Offensive

The BBC has been forced to apologise for an offensive remark by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson in which he described a Ferrari car as ‘a bit wrong – that smiling front end – it looked like a simpleton – should have been called the 430 Speciale Needs’.

The BBC removed the comment from the programme’s repeat and apologised for any offence caused. But, of course, the damage was done and Ofcom were spot on to say ‘discriminatory language of this nature has the potential to be very offensive to some viewers as it could be seen to single out certain sections of society in a derogatory way because of their disability.’

I am not a fan of Clarkson or his sneering Top Gear programme which, in my view, promotes fast and dangerous driving. But the main fault here would not seem to have been Clarkson’s even though he ought not to have made the remark.

Doesn’t anyone at the BBC check that programme content is good enough to be aired before it is broadcast without offending anyone?

And, if not, why not?
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Something To Be Applauded

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One of the most worrying aspects of modern life is the apparent increase in the number of paedophilia cases reported. We seem to hear of them almost every day.

Paedophilia has undoubtedly spread in proportion to the increased accessibility of the internet, and I for one am very careful about what I put into a search engine in case I access something nasty by mistake.

Most of us can think of youngsters we know and the expert but innocent way they use their laptops, mobile phones and digital cameras. Indeed, research from Ofcom published last autumn showed that 80% of five to seven-year-olds use the internet and that among nine to 11-year olds, 94% do so.

So a new children’s safety campaign run by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety is to be applauded. The campaign uses cartoons to show children as young as five that people they might meet on the internet are not always what they seem.

The internet is a great thing, but it is both sad and inevitable that it will be used by predators for the sort of things that disgust and which few of us can understand or tolerate.
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