OK its the Daily Mail but...eh?

[Phier]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-t-write.html

Businessman is arrested in front
of wife and son... for ‘anti-gipsy’
email that he didn’t even write



By James Millbank
Last updated at 10:04 AM on 10th January 2010

Paul Osmond who made a comment about a gipsy planning application

A wealthy businessman was arrested at home in front of his wife and young son over an email which council officials deemed ‘offensive’ to gipsies – but which he had not even written.
The email, concerning a planning appeal by a gipsy, included the phrase: ‘It’s the 'do as you likey' attitude that I am against.’

Council staff believed the email was offensive because ‘likey’ rhymes with the derogatory term ‘pikey’.

More to the story at the link.....

Now its the Daily Mail, but, eh? Could one of our local brits explain this one?

[Heinz Guderian]

What would like you like to know?

[Gromovnik]

He doesn't look like a wealthy businessman...

[Heinz Guderian]

He doesn't look like a wealthy businessman...

He does to Daily Mail readers and thats what counts.

[Simon Cashmere]

He doesn't look like a wealthy businessman...

Appearances can be deceptive. I used to live in a very wealthy area in Sydney, and you'd see some guy walk into the bottle'o wearing a ripped t-shirt, shorts and sandals and say 'Just a 6 pack a carlton cold please' he'd then walk out into the street, get into a convertible ferrari and drive off. Another time when I was in the states, I was waiting for an interview with a bank manager, and he was already seeing another guy who looked like any surfer who was listing his assets. 5 million property here, 10 million property there, block of apartments here, factory there...so you just never know.

I am not surprised by this event though. I remember a school boy being arrested and charged in the UK for calling one of his mates a and Bin Laden in a schoolyard fight.

[justicar5]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-t-write.html

Businessman is arrested in front
of wife and son... for ‘anti-gipsy’
email that he didn’t even write



By James Millbank
Last updated at 10:04 AM on 10th January 2010



Paul Osmond who made a comment about a gipsy planning application

A wealthy businessman was arrested at home in front of his wife and young son over an email which council officials deemed ‘offensive’ to gipsies – but which he had not even written.
The email, concerning a planning appeal by a gipsy, included the phrase: ‘It’s the 'do as you likey' attitude that I am against.’

Council staff believed the email was offensive because ‘likey’ rhymes with the derogatory term ‘pikey’.

More to the story at the link.....

Now its the Daily Mail, but, eh? Could one of our local brits explain this one?

if the daily mail hasn't spun the story out of recognition (which they may have) then it's a stupid decision by a jobs worth idiot.

[Helm]

I'm guessing there was probably...more to it. Flamming Daily Mail. I suppose yyou could call dealing drugs a kind of business.

[The Fishman]

According to this paper, Facebook causes cancer...

[Phier]

Telegraph has the same story but thats it.

But are racist comments illegal in the UK?

[justicar5]

Telegraph has the same story but thats it.

But are racist comments illegal in the UK?

not supposed to be however inciting racial or religous hatred is.

[Phier]

not supposed to be however inciting racial or religous hatred is.

So as long as you talk to yourself they are legal?

[justicar5]

So as long as you talk to yourself they are legal?

not that extreme, it is supposed to be you can say bad things, (n word etc) but you can't say 'kill all the n's'

[Dr. Croccer]

So as long as you talk to yourself they are legal?

Let's put it this way, you can say the N word how much you like, but you can't stand on a platform on a busy square, advocating the massacre of all brownies.

[Phier]

Let's put it this way, you can say the N word how much you like, but you can't stand on a platform on a busy square, advocating the massacre of all brownies.

I'm going to guess that the application is obviously not that narrow being in this case the offending line was he didn't like their attitude.

[The Fishman]

But are racist comments illegal in the UK?

No, but we (the left-wing liberal Guardian readers who used to be the establishment before all the business around 2001 happened) don't like them, and actually acting on racist beliefs is illegal.

Somebody can say that they don't think black people should live near whites and get away with it, but if they are selling their house and they actually refuse to sell it to a black person for this reason then this is a crime. It is also a hate crime if somebody shouts it as abuse.

[Phier]

No, but we (the left-wing liberal Guardian readers who used to be the establishment before all the business around 2001 happened) don't like them, and actually acting on racist beliefs is illegal.

Somebody can say that they don't think black people should live near whites and get away with it, but if they are selling their house and they actually refuse to sell it to a black person for this reason then this is a crime. It is also a hate crime if somebody shouts it as abuse.

So why the arrest?

[Yorkshireman]

So why the arrest?

We'll probably never know. These sort of stories pop-up daily in the tabloids but they're unlikely to be reported by the serious news outlets.

[Phier]

We'll probably never know. These sort of stories pop-up daily in the tabloids but they're unlikely to be reported by the serious news outlets.

The telegraph as the highest circulation in England, 3* that of the Guardian, and the story is there. Since basically all UK journalism is divided on political lines and constantly accused of being biased, which would be the serious ones? Even the BBC has fallen somewhat into the morass.

[Gaidin]

So why the arrest?

It's comparatively easy to get an arrest for something like this as opposed to a conviction. I'll be impressed if they even get an indictment(or whatever the equivalent is in UK).

[Yorkshireman]

Thats not actually the businessman in question in the photo, thats his employee that sent the email.

It seems though that the council did infact contact the police over what they deemed 'an offensive comment', then dozy plod went to the wrong mans house. (No surprise there)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6959...ven-write.html