This little piggy stayed at home

I find myself wondering whether this is a cynical attempt at gaining publicity. A variation on the Three Little Pigs story has apparently been rejected by a government agency awards panel. OK, a children's educational CD-ROM called "Three Little Cowboy Builders" was never going to have an easy ride ... but I still can't see in what way this would offend Muslims. Builders, yes: I can see how they might feel offended. Still, it's a variation on banning the thing.

I wrote a piece a while ago about Muslim being the new Black - but never posted it. I'm still convinced that beliefs rather than appearance is the current target of scaremongery. Hoodies and drunks no longer hold the public in fear - but Muslims? That's almost foreign. They're obviously a rotten lot to be despised and feared, surely?

One of two things is tue of this CD-ROM: either the material is offensive - in which case the reasons should be explained properly, or the material is not offensive - in which case Becta should apologise. Reading the comments on The Register article, I know which I suspect is true.

Personally, I think a good story should be left alone. The rot set in when the story was changed so that first two pigs survived. A fat load of use as a cautionary tale when there are no consequences!

Whatever happened to common sense?

Now I'm not a political animal - but the society created by the last two governments is not one I enjoy being part of. The blame is not solely theirs, of course. The popular media (and I include grown-up newspapers in that) have had a major influence in this, too.

I have gotten used to the way of life, I'm sorry to say. I expect to be ripped off by small traders. I expect the government to feather its own nest, rather than to serve the people. I am not surprised when yet another law is passed which restricts my freedom and patronises my intelligence.

The disturbing development, however, is that private companies are now beginning to follow suit. Last week say J D Wetherspoon announcing a limit on the number of drinks served to adults with children. It's bad enough having the government telling me what is good and what is not good for me. The company are not, we are told, concerned with adults being intoxicated in charge of children: their two-drink limit may also extend to soft drinks. No, the quoted reson is that children will be bored as there is no play area.

In reality, the company wants to put as many cards through the till as possible. Shifting bums is their way of achieving this. I never have - and now probably never will - go to a J D Wetherspoon. Two drinks? Keep 'em!

No moral compass

I read through some of the comments on today's "Have Your Say" on the BBC site titled "What should children learn in schools?". I was struck by how many of the messages posted argued against teaching religion. These may well be the same people who will complain about declining moral standards. Some of these poeple may well be the victims of crime, driven by disaffected youth. Why do they think, I wonder, our society is crumbling?

Now I don't think of myself as a particularly religious person. I don't feel strongly connected with the church, but I was brought up to be Christian. I can see the argument that the Church of England and Christianity in general is out of touch with society. I agree. I don't think the answer is to disregard religion, however. In fact, the opposite is true: I think English life would be much improved for involving religion more. Whether this is the responsibility of school, I'm less certain.

But if the church is not going to give us a moral compass - who is? Would you rather be told by politicians or by the Police what is right and what is wrong? I know I wouldn't.

Not a free country, any more

I realised yesterday what turns me off British politics. What I mean is I realised what really bugs me about those interested in British politics.

There's a class of people who are interested in, knowledgeable about and who have influence over British politics. They are always up to date with the latest initiatives, acts and gossip. They expand on every detail - extrapolating the effects of every twitch.

What they seem to miss, however, is the bigger picture. Our government seem dead set on doing away with our every civil liberty. They almost abolished parliament, for goodness' sake! We will soon be - of we are not already - living in a police state. I am saddened to say that I no longer believe we can honestly say that we live in a free country any more.

Meanwhile, the politicos concern themselves with who will be the next deputy Prime Minster - as if none of this mattered.

I despair.

The listening government?


Subject: Government response to petition 'privatecopy'
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:21:43 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: me
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
From: "10 Downing Street" <team@petitions.pm.gov.uk>

You recently signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to "create a new exception to copyright law that gives individuals the right to create a private copy of copyrighted materials for their own personal use, including back-ups, archiving and shifting format."

The Prime Minister's Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here: http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page10776.asp

Prime Minister's Office

Petition info: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/privatecopy/