St Georges day #2

[BANGKOK RED]

I've probably got your back up accidentally here, 'cause the second part of my post wasn't aimed at you but at everyone posting in the threads bemoaning the lack of St Georges day celebrations, and there were plenty of them.

And as for the Wakefield prison stuff, the quote given in the link you pasted reads:

"Prison Service orders made clear that unauthorised badges and pins should not be worn.'' As one of her recommendations, she adds: "Staff should not wear unauthorised pins.''

which sounds to me like a ban on wearing pins and badges on uniforms.

No worries.

I skimmed through the report that Ben posted, and at 66 pages I may well have missed something.

The paragraph about the pins does suggest that pins are banned in general, but it also refers directly to the cross of St. George, and that "there was clear scope for misinterpretation.

If it was simply a "No jewellry" issue then fair enough, but why not just say just that.

I s'pose that the paragraph itself is open to misinterpretation. It is paragraph 2.92 should you be interested.

[flammableBen]

I think it's a bit cheeky how the telegraph cut the end off the sentence in their quote.

We were concerned to see a number of staff wearing a flag of St George tie-pin. While we were told that these had been bought in support of a cancer charity, there was clear scope for misinterpretation, and Prison Service Orders made clear that unauthorised badges and pins should not be worn.

But yeah it's still an interesting thing to put in a report. I still think it was a bit of a non-news article in that they were trying to make a story out of nothing. I can see some weight to the argument that it's inappropriate for prison guards in a position of authority to be wearing symbols that could be interpreted to be show support of some prisoners over those of others. Especially when you read the the paragraph in relation to some of there other failings in the race relations section of the report.

I still think it's a case of trying to make a "Political Correctness gone mad" story where there wasn't really one there. Although I'm sure there are more extreme examples of interesting press interpretation.

[donkey]

Well some of you may be pleased to know that my form had to deliver their assembly this week...at one point during it a St George Cross is projected on to a huge screen whilst Jerusalem plays in the background.  There was also no mention of dragons.