Tuesday, May 18, 2004

"Alleged"?

From the BBC, of course:

"A statue in a Spanish cathedral showing St James slicing the heads off Moorish invaders is to be removed to avoid causing offence to Muslims. Cathedral authorities in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, on Spain's north west coast, plan to move the statue to the museum. Among the reasons for the move is to avoid upsetting the "sensitivities of other ethnic groups"... The Saracen-slaying image of St James, or Santiago in Spanish, is a symbol of the fight between Christianity and Islam and the reconquest of Spain from eight centuries of Moorish rule before 1492. Cathedral authorities insist the timing of the decision has nothing to do with the 11 March bombings in Madrid, which an Islamic group is alleged to have carried out".


OPPOSITION TO PC STILL MARGINAL IN BRITISH POLITICS

Robert Kilroy-Silk, the chatshow host forced out for inflammatory comments about Arabs, is to stand for the hard-right UK Independence party at next month's Euro elections. The move is the latest twist in an eclectic career, which has seen him switch from being a Labour MP to a successful broadcaster and newspaper columnist.

His choice of UKIP - which advocates withdrawal from Europe and detention for asylum seekers - may raise eyebrows. But its commitment to 'freedom from political correctness' and a strengthened right of free speech on issues such as immigration could appeal to the man who lost his job for describing Arab nations as 'suicide bombers, limb amputators and women repressors' in an article for the Sunday Express.

Capturing Kilroy-Silk is a publicity coup for the fringe party, whose best-known martyr to political correctness until now was a 78-year-old UKIP activist from Liverpool charged with racially aggravated criminal damage after putting up a party poster which said 'Keep The Pound, Leave The EU' and writing alongside it 'Don't Forget the 1945 War' and 'Free Speech for England'. The charge against George Staunton was later dropped and he explained he was not racist, but wanted to discuss the impact of immigration.

More here.

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