ONE OF THE GREAT STORIES of our time is about which great western
culture - America or Britain - is collapsing faster. On civil liberties
- thanks in part to the lack of Bill of Rights - Britain seems to have
the edge. Then it slips a bit with something like the recent report
proposing the decriminalization of much drug use. But, as the Guardian
reports, it can easily recover lost ground by simply letting one of its
leaders talk and then having the media comment on it. . .
GUARDIAN WRAP - Patrick Mercer, the Conservative homeland security
spokesman was sacked by David Cameron after making racist remarks,
including the suggestion that being called "black bastard" was a normal
part of being in the armed forces. Among his other comments, which the
Guardian reprints on its front page, was the suggestion that "idle and
useless" ethnic minority soldiers used racism "as a cover for their
misdemeanors". His remarks were prompted by news that soldiers from the
Commonwealth are forming a trade union.
"Thoughtless and clumsy rather than calculating," is Michael White's
charitable appraisal of Mercer's comments in the Guardian. Yasmin
Alibhai-Brown of the Independent is less forgiving. "I am depressed,"
she remarks. "The filth of racism has washed back, but now there's no
concern, there's no shame, there's no real opposition."
Mercer was sacked by his party leader, David Cameron, within a couple of
hours of making his remarks. The Times calls it a ruthless act to save
his campaign to modernize his party but, says the Mirror, "widespread
sympathy for Mercer shows he isn't the only Colonel Blimp in Tory high
command". . .
The widespread sympathy camp also includes the Mail, which criticizes Mr
Cameron for acting with "such puffed up, politically correct zeal" and
reports approvingly that Ken Clarke and Michael Ancram - "two wise old
heads" - spoke in Mr Mercer's favor. The paper also finds two black
soldiers who served under Mr Mercer and believe he has been completely
misrepresented. "Not a single one of his men would consider him to be
racist," said Leroy Hutchinson who served under the MP for 12 years in
Northern Ireland, Germany and Central America.
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culture - America or Britain - is collapsing faster. On civil liberties
- thanks in part to the lack of Bill of Rights - Britain seems to have
the edge. Then it slips a bit with something like the recent report
proposing the decriminalization of much drug use. But, as the Guardian
reports, it can easily recover lost ground by simply letting one of its
leaders talk and then having the media comment on it. . .
GUARDIAN WRAP - Patrick Mercer, the Conservative homeland security
spokesman was sacked by David Cameron after making racist remarks,
including the suggestion that being called "black bastard" was a normal
part of being in the armed forces. Among his other comments, which the
Guardian reprints on its front page, was the suggestion that "idle and
useless" ethnic minority soldiers used racism "as a cover for their
misdemeanors". His remarks were prompted by news that soldiers from the
Commonwealth are forming a trade union.
"Thoughtless and clumsy rather than calculating," is Michael White's
charitable appraisal of Mercer's comments in the Guardian. Yasmin
Alibhai-Brown of the Independent is less forgiving. "I am depressed,"
she remarks. "The filth of racism has washed back, but now there's no
concern, there's no shame, there's no real opposition."
Mercer was sacked by his party leader, David Cameron, within a couple of
hours of making his remarks. The Times calls it a ruthless act to save
his campaign to modernize his party but, says the Mirror, "widespread
sympathy for Mercer shows he isn't the only Colonel Blimp in Tory high
command". . .
The widespread sympathy camp also includes the Mail, which criticizes Mr
Cameron for acting with "such puffed up, politically correct zeal" and
reports approvingly that Ken Clarke and Michael Ancram - "two wise old
heads" - spoke in Mr Mercer's favor. The paper also finds two black
soldiers who served under Mr Mercer and believe he has been completely
misrepresented. "Not a single one of his men would consider him to be
racist," said Leroy Hutchinson who served under the MP for 12 years in
Northern Ireland, Germany and Central America.
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