Thursday 3 March 2011

Don't mention the cuts!

Warning: this post may contain traces of sarcasm and a parody of nut-based Daily Mail editorials.

Honestly, you couldn't make it up. Now we read that the BBC is under pressure to censor news broadcasts to avoid upsetting those politically correct killjoys in the government. Apparently, reporters are no longer allowed to use the word 'cuts, in case it offends some humourless government apparatchik. A new politically-correct language guide orders reporters to use the word 'savings' as a 'positive' and less offensive alternative. Talk about political correctness gone barking mad!

Imagine what this policy of censorship would have done to our old and cherished comedies! Basil Fawlty would have had a knock on the door in the middle of the night from the Thought Police of The PC Brigade and been sent away for a spot of political re-eduction for this:

Listen, don't mention the cuts! I mentioned them once, but I think I got away with it all right.

So! It's all forgotten now, and let's hear no more about it. So, that's one diced pork à la Eric Pickles, chopped liver Osborne, some thinly sliced salami, a filleted NHS, and some selected cuts of meat from our carvery.
As Major Tufton Bufton, editor of Jane's World Armies, said, 'We live in politically correct times and what these rulebooks do is keep the politicians happy.'

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