the game was 'dehumanizing and anti-black.'

On Monday Egenfeldt-Nielsen bowed to pressure and removed the segment from Playing History: Slave Trade, though the rest of the game is still available on digital game store Steam.

But he has defended Slave Tetris, saying on Twitter the 'point [was] to disgust people so they understand how inhumane [the] slave trade was.'

Egenfeldt-Nielsen added it was only a 15 second part of a two hour long game where participants play as an escaped slave, reports The Daily Mirror.

In a series of responses to irate Twitter users he admitted he, 'should of course [have] know[n] how this would have played out,' adding, 'My naivety will be my doom.'

Egenfeldt-Nielsen also posted: 'Slave Tetris has been removed as it was perceived to be extremely insensitive by some people.

'This overshadowed the educational goal of the game. 'The goal was to enlighten and educate people — not to get sidetracked discussing a small 15 secs part of the game.

'I have sad earlier that I was sorry that the game harmed some people, and that wasn't the intention.'

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UK: Must not call retards retards

A veteran town councillor who described children at a special school as 'retards' is being called upon to quit by angry parents.

A petition has been launched demanding Independent councillor Bob Farrer, 72, who sits on St Neots Town Council and Huntingdonshire District Council, to step down from his elected posts.

Mr Farrar was previously a UKIP representative after defecting from the Tories but is now an Independent councillor for the Eaton Ford Ward in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

At a meeting of the Swimming Pool Trust in St Neots last Thursday, Cllr Farrer, who has been a councillor for 22 years, referred to new special needs school, The Trinity School, as 'a new school which is going to be for retards.'

The Trinity School, a maintained special school will occupy the old Huntingdonshire Regional College buildings in St Neots and will cater for children with a variety of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The petition, which has already garnered more than 2,100 signatures, says: 'For an elected official to refer to children with special needs as 'retards' is wholly unacceptable.

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Federal Court Preserves Jesus Statue Against Militant Atheists

A 6-foot tall statue of Jesus that has spent the last 60 years overlooking a northwestern Montana ski hill may stay there, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments from a group of atheists and agnostics that allowing the statue to remain on U.S. Forest Service land violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Two members of the three-judge panel agreed with U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen of Montana, who found that the statue's secular and irreverent uses outweighed its religious uses.

In June of 2013 Christensen wrote that "Big Mountain Jesus has been the subject of much frivolity over the years," serving as a meeting place for skiers, a wedding location and being festooned with ski hats, goggles, Mardi Gras beads and other secular decorations.

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Must not laugh about illegal immigrants

Carlsberg is a beer popular in Britain



A Tory councillor is being investigated by council chiefs after sharing photo of a boat full of 14 naked women with a caption reading 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'.

Mike Kusneraitis, a Conservative councillor on the Tory-run Runneymede Borough Council in Surrey, said he should be judged on his actions in the community, not by 'misjudged postings on social media'.

The councillor admitted making a number of 'offensive' postings on a Facebook page, which have now been removed.

Among the postings included a dog with a towel on his head and a sexually explicit cartoon, both posted on the Facebook page of the Peoples Front of Egham, which is currently unavailable.

He also posted an image on July 24 showing a boat full of 14 naked women, with a caption reading 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'.

Writing on his own Facebook page at the weekend, Cllr Kusneraitis, of Egham, Surrey, apologised if he offended anyone.

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Attempts to silence provocative historian

Irving is primarily a controversialist.  He deliberately stirs up people.  But he is a very knowledgeable historian and is right to mock the conventional view of WWII.  When people call the socialist Hitler a Rightist, there is clearly something to be debated about the Hitler era.

I personally don't care whether Hitler killed 6 million, 16 million or one million. It is in any case a ghastly example of Leftist brutality and hatred.  Irving is in trouble because he favours a much lower figure than the conventional 6 million.  So what?  Challenging a consensus is a healthy thing to do.

Holocaust-denying historian David Irving has sparked widespread fury by organising 'disgusting' tours of concentration camps costing £2,000 for each participant.

The disgraced academic, who is a self-confessed fascist, is leading a tour group to sites in Poland such as Treblinka, Sobibor and Hitler's 'Wolf's Lair' headquarters.

Holocaust memorial groups have accused Irving of insulting the memory of those killed in the Second World War by spreading 'pro-Nazi propaganda' on the tours.

And a leading historian claims that the holidays are marketed towards other Holocaust deniers - adding that it 'surely cannot be right' for Irving to be allowed to market them.

Irving, 77, is notorious for his attempts to play down the extent of the Holocaust, and his insistence that Hitler was unaware of the plan to exterminate the Jews.

Next month, Irving is to take a group of 'international guests' to Latvia and Poland, where they will visit four concentration camps as well as the fortress built to be Hitler's headquarters on the Eastern Front.

In promotional material, Irving promises customers the opportunity to 'make up your own mind about the truth' during 'the unforgettable journey of a lifetime'.

Multiple charities told MailOnline that Irving should be banned from leading his tour holidays, accusing him of 'insulting the memory of Holocaust victims and survivors'.

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Intellectual feebleness at James Madison university

The Viginia university claims to be a research university. The sort of thinking needed for that doesn't always show in their student newspaper. I give a few excerpts below from one article asserting that hate speech causes hate crime. 

The proof of that?  Two people who assaulted an immigrant claimed to be inspired by the words of Donald Trump. 

BUT what about the (say) 100 million other people who heard Trump and did not assault anybody?  Doesn't that prove that Trump's speech is wonderfully safe and that hate speech does not cause  hate crime?  If hate speech does not lead to hate crime in 100 million cases, what more evidence do we need to conclude that hate speech does not cause hate crimes?

We do have to look at ALL the evidence, of course.  Not that any Leftist ever does.  Reality is so far inconsistent with  Leftist beliefs that they would become conservatives if they let themselves consider all the evidence.

And what evidence do we have that the men would have behaved differently if they had not heard Trump?  There is none.  It is just a claim.

And how can we base any generalization on one instance?  It's because we can't that we have statistics. If lots of people had gone out and bashed illegals after hearing The Donald the writer  might have a case.  But as it is, one swallow doesn't make a summer.

The writer below, Kevan Hulligan, does go on to scratch through history to find other attacks that have been associated with hate speech but he finds about three in total over a long span of years -- which is, I think, excellent proof that hate speech does NOT cause hate crimes -- the exact opposite of what he asserts.

The kid who wrote the guff below really is a poor thing: A very dim bulb.  And his expensive education has done nothing to remedy that, which is sad

It’s hard to deny that some of the worst aspects of American culture are embodied by Donald Trump, the current front-runner in the Republican primary. His abrasiveness, continuous grandstanding, willingness to insult and denigrate instead of argue and his use of racist rhetoric do enough to show why such a man shouldn’t have a front desk job at the Library of Congress, let alone the Oval Office.

Now the racism that took center stage with his immigration comments earlier this year has resulted in someone being assaulted.

On Aug. 19, two brothers from Boston viciously attacked a 58-year-old homeless Latino man while walking home from a baseball game. They beat him repeatedly with a metal pole and punched him after urinating on him. Their said inspiration for this attack? Donald Trump’s racist comments on immigration.

This entire episode proves what many have been saying for years now: hate speech inevitably leads to people taking that speech and turning it into violent hate crimes.

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Hate speech from the pro-homosexual lobby in Australia

The governing Liberal Party of Australia, Australia's major conservative party, has decided to let the nation as a whole decide whether or not to allow homosexual marriage -- via a referendum or plebiscite.  The Left don't want the people to decide.  They want homosexual marriage NOW.  And their behaviour is typically abusive.  Andrew Bolt comments:

The real hate speech so far isn’t coming from defenders of traditional marriage.

No, it’s the same-sex lobby that’s pushing its case with abuse, sneers and intimidation — a hatred that risks provoking an equally ugly reaction.

 Sky News presenter Peter van Onselen claimed the Liberals would drive gays to kill themselves by delaying gay marriage, and that they thought such suicides “acceptable”.

An Equal Love campaigner who shared a stage with Labor leader Bill Shorten in Melbourne on Saturday shouted, “Tony Abbott, stick your plebiscite where the sun don’t shine”.

Celebrity QC Julian Burnside tweeted that all defenders of traditional marriage were “bigots”, among whom he apparently counts former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard.

And a Sydney Morning Herald sledged of two panellists on the ABC’s Q&A, who dared criticise the gay-marriage push, calling them “tedious”, “tiresome”, a “tinfoil hat brigade”, “a gigantic yawn” and more.

Why are gay-marriage campaigners stoking up hatred like this?

Why risk provoking an equally ugly backlash?  If you continue to slander your opponents as bigots, haters, knuckle-draggers and morons, and shout them down and ban their ads, you really are inviting the hot-headed to respond in kind.

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Angry censors at Mozilla

Dislike of feminists not allowed

Mozilla CEO Chris Beard has publicly committed to firing a supposed employee spewing hate speech on Reddit—if the company can figure out who he is.

An anonymous Reddit user by the name of aoiyama, who claims to work for Mozilla, posted comments celebrating the departure of the firm's community organizer, Christie Koehler, adding that "when she and the rest of her blue-haired, nose-pierced asshole feminists are gone, the tech industry will breathe a sigh of relief."

(The user had previously posted in the MensRights subreddit alleging favoritism toward women at his company, though in those cases he didn't identify his employer.)

Koehler resigned from Mozilla earlier this month, decrying the company's failure to address diversity and accessibility issues in a series of tweets.

In remarks at a project meeting, Beard emphasized that the posts "crossed a line from criticism to hate speech," defining it as "when you start saying that 'someone's kind doesn't belong here and we'll all be happy when they're gone.' If that's not hate speech, it's pretty damn close and we're not going to walk that line as Mozilla."

While the employee probably felt he was free to vent privately on his own time without repercussions, most employment agreements are at will, and aoiyama's comments are harmful to an already troubled view of Mozilla's workplace culture.

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It's "troubled" all right.  Former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich was forced out of his job last year once it was revealed that he had donated to a pro-family cause. Eich donated $1,000 in 2008 to support Proposition 8, a California constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage.  So was Eich some ignorant no-account bigot?  Hardly. He is known as the father of the programing language JavaScript, in which Mozilla has a big interest.  Stalin was very good at sending the Russian intelligentsia to Siberia.  Mozilla is a modern-day Stalin.

Conservatives should really boycott Mozilla's Firefox so it's a pity Microsoft's "Internet Explorer" is such crap.  Google Chrome and Opera have got their acts together, however.

Hillary Compared Conservatives To ISIS

 Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likened the 2016 Republican presidential field to "terrorist groups" on women's issues during a campaign stop Thursday in Ohio.

While speaking to a crowd at Case Western Reserve University, Clinton said that while she expects "extreme views" on women's rights to be espoused by "terrorist groups," she does not expect the same from "Republicans who want to be president" in 2016.

The former secretary of state named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the speech.

"Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world, but it's a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States," Clinton told the crowd

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Abuse is the Leftist substitute for logical argument

The inoffensive everyday phrases used by reporter Alison Parker that earned her a death sentence because black reporter deemed them 'racist'

Innocuous phrases Alison Parker used every day to describe her job may have led to her death, simply because Vester Lee Flanagan thought they were racist.

The 24-year-old TV reporter who was shot and killed by the disgruntled ex-employee on Wednesday somehow angered him by using terms like 'swinging' by an address or going out into the 'field' while she was an intern at WDBJ.

It sheds further light on the murderer's erratic behavior, details of which have emerged since he callously gunned down Parker and cameraman Adam Ward live on breakfast TV.

Flanagan, 41, clashed repeatedly with photojournalists, belittling them in public and intimidating them with his aggressive and violent temper, before he was fired in 2013.

Alison Parker somehow angered Vester Lee Flanagan by using terms like 'swinging' by an address or going out into the 'field' while she was an intern at WDBJ. The gunman believed they were racist and led to him filing a complaint against her in 2012

But now colleagues have revealed his assumptions were 'crazy' and even described one occasion where he believed someone bringing a watermelon in for fellow staff was a racist joke directed at him.

Ryan Fuqua, a video editor at WDBJ, told The Post: 'That's how that guy's mind worked. Just crazy, left-field assumptions like that.'  'He was unstable. One time, after one of our live shots failed, he threw all his stuff down and ran into the woods for like 20 minutes.'

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George Zimmerman refers to Obama as an 'Ignorant Baboon'

And lots more.  He is saying what a lot of other Americans think but feel unsafe to say

In an inflammatory rant on social media on Thursday, the 31-year-old - who was acquitted of murder charges in the fatal shooting of African-American teenager in 2012 - posted a number of racial slurs alongside a selfie he took while smoking a cigar in a swimming pool.

Zimmerman told his 6,092 followers that Brown and Vester Flanagan, the man accused of killing two WDBJ reporters on air Wednesday, would be President Obama's sons.

Zimmerman also called President Obama an 'ignorant baboon' for statements after the Virginia shooting discussing the high number of deaths from gun violence in America.

On Wednesday, he posted another string of insulting messages just hours after the shooting on Wednesday: 'Pansy Fester (sic) lee Flanagan, too much of a daisy to deal w/racism. Murders 2 whites. Hate crime, 100%. Racist Obama says nothing condeming (sic).'

A couple of hours later, he posted two photos of reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, who were both shot dead by Flanagan on live TV on Wednesday morning.

He captioned the images, first seen by the New York Daily News: 'White woman & man get murdered by a Black P.O.S. 8 hours later B. Hussein Obama the divider still says NOTHING.'

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Australia: Comedian criticised for ‘deeply offensive skit’ on public broadcasting show

If you’ve never heard of the term before, defensive architecture is an urban design trend in which public places are designed “in a way which discourages people (such as homeless people) from touching, climbing or sitting on them”.

In the three-and-a-half minute skit, Tom Gleeson interviewed a man called Spike Chippalone who spent years living on the streets.  “Sometimes I think defensive architecture is the wrong way to go,” said Gleeson to Chippalone. “Like, we should have attacking architecture. It’s like a chair but it’s also a robot. People sit in it during the day and it could get up and attack homeless people at night.”

But the joke clearly went over some viewers’ heads.

“That skit was deeply offensive to homeless people,” said one angry person on Twitter.  “I find it difficult to understand how that was funny, in anyway,” wrote another. “I am sad and disappointed.”

In a statement to news.com.au, Gleeson said he thought it was obvious that he was “taking the piss”. [Being provocative rather than serious]

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Republicans are "crazies" (?)

Asked to clarify President Obama's remark about the "crazies" who oppose him, White House spokesman Eric Shultz on Tuesday said the president "may have been a little flip in his language."

Obama told a Democratic fundraiser near Las Vegas late Monday that he and Senate Minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had spent time "figuring out how we are going to deal with the crazies in terms of managing some problems."

Schultz told reporters, "After spending a few weeks away from the hustle and bustle of Washington, the president came back from vacation and was remarking with Senator Reid at the challenges they face this fall.

And he may have been a little flip in his language, but we have seen Republicans do wildly irresponsible things in the past, and that includes shutting down the government for ideological reasons. That's a prospect that came to fruition a few years ago, and it's something that Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate are floating this time as well."

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'Anchor Baby' a bad Term?

On the Sunday, August 23 edition of CNN's "State of the Union," conservative Ben Carson dismissed criticism of the term "anchor baby," in reference to the child of a pregnant illegal alien who comes to the United States to give birth and use the baby as an "anchor" to stay in America.  “I think it is silly political correctness," Dr. Carson said. 

"Everybody knows what we are talking about," he continued.  "We need to talk about the actual issue, and stop getting pulled off into the weeds, and saying, you can use this term, you can't use that term.  It is so silly.”

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Must not compare Jihadis to Nazis

Both have been brutal mass murderers but what the heck!

New York Rep. Peter King blasted ESPN's decision to suspend analyst Curt Schilling  over a tweet comparing radical Islamists to Nazis.

"It was disgraceful and cowardly for ESPN to suspend Curt Schilling for telling the truth by comparing Islamists to Nazis," King said in a statement to Newsmax. "ESPN has displayed the ultimate in political correctness."

"By suspending Curt from covering the Little League World Series, ESPN is telling the youth of America that it does not tolerate free speech," King said. "Maybe ESPN would have preferred that Curt Schilling attack cops instead of Islamists. That certainly would have been more politically correct!"

Schilling on Tuesday morning tweeted a photo reading, "It's said only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?"  "The math is staggering when you get to true #'s," Schilling said.

The former major league pitcher deleted the tweet after it received backlash, calling it a "dumb decision" to post it.

But ESPN responded by pulling Schilling from his coverage of the Little League World Series and "Sunday Night Baseball."

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Cop was told off for using the phrase 'Z for Zulu' by Britain's Department of Work and Pensions

Language is a modern minefield. Use the wrong word or expression and you could find yourself pilloried on social media or even prosecuted for 'hate crime'.

It's difficult to keep up. Words which were perfectly OK a couple of years ago are now political poison. And the ground keeps shifting.

Mail reader Dave Monk, an ex-copper, recently rang the Department of Work and Pensions with a query. He quoted his reference number, using the phonetic alphabet he had learned as part of his police training. But when he got to 'Z for Zulu', the assistant stopped him in his tracks.

'We're not allowed to say Zulu any more; it's been changed to Z for Zebra,' she told him.

Dave was flabbergasted. But then, if he's kept in touch with his ex-colleagues still in The Job, he should have known better. Public bodies, especially the Old Bill [British police], have become ever more vigilant when it comes to rooting out what could be perceived to be 'inappropriate' language.

I shouldn't be surprised to learn that the entire phonetic alphabet has been overhauled.

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That junks a lot of army training too

Zulus in Kwazulu/Natal are very proud to be Zulus so this is actually dishonoring them

Actress leads campaign to change the name of her high school which honors a slave-owning Confederate general

Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore is campaigning that her high school change its name away from a Confederate general.

JEB Stuart High School in Fairfax, Virginia, was founded in 1959 and allegedly named in honor of the Civil War commander in apparent protest at the Supreme Court's decision to integrate schools.

Moore and her high school friend-turned-producer Bruce Cohen are demanding that the school rename itself, and started a Change.org petition that had already amassed more than 28,000 signatures as of Monday night.

The school formerly included the Confederate flag on its basketball court and in its school symbol. Moore said that students should not have to be embarrassed about a name with ties to slavery

Stuart was a slave owner who quickly left the US Army and joined the Confederacy shortly after Virginia seceded, according to the History Channel.

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Professional Warmist wants anyone who mentions climate skepticism fired from the BBC


Bob Ward works for the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at  the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

The BBC's decision to part company with the Met Office has provoked a great deal of comment over the weekend (and a cartoon or two as well). Returning to my desk this morning I expected that the story would have run out of legs, but it has just been given a new lease of life via the [BBC] Today programme.

I've attached the audio file below. Justin Webb was discussing possible reasons for the the BBC's decision and he mentioned that some people had suggested that this might have something to do with the Met Office's stance on climate change. Given that the BBC is now arguably rather more alarmist than the Met Office, however, this seems somewhat counterintuitive.

To be fair it was just a throwaway comment, the aural equivalent of clickbait, and at least one bottom feeder has swallowed it whole.

Predictably bogus claim by @JustinOnWeb on @BBCr4today that BBC may have ditched @metoffice over climate change. Pure 'sceptic' propaganda.

— Bob Ward (@ret_ward) August 24, 2015

It is about time @BBCr4today had a clear out of its dinosaur presenters who promote the propaganda of climate change 'sceptics'.

— Bob Ward (@ret_ward) August 24, 2015

Stand back and admire, gentle readers, the majesty of a public-funded bureaucrat demanding that a public-funded journalist lose his job because he merely mentioned the existence of views that the bureaucrat found distasteful. What a shameful place the London School of Economics has become.

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Conservatives must not oppose obesity

4Chan, the Internet lovechild of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, has a history of playing pranks (some funny, others not) and trolling people, but the site and its users really outdid themselves this week. 4Chan and Reddit users reportedly launched a new body-shaming campaign called Project Harpoon that wonders: "If the Tumblr fat acceptance/feminists make a big deal over photoshopping video game characters to make them look fatter than what they are, why don't we photoshop their own photos to make them thinner, more attractive, and, well, normal?" The stunt uses the hashtags #ThInnerBeauty and #SkinnyAcceptance (and a newly-created website at thinnerbeauty.org) to spread images of women photoshopped into skinner silhouettes

Let me first say that while I do not want to give 4Chan's Project Whatever-the-fuck any more attention, as a writer of the Internet — specifically a writer for a women's magazine on the Internet — I feel that it is my responsibility to take a few moments to check in with my fellow #Ladies and let them know that they have every right to be pissed off by the group's new body-shaming campaign.

It's not as if photoshopping women to unrealistic standards is anything new; sometimes ads get so overzealous that they erase entire limbs, turning women into paraplegic alien lifeforms. But the so-called campaign is particularly heinous because it targets everyday citizens without their permission, and because it is an attempt to get back at those who have pointed out that female video game characters have unrealistic body types. Worst of all, it does this under the guise of being body positive. In one post, Project Harpoon wrote, "We aren't here to mock or ridicule overweight individuals. We are here to help them overcome their problems. We love them and we want them to know they can love themselves, too!"

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Must not disparage some female body shapes

The fashion boss whose damning comments on female body shapes were exposed in last week’s Mail on Sunday has been forced out of his job after provoking outrage.

Patrick Couderc’s bizarre declaration that ‘voluptuous’ and older women, as well as ‘committed lesbians’, should not wear Herve Leger’s famed ‘body-conscious’ bandage dresses went viral on the internet.

He was accused of being ‘lesbophobic’, a ‘body fascist’ and ageist as readers vented their anger online.

The owners of the French brand, worn by stars such as Kim Kardashian, acted swiftly to distance themselves from the outlandish statements.

Within 24 hours of this paper’s publication, they announced that Mr Couderc, managing director of the fashion brand’s UK licensor MJH Fashion, was no longer with the company. He had voluntarily offered his resignation.

The iconic bandage dress – so-called because it is made from strips of stretchy fabric like bandages wound around the body – was pioneered in the 1980s and has since been worn by a host of celebrities from Elle Macpherson to Victoria Beckham, Kate Winslet and Miranda Kerr.

Mr Couderc told The Mail on Sunday that he refused to give free dresses to celebrities if they are judged to lack sufficient class. He added that many ordinary women should not be wearing his dresses.

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He was defending the image of his niche product. He did not want it to be worn where it would not look good.  And it does take a certain body shape to look good.  You are not allowed to mention that, however.

Facebook Tells Catholic Monsignor: You Can't Use 'Monsignor'

"Monsignor" is an honorific title given by the Pope to a priest  who has given outstanding service to the church

Monsignor Charles Pope, a popular blogger and a Catholic priest in Washington, D.C., has been blocked from using Facebook. The social media behemoth says it prefers users to use their “everyday names” so that people know who they’re connecting with, and formal titles can get tagged as inauthentic.

“It’s not just me, it’s a lot of people with titles who are having trouble,” Msgr. Pope told CNS News. “It’s people in the military, people in religious life – even Native Americans are getting blocked. They told me I can’t use monsignor, but that’s who I am.”

Pope scanned a copy of his driver’s license and sent it to Facebook, hoping that the company will quickly fix the problem.

He also noted that last year Facebook apologized to the members of the gay community who were blocked due to the “real name” policy.

"I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag king, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts in the past," Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox said in a statement.

Monsignor Pope said he is not expecting an apology, but just wants to be reinstated. “You can be one of over 50 genders on Facebook,” he said, “but I can’t be a monsignor.”

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Corsets "sexist"



The company behind a corset-like belt that claims to make women 'look thinner in seconds' is facing backlash from social media users who have labeled the item as 'sexist', 'painful-looking', and 'terrifying'.

Called Miss Belt, the contraption cinches around waists to flatten and suck in stomachs at the middle, resulting in an exaggerated hourglass shape for the wearer.

However, many women - and some men - have a problem with the product's claim that it gives ladies 'the perfect waistline', arguing on Twitter that the belt's results look unnatural and ignore the progress that women have made from oppression over the past couple centuries.

Using compression technology, Miss Belt purports to be able to make women look two sizes smaller by tucking in bellies, reducing waistlines, and providing back support.

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Rower who blacked up to pilot his boat The Golliwogger in river festival denies racism



A builder who blacked up in public then rowed his boat the The Golliwogger in a West Country river festival today defended the decision and said: 'Down in Cornwall it's a bit different.'

Giles Stawski, 35, has criticised the 'politically correct' people who were offended by his fancy dress at the event last weekend in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

Shocked festival-goers complained to national brewery Sharp's, who sponsored the event, who also described the situation as 'deeply disappointing'.

But Mr Stawski has denied that he had acted in poor taste and said: 'Other parts of the country have gone a bit too politically correct. Down in Cornwall it's a bit different.

'People took it in the good humour it was intended. I don't find it offensive but I understand other people might.'

Mr Stawski was not the only person to black up and was among a crew of five men and eight women who took part in the popular race on Saturday.

Three others were blacked up as cannibals and a couple more as cavemen on their makeshift boat which was named the Golliwogger.

They were among the 20 entrants in the annual Sharp's Brewery Raft Race on the Camel Estuary which was the highlight of the Camel River Festival.

One onlooker said: 'It comes across as racist. I don't see the point of getting dressed up like that. It's a bit extreme. They called the boat the Golliwogger.'

James Nicholls, Senior Brand Manager of Sharp's - brewers of Doom Bar ale - said: 'In no way do we condone the behaviour of this team of entrants.

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There's no such thing as bad publicity?



Premier Estate Wines is the latest in a list of companies - including Protein World and Bic - that have split opinion with their tongue-in-cheek campaigns.

The Australian brand's new 30-second advert starts with a brunette woman describing a glass of Shiraz as 'luscious' during a party.

As she stops to talk to the camera, she places her glass of wine in front of her genital region and states: 'Australia practically jumps out of the glass. In fact, some say you can almost taste the bush.'

The clip ends with the woman smirking and the slogan - 'always a great wine' - appearing on the screen.

The advert, which the company said shows a tone 'born from classic British humour', has been met with criticism on social media with many users labelling it 'sexist' and 'tasteless'.

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Democrats Oppose Putting Donald Trump’s ‘Racist’ Name on D.C. Hotel

A pair of Democrat congressmen are demanding that the Washington, D.C., City Council prevent Donald Trump from putting his name on a new D.C. hotel because, they assert, the Trump name is now synonymous with “racist” and should be kept from the public eye.

In a letter to the Department of Interior and General Services Administration (GSA), Congressmen Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Tony Cárdenas (D, CA) say that Trump should not be allowed to have his name “prominently displayed” on the hotel set to open in 2016 at the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, only a few blocks from the White House.

In the letter, the pair reminds the GSA that the government has “a responsibility to ensure that public lands are welcoming places” and then points to Trump’s “insulting comments” as a reason to keep his name out of public view.

“Trump’s recent and repeated remarks disparaging women, Mexican-Americans, and other Latinos are hateful, divisive and completely inaccurate,” the letter states.

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Must not joke about eating cake

A cafe has come under fire for displaying a billboard which encourages people to eat cake because the 'more you weigh, the harder you are to kidnap' in the town where April Jones was murdered.

Residents in Machynlleth, Mid Wales, claim to be outraged after spotting the blackboard outside a cafe which says: 'The more you weigh, the harder you are to kidnap! Stay safe. Eat cake!!'

The chalk sign comes after five-year-old April was abducted near her home in Machynlleth in 2012.

Her disappearance sparked the largest ever search in UK history but her body was never found, and Mark Bridger was later convicted of her murder.

Residents said they were 'shocked' by the 'distasteful' billboard outside the town's Chimes cafe, claiming it was offensive not only to the family but also those in the town who remember the tragedy three years ago.

Angharad Penrhyn Jones said: 'In view of what happened to April Jones this is shocking.  'I went to talk to cafe owner and apparently the sign is "humorous", the kidnapping happened "years ago", and I am being "hypersensitive".

A cafe spokesman, who did not give her name, said the sign was not meant to be distasteful or offensive.

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"Girls and Boys" wrong

From Hegel onwards, the Left have wanted us all to be like uniform little ants in an anthill. And guess who would be the Queen ants?   So even such a basic difference as male/female must be erased

To help “create a classroom where students aren’t limited based on gender stereotypes,” teachers should address classes using words like “friends or “students” rather than girls and boys, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) advises in a new back-to-school guide.

The first tip suggested by the HRC’s Welcoming Schools Initiative is for teachers to avoid using gender to “divide and address students.” The guide claims that separating students for activities according to gender “can leave some students feeling out-of-place, making them distracted or isolated and not able to focus on learning.”

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Mississippi celebrities rally to remove Confederate emblem from state flag

Many famous current and former Mississippi residents are asking the state to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its flag.

Jimmy Buffet, John Grisham, Morgan Freeman and former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning are among many celebrities who called for the removal of the emblem in an open letter.

Others who signed the public request were Kathryn Stockett (the author of The Help), Grammy-winning producer Glen Ballard, writer Richard Ford and Basketball Hall of Famer Bailey Howell.

The celebrities joined others in signing the letter that appeared in a full-page ad in Saturday's edition of the Clarion-Ledger.

'It is simply not fair, or honorable, to ask black Mississippians to attend schools, compete in athletic events, work in the public sector, serve in the National Guard, and go about their normal lives with a state flag that glorifies a war fought to keep their ancestors enslaved,' a portion of the letter read.

A survey by the Clarion-Ledger found 64 of Mississippi's lawmakers supported changing the flag, 24 opposed it, nine said they were undecided, and 96 declined to answer.

Governor Phil Bryant said voters made their views clear in 2001, when 64 per cent rejected a proposal to change the state flag to 20 white stars on a blue field.

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Spanish woman who took picture of police car parked in disabled bay is fined nearly £600 under controversial new 'gagging law'

Spain at the moment is governed by a Centre-Right party.  It is reasonable that police operations may sometimes require confidentiality but such provisions should not be used to cover up police misbehaviour or apparent police misbehaviour. 

A Spanish woman who took a picture of a police car parked in a disabled bay has been fined nearly £600 under a controversial new 'gagging law', it has been revealed.

The picture, taken by an unnamed woman from Petrer in Alicante, was put up online with the caption 'Park wherever the hell you like and they won’t even fine you'.

But within two days police had tracked her down and fined her €800 under Spain's new Citizens Security Law, it has been reported.

The legislation, passed in July, bars 'the unauthorised use of images of police officers that might jeopardise their or their family’s safety or that of protected facilities or police operations'.

Human rights organisations including Amnesty International, have already condemned the new law, for which fines can reach up to €30,000.

A police spokesman reportedly told the local newspaper Petrer al Día that the patrol car was in the disabled bay after officers had been called to a report of vandalism at a park.

The gagging law imposes fines for protests near parliament and for those who try to intervene when families who can't pay their mortgages are are being evicted.

The government says it will provide more effective security by rooting out protesters prone to violence.

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Progressive confusion

Denying free speech is a deliberate tactic for them

A week ago, a handful of protesters associated with Black Lives Matter shut down a Bernie Sanders speech in Seattle to protest what they see to be his insufficient platform on racial justice. This event has provoked a fierce debate within the left, but what is instructive about the debate is the illiberal terms on which it has been conducted. Sanders’ critics have defended the protest on the grounds that Sanders has not done enough for racial justice.

His supporters have replied that he has. Hamilton Nolan, representing the pro-Sanders side, called the shutdown “dumb,” “stupid,” “unwise,” and “counterproductive” because, Nolan explained, “Bernie Sanders is the most progressive serious presidential candidate, and the most liberal, and the most vocal and wise on the issue of America’s entrenched and widening economic inequality.”

Nolan suggested that protesters instead shut down speeches from the likes of Donald Trump. Other Sanders fans have urged Black Lives Matter protesters to disrupt Hillary Clinton instead of Sanders. (Some protesters reportedly planned to do just that later in the week but were foiled by the Secret Service.) And so the debate revolved entirely around Sanders’ ideological merits, and whether preventing him from speaking advances or hinders the progressive cause.

Absent from the calculation on either side is a normative debate over shutting down political speeches. Nolan made very clear his belief that his only problem with the method is that it has been used against a politician he likes. But maybe there is a more important question here than mere tactics. Perhaps shutting down a political speech is, normatively, wrong.

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Amy Schumer Won’t Do ‘Safe Material’ Despite Claims of Racial Insensitivity



Amy Schumer is firing back at critics — specifically, those who claim her material is racially insensitive.

In a Twitter post the comedian put online Sunday morning, Schumer refused to tone down her comedy on race amid recent criticism.

“I am a comic. I am so glad more people are laughing at me and with me all of a sudden,” she wrote. “I will joke about things you like and I will joke about things you aren’t comfortable with. And that’s ok. Stick with me and trust I am joking.”

“I go in and out of playing an irreverent idiot,” she went on. “That includes making dumb jokes involving race. I enjoy playing the girl who time to time says the dumbest thing possible and playing with race is a thing we are not supposed to do, which is what makes it so fun for comics,” she continued. “You can call it a ‘blind spot for racism’ or ‘lazy’ but you are wrong. It is a joke and it is funny. I know that because people laugh at it.”

Her post seems to be a direct response to an article posted by the Guardian this weekend, saying her comedy “has a shockingly large blind spot around race.”

Schumer also recently responded on Twitter to a similarly critical article from the Daily Beast, which said she “is being called subversive and transgressive, the truth is that many of her jokes aren’t as enlightened as they might seem.”

Schumer ended her message by saying that she is not a racist, and her goal is that everyone is treated equally.

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Must not mention that homosexual men tend to be highly promiscuous

Newsnight is at the centre of a row over gay stereotyping after a presenter claimed dating app Tinder allows 'straight people to behave like gay men'.

The controversial comments were made by Evan Davis during the programme last night, ahead of a discussion about the impacts of dating apps.

Comedian Matt Lucas has lead a backlash against the remarks, branding the BBC 'pathetic' over the wording of the introduction.

Mr Davis, who is himself openly gay, was speaking ahead of a studio discussion of how dating apps on phones are changing the way people meet.

Mr Davis said: 'Tinder is the biggest of a number of apps that allow straight people of any gender to behave like gay men.

'It's an easy hook-up service. You upload your profile, and scroll through others, to find someone to meet.

'It's love at first swipe. Swipe left for the ones you don't like, swipe right for the folks you're interested in. And then if the feeling's mutual, you can message each other and take it from there.'

The strange comments provoked instant reaction on Twitter, where users complained they were 'offensive' and implied all gay men are promiscuous.

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Must not boast about overtime

A Missouri police officer is being investigated after bragging about spending his 'annual Michael Brown bonus' on Facebook.

Todd J Bakula, a patrolman with St Louis County police, was believed to be boasting about overtime pay he was given for policing protests in Ferguson on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death.

In the post, under the alias of TJ Thekoola, Bakula says he is spending the money on a bed and breakfast holiday and cycle ride with his 18-weeks pregnant wife, Stephanie Bakula.

Images posted online by CopBlock show Bakula posing with his wife and fellow officers while wearing a polo shirt with a police badge emblazoned on it.

A state of emergency was declared in Ferguson last week as demonstrators took to the streets while one teenager was shot dead by police.

Tyrone Harris, 18, a friend of Brown's, was killed by police after reportedly opening fire on officers, while CCTV showed him pulling a handgun from his waistband shortly before he died.

His death caused a week-long state of emergency to be imposed, and hundreds of police officers were drafted in to enforce it, with many working overtime.

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British prudery

A BBC radio DJ has been suspended after a bizarre rant in which he claimed that 'librarian-type moustached' women should not breastfeed in public. 

Alex Dyke, 53, said it was 'unnatural' and a 'throwback to the Stone Age' for women to publicly breastfeed, especially 'fat chavvy mums with their boobs out'.

The father-of-three, who also compared the act to having sex, later apologised for 'any offence caused'. But his comments sparked a huge online backlash, including a 8,000-strong petition which called for him to be sacked.

This afternoon, the BBC announced Dyke - who first joined the corporation more than 30 years ago - would not be presenting his Friday show. The show in which he made the comments has also been removed from iPlayer.

During a phone-in on his radio show at 10am, the veteran broadcaster - whom outraged listeners have since compared to Steve Coogan's comedy character Alan Partridge - described how he had been embarrassed after seeing a ‘big girl’ feeding her child on a bus.

He claimed it was a ‘special breed’ of women – ‘librarian types, the kind with moustaches’ - who indulged in the act and that attractive ‘yummie mummies’ would never be seen breastfeeding because ‘they know it’s not a great look’.

Even when he was confronted by angry listeners on social media about his comments, Dyke responded: 'My point was fat chavvy mums with their boobs out on buses isn't a good look. A classy discreet mum is absolutely fine.'

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Fatties not wanted!

A woman wanting to gain entry to a top London night spot that plays host to A-list celebrities was told she and her friends could get in for free - so long as none of them were fat.

Promoters selling tickets for Soho-based Cirque le Soir - which Drake, Cara Delevingne, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have all frequented - sent a list of rules to hopeful clubbers via Facebook and Whatsapp.

A Facebook message - one coming from Mia Md Mamun - sent to the promoters' VIP list outlined the stringent rules for entry into exclusive areas at the London club, where a bottle of champagne can set revellers back £1,000.

One read: 'Do not bring any big/fat girls/guys.'

A spokesperson for Cirque le Soir told MailOnline: 'We would like to distance ourselves from comments made by a so-called "promoter" who is not employed by us in any capacity and reassure you that this is not our door policy whatsoever.

'We would like to reiterate comments made have not come from anyone at Cirque le Soir, nor anyone connected to the club.

In separate messages, from promoters looking after the guest lists for Whisky Mist and Mason House in London, it was claimed that women wouldn't have to pay for entry if they were glam and wearing high heels.

Journalism student Elouise Bratt, 19, said she had received similar messages from promoters and blasted the club for apparently employing them.

Elouise, who studies at Nottingham Trent University and is originally from Gants Hill, east London, said: 'It's disgusting and it's discriminatory.

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'Look like a girl. Think like a MAN': Outrage on Twitter over  'sexist' advert

Stationery company Bic has been forced to apologise for an advert celebrating Women's Day which encourages workers to 'Think like a man.'

The South African campaign featured an image of a business woman accompanied by the words 'look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss'.

The bizarre and contradictory choice of words has attracted a Twitter storm of outraged comments from offended men and women.

Jennifer Nonsense remarked: 'I got stuck at the part where Bic  wants us to look like girls. Would you tell men to look like boys?'

Girl on the Net tweeted: Look like a girl, Act like a lady, Think like a supervillain, Work to destroy the Bic corporation.'

The company has since taken to their Facebook page twice to apologise after removing their first comment from their page.

Its initial statement read: 'We would like to apologise to all our fans who took offence to our recent Women's Day Post. We can assure you that we meant it in the most empowering way possible and in no way derogatory towards women.

'We took the quote from a "Women in Business" blog site (link) The blog site explains the quote and what its intentions were when it was written. Bic believe in celebrating women and the powerful contribution women make to our society.'

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Must not mention that people starved in concentration camps (?)

A logical comment was not "sensitive"

IT WAS the live-to-air comment that left Karl Stefanovic and Today show viewers gobsmacked.  Now, a prominent group has called for an apology for the “shockingly insensitive” remark.

The breakfast show’s go-to medical commentator Dr Ric Gordon took things way too far this morning with a strange comment during a segment about Australia’s weight problem. He said Australians needed to eat less food, just like people in concentration camps.

“As something controversial — there were no overweight people in the concentration camps. Now, they weren’t exercising a lot, they just weren’t eating,” Dr Gordon said.  “Now I’m not going any further with that except to say what you put in your mouth ends up on your hips,” he said.

The chairman of Jewish group the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission said this afternoon that he was “outraged and alarmed” by the comments.

“It’s clear that we have reached a new low in the abuse and perversion of the Holocaust,” Dr Dvir Abramovich said in a statement to news.com.au.

“To employ the unspeakable tragedy of the death camps, where more than 1.5 million people starved to death and were tortured and murdered in the gas chambers, as a way to bring attention to the importance of weight loss, trivialises and debases the memory of the Holocaust and diminishes the evil deeds of the Nazis.

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Is "fat" the ultimate term of abuse?

Katie Hopkins has been accused of 'fat shaming' a member of the audience at her inaugural talk show by brandishing the woman a 'raging, angry fat person' during a televised debate.

The columnist became embroiled in a heated exchange with the woman, known only as Sheryl, when discussing whether fat people ought to pay more when flying.

Hopkins, who proudly wears her title as Britain's most hated woman, argued that any woman heavier than 9stone should have to pay £20 per extra kilo when boarding a flight.

When challenged by a member of the audience who slammed her view as 'pure hatred', she screamed back: 'You're a raging, angry, fat person in a pink jacket.'

Her outburst has been slammed by viewers as 'cruel' and 'unkind' with some labelling the columnist a 'bully'.

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No free speech for senior British doctor

A leading cancer surgeon claims he has been forced out of his job at a renowned hospital for daring to criticise the NHS.

Joseph Meirion Thomas wrote a series of articles raising concerns about GPs, the scale of health tourism and his own treatment by senior management.

He has now been made to quit the Royal Marsden Hospital in London after being told he brought the institution into ‘disrepute’.

Mr Thomas, 69, suspects his exit was triggered by one particular article which warned that GPs do not even provide a ‘remotely personal’ service, work out of hours or see the same patient more than once.

The piece, published in the Daily Mail in November, triggered a backlash with doctors condemning him on Twitter as ‘ignorant, unprofessional and misinformed’.

Mr Thomas claims the hospital chief executive was told that GPs would stop referring their patients unless action was taken against him. The surgeon says he was asked to sign a document pledging not to write any more articles without permission and was subsequently made to leave at the end of March.

Efforts to negotiate a contract enabling him to stay on part-time to finish a research project were rejected.

Although he tried to launch a claim for bullying and harassment against bosses, Mr Thomas has just learned it has been thrown out.

Hospital bosses deny trying to ‘silence’ the surgeon and say his articles were ‘personal views’ which were not ‘evidence-based’.

It comes months after the Government unveiled sweeping measures to protect whistleblowers and encourage staff to speak freely.

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I initially thought his claims had to be exaggerated but the fury that they aroused suggests that he hit on an uncomfortable truth.