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Sorry m'dear: I need to think about that post before I respond :P
As to the offence at celebrating Christmas etc: there are a few cases where that is genuine, but more often than not it is invented by bored journalists and racist dickheads.
Case in point: I get told at least 3 or 4 times every year that 'we can't even put Christmas decorations up in Bradford city centre anymore because it might offend the moslems/pakis'. This story has been doing the rounds for at least 5 years and is complete bulllshit. I've had people trot it out to me when I've been doorknocking/canvassing; I've seen it trotted out in readers' letters to local newspapers 9and equally ludicrous equivalents in national newspapers).
I know for a fact, because I shop in Bradford every fucking Christmas, that there are Christmas decorations there every year. Not just 'holiday' decorations; but proper, Christmas decorations, up to and including a fuck off big manger scene in front of the city hall and christmas trees in the main square and all the smaller centres.
I hear the same thing said of Halifax centre again, it's bollocks) and Leeds 9again bollocks).
The fact that it is patently untrue has unfortunately not stopped it becoming perceived wisdom. It is more or less accepted by a large sector of the population (according to various surveys conducted by the Searchlight organisation) that these stories are true.
Similarly: a huge furore erupted in the press (local and national) about councils not allowing St George flags to be hung in their town halls on St George's day 'for fear of offending moslem/pakis'. It is possible an isolated number of councils did make that rather silly decision. But, it is trotted out regardless of the truth. I have had people tell me that our council won;t allow St george flags to be hung on St George's day. Again, i know this is false. I work in the town hall: there was a bloody great big St George flag hung on the wall of the great hall. The same accusation was made of police for stopping people having st george flags on their cars. People were up in arms because it was 'so as not to offend moslems/pakis'. In actual fact it was a road safety issue, because there had been a number of incidents on motorways, where the little plastic flags on the back of the car had broken off and flown back into the window of the car behind.
As a local politician I find myself being told this stuff again and again. The percentage of these stories that have any basis in truth is miniscule. The weight of them all taken together serves to create a general sense of 'PC gone mad' and 'native English people as second class citizens in their own land'.
There are, from time to time, occasions where an attempt not to create offence goes awry. Someone makes a bad call. But, there are also occasions when someone's lack of sensitivity to a potential for offence also goes awry and someone likewise makes a bad call. These days, people are less likely to be offended by examnples of institutional and overt racism; because the social changes that we refer to as 'PC' have changed the landscape.
The world is not perfect. But, truly, I'd rather someone end up accidentally getting in hot water now and again because someone hasbeen over zealous ion their attempts to avoid offence, than we return to a time when deeply offensive and bigotted language and policy was the norm in public service and the workplace.
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