politics
My complaint to the PCC over Jan Moir
Oct 19th
The PCC site is up and running again, so I decided to lodge my own complaint (click here to lodge yours). There are over 20,000 now which is apparently a record. Here’s what I entered in the “Explanation” field, feel free to re-use if you’re rushed for time.
Section 1: Accuracy
The journalist’s assertions ran counter to the findings of the coroner, with no proof presented. The column also claimed that 33-year-old men do not die of natural causes, an assertion that flies in the face of medical evidence.
Section 5: Intrusion into grief or shock
This is mainly for the family of Mr Gately to respond to, but I would be surprised if they did not feel that this column grossly violated this section of the code.
Section 12: Discrimination
The column strongly insinuates that homosexuality is correlated with destructive drug use, propensity for mental instability, suicidal tendencies and – ultimately – probability of a young, “strange” death. By doing so the columnist painted a highly pejorative portrait of Mr Gately’s lifestyle, using his sexuality as its sole proviso.
Letter to my MP about Gary McKinnon
Jul 31st
Posted by brelson in politics
No comments
As a constituent of yours, I’d like to register my disappointment with the decision regarding Gary McKinnon.
I and many other voters had hoped that, under Gordon Brown and Barack Obama, the relationship between the US and the UK had progressed from the arguably dark days of the mid-2000s and that sufficient trust now existed for the US to allow Mr McKinnon’s trial on British territory and under British laws.
This decision suggests otherwise and condemns a vulnerable British citizen to a disproportionately long confinement period, thousands of miles from his family in a notoriously violent prison system. The moral case for this is indefensible even if the legal case is not. I hope that yourself and other MPs respond to public pressure on this and press for high-level government intervention on Gary’s behalf.