Saturday, March 04, 2006

Good golly!

Should it be illegal to display golliewoggs in shop windows?

The Times reports that West-Mercia police siezed three gollies and "consulted appropriate partner agencies and the Crown Prosecution Service" about whether an offence had been committed or not before deciding it may just be "insensitive" to display them in future.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Police it would seem acted before they know if an offence had been committed.

If even the police do not know then how are we suposed to obey the law.

Snafu said...

Ken

You're quite right. They removed them from display and then tried to find out if it was illegal by contacting various interested parties! There seems to have been an assumption of guilt and that some crime had been committed. Did they want the shopkeeper to be imprisoned?

It's good to know that West Mercia Police have got the right priorities.

If I was the shopkeeper in question, I'd be tempted to have a window full of golliewoggs just to upset the Police and the original complainant.

Alfie said...

Shit - I've got a collection of Rupert books dating back to the dangerous and imperial 1950's......

Do you think the 'Demeaning Animals by Clothing Them in Bright Yellow Trousers Squad' will be paying me a visit?

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should get Cherie Blair on the case re dress code for animals.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it ought to be illegal per se. But people ought to have more sense than this. Anyone here who can get his or her stiff upper lip all sweaty about "English" being constantly associated with "soccer holliganism" ought to be able to understand that people just might object to having their entire racial identity characterized by a rouge-mouthed, wild-eyed lunatic with Buckwheat's hairdo and garbed in garish cast-offs that would make a hobo blush. C'mon, folks. It's 2006.

If I was the shopkeeper in question, I'd be tempted to have a window full of golliewoggs just to upset the Police and the original complainant.

Sure, why doesn't he just festoon the joint in Klan banners while he's at it? If I were on the jury, I couldn't convict anyone who firebombed his shop under such circumstances as you've just proposed, either... not given such egregious provocation. If you're gonna deliberately set out to be a pr!ck, don't be surprised if some of the balloons you're after turn out to be zeppelins.