Rt Hon Sir John Redwood: Politically Correct Speaking

Wokeish is not my mother tongue, but I feel I can usually speak and write it fluently because it is all the opposition parties in the Commons speak all the time. It is prevalent on the BBC and mainstream media, so news is dominated by its tropes and preoccupations.

It is stifling much debate and creating a divide with the informal conversations of some parts of the social media and of life when permitted in many clubs, bars and homes. 

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Half a century on from ‘The Lotus Eaters’

Lotus-eater: someone who has a very comfortable, lazy life and does not worry about anything - Cambridge Online

Xmas is approaching, and the perennial question of what to get for whom is becoming more pressing by the day – a fairly simple one to answer for the youngsters, often not so for the oldies on one’s prezzy list.

DVDs of quality television series make good Chrissy prezzies. By ‘quality’ I tend to mean old (mostly 35-50+ years) British ones – just the thing for rellies drawing the old-age pension. Now let me see, we want something not too lengthy and commensurately expensive… I’ve got it – give serious consideration to buying them ‘The Lotus Eaters’, a 14-episode series from the early 1970s set in Crete.

Karl du Fresne: The new ruling class

Politics in the 21^st century is often characterised as a contest between the elites and the populists.

The elites – often referred to as the metropolitan or inner-city elites – are Leftist idealists who prefer to describe themselves as “progressive”. Leading global figureheads include the two HCs, Hillary Clinton and Helen Clark.

You could almost call the elites the new ruling class, since they have power and influence far beyond their numbers. They predominate in the universities, the media, the arts, schools, the churches, the public service and the not-for-profit sector – that vast and perpetually busy plethora of organisations, mostly taxpayer-subsidised, that lobby for politically correct causes.

Chris Talgo: Nike caves in to political correctness

Nike (the quintessential American sportswear company) recently made this coy announcement: “Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag.”

So, why did Nike pull back its patriotic-themed shoe days before America’s 243rd birthday? Because Colin Kaepernick, the ex-NFL quarterback turned social justice warrior, believes (incorrectly) the so-called Betsy Ross flag — which was on the shoe’s heel — is a racist symbol.

Obviously, Kaepernick can believe anything he wants about the American flag that flew across the land during the War for Independence. And Nike, as a private company, is under no obligation to release a shoe adorned with the American flag via 1777. However, the entire episode is just the most recent example of political correctness gone wild.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: ‘Affirmative action’ – an obstacle for some ‘minorities’

Donald Trump is in trouble again with the PC crowd for fingering affirmative action (AA) as his next target. The more I see of this guy, the more I like him!

AA is both sex-based and race-based. 

The former is not the issue it was a few years back, although it remains a thorn in the side for many a man sidelined for appointment or promotion because he had the misfortune to be up against a woman and thus the cards were stacked against him whatever his credentials. But it is race-based AA that is under the spotlight not because it has trodden on the toes of any nebulous ‘majority’ but rather those of some ‘minorities’.

Alexandra Burnett: Teacher Education Must Rise Above Political Correctness

Increasingly, Canadian universities seem to be more concerned about political correctness than educating students. A prominent illustration of this is University of Toronto psychologist Jordan Peterson’s public battle with university administrators, professors and some students over his refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns when referring to students with varying sexual orientations.

A less well known but arguably much more serious example is the increasing tendency for Canadian faculties of education to use admissions criteria that are unrelated to the characteristics and skills needed by effective classroom teachers. At the University of Windsor, for example, special consideration is being given to candidates who reflect “the ethno-cultural and social diversity of Ontario’s schools”. And, last September, the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba went even further by aiming to admit 45 per cent of incoming teacher candidates on the basis of their self-identification as members of marginalised groups, such as indigenous, disabled, LGBTQ, minority ethnic or socially disadvantaged.

NZCPR Weekly: Political Correctness Threatens Free Speech

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the impact of political correctness on the freedom of speech, our NZCPR Guest Commentator, Lindsay Perigo explains why he thinks free speech in New Zealand is dead, and our poll asks whether you believe political correctness is undermining free speech in New Zealand.

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Billy T James epitomised free speech in New Zealand - as we knew it!

NZCPR Weekly: Golliwogs and Local Government

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the diverse impact of political correctness – from golliwogs to local government, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Don Brash looks at whether free speech is under threat in New Zealand, and our poll asks whether the right to challenge council decisions to establish Maori wards through a referendum process should be retained or removed.

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Brian Giesbrecht from Canada: University Succumbs to Politically Correct Nonsense

Why is the university pretending indigenous knowledge and science are the equivalent of our written knowledge base?

I recently listened to an interview of the new head of the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Knowledge department on CBC radio. She articulately explained that “traditional knowledge” and “indigenous science” have been vital to the survival of the aboriginal culture.

A hunter-gatherer culture depended on information about the movement of animals, weather changes and the medicinal properties of plants, for instance. This important information was passed on orally through many generations, she noted. Because aboriginal culture had no written languages, “keepers” of this knowledge had a special place in the culture.

NZCPR: Politically Correct Madness

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

We start off election year by examining the scourge of political correctness, our NZCPR Guest Commentator, Dr Samuel Gregg, explains why the originator of these ideas is the most dangerous socialist in history, and our poll asks whether you believe political correctness is out of control in New Zealand.

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Stephen Franks: The Rugby Union’s clerical duties

Have I lost touch with my country? Where am I?

When did it become an obligation on an employer to discipline an employee for what could be a fleeting airport toilet shag with a woman not his ‘partner’, thousands of miles from the ‘workplace’ with no evidence (so far) that it could affect workplace performance.

Karl du Fresne: How identity politics has changed language

What a minefield language has become since it got mixed up with identity politics.

In her acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards last year, Viola Davis – named outstanding lead actress in a TV drama series for her performance in How to Get Away with Murder – talked of herself as a "woman of colour".

I wish we could make up our minds once and for all.

Kevin Donnelly: History curriculum sacrifices Western values at the altar of political correctness

Most of the debate about Julia Gillard's national crusade in education centres on school funding and how the government intends to respond to the report chaired by Sydney businessman David Gonski. The existing model expires at the end of the year and the government is scrambling to decide on an alternative by the April meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.

Kevin Donnelly: A guide to education jargon!

With schools about to start in a couple of weeks it’s a good time for parents to brush up on education fads and gobbledegook. Every profession and job has its clichés and jargon words.  Canberra politicians talk about ‘at this point in time’, ‘ moving forward’ and ‘having a big agenda’.  In business, consultants talk about ‘synergy’, ‘triple bottom line’ and ‘leverage best practice’. Primary schools and teachers also have their own special way of talking that often makes it impossible for parents to work out whether their kids are learning or not and whether the school is the best place for their child.

Karl du Fresne: Another PC casualty

BRIAN TRUE-MAY, the co-creator and producer of the popular TV series Midsomer Murders, has effectively been forced to step aside after a magazine interview in which he described the programme as “the last bastion of Englishness” and said it wouldn’t work if it included racial minorities. He thus becomes yet another casualty of political correctness. The po-faced neo-prudes rule.

The essence of Midsomer Murders, the source of its charm, is that it is set in a mythical, rural England where the villages have names like Badger’s Drift, Luxton Deeping and Monks Barton. The characters are quintessentially English, which means white (and often slightly loopy).