I’ve decided to lighten up a bit

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RUGBY TACKLES: Deemed dangerous by some.

THIS week the health and safety brigade finally lost it completely

WELL this week the ‘ealth n safety brigade finally lost it completely. They were actually suggesting that for safety’s sake, they wanted a total ban on tackling in the game of rugby! 

I’ll tell you what, why don’t we take that dangerous ball out of the game altogether? All those lovely big hulking men could then run around for 80 minutes playing tag with each other! You really couldn’t make it up. 

It was with this ludicrous suggestion in mind I decided this week to lighten up a bit, (I can hear the derisory snorts from here!). Subsequently sniffing through a few internet sites, I managed to come up with some real ‘ealth n safety/PC humdingers. 

In Canada a Santa was banned from saying Ho Ho Ho, because it was too close to the American slang for prostitute and could be derogatory to women. The word pet must be replaced by ‘companion animal’ because it was ‘demeaning to free loving creatures’. Easter eggs should be referred to as ‘spring spheres.’ And my absolute favourite to date. A ban on advertising for ‘reliable employees,’ because it may discriminate against unreliable applicants. All very funny so far. 

With all this in mind, I decided to dig a little deeper. As I delved into the origins of political correctness in particular, it actually began to take on quite sinister overtones. 

Political correctness has in fact been around far longer than many of us may actually realise. Previous totalitarian regimes have used it to great effect. It was at one stage referred to as Cultural Marxism. 

One piece stated that Political Correctness is the principal tool of the political left. Its purpose is to intimidate. It promotes critical theory, separatism and victimology rage. It operates on the premise that ‘victim groups,’ and other minorities are automatically good regardless of what any of them do, and that all bourgeoisie and capital owners are evil. 

Label any subject politically incorrect and there is no debate. It effectively closes down all opinions, freedom of speech and ultimately freedom of thought. In other words all these PC pushers are not petty, piddling pains in the bum – they’re as dangerous as hell!

Keep the faith.
Love Leapy   
leapylee2002@gmail.com

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Comments


    • Kally

      24 March 2016 • 00:46

      Erm, no, TeddyBoy, ‘fraid not. The average Spaniard thinks Brits here sponge off the health service which the hard-pressed Spanish taxpayer funds. (It’s only pensioners who get their health paid by the UK. Those who work pay their own; early retirees or the unemployed/cash workers get theirs funded by Spain). And Spain believes Brits come here on holiday purely to use the free healthcare.
      Brits buying property caused a boom-and-bust through inflated prices; most Spaniards (who couldn’t afford homes due to these high prices) blame expats for that. Coasts and villages have been ruined by overbuilding. UK expats are less likely to be workers of childbearing age, so they bring in less to the economy than other migrants, and a lot of their tax is paid to the UK. It’s only Brits who think Spain needs Brits for its economy. It doesn’t. It needs holidaymakers (Brits living here are not ‘virtual holidaymakers’ because they don’t spend as much as tourists). But Brit tourists have a bad reputation because of their behaviour which shatters the peace, lowers the tone and and costs more in policing.
      No, the majority of Spaniards do NOT speak English. Who told you that?? Some young adults have a basic grasp which means they can tell you the price of shop goods in English numbers. Doctors are sick of Brits going for appointments without taking an interpreter (the potential for misdiagnosis is huge, and dangerous). Speaking Spanish is ESSENTIAL. And it’s only polite!!!

    • Ian T

      28 March 2016 • 00:21

      Kally

      Why are you making such a bid deal of this. I stated previously I speak German. I can also hold a conversation in Russian. I do try with Spanish but it’s no big deal and not a single Spanish person I have known in all the years I have had a house here has made an adverse comment. In fact many prefer to test out their English on me.
      I have actually worked in Spain
      I spent a year at Dragados Constructionas Almeria 8 months at ENSA Santander and a further year at the Navanta Carenus Shipyard in Ferrol.
      I spoke no Spanish and the nature of my work required very accurate and effective communications with our contractor in these locations.
      We did not have a single problem so for that reason alone I don,t see the necessary to learn yet another language.
      So what if Brits don,t speak another language . It’s not a crime. Nor is it immoral. Apart from my native language I speak and write one.and I can hold a quite technical discussing in another but I don,t expect everyone else to be the same
      May I suggest you get off your high horse and simply live and let live. This may seem a bit extreme but most terrorist organisations are born from exactly the same attitude as yours whereby you are right, they are wrong so they must change or be changed.

    • Roy Peters

      17 March 2016 • 11:26

      I agree wholeheartedly Leapy – Well said!

    • IanT

      17 March 2016 • 15:48

      Come off Leapy this Rugby thing is nothing to do with Health and safety. Its just a load of over protective parents and a few Doctors.
      I spent most of my Civilian working life as a Health Safety Quality and Environmental professional in oil and gas construction production and commissioning and people like me are seriously professional in our approach.
      I played Rugby at school from the age of 12.
      I wasn´t allowed to actually play in a game until I could tackle correctly.
      What I do find amazing is people going overboard over something like this and yet Boris Johnson can get away with encouraging people to risk their health and lives riding bicycles through London,s toxic exhaust fumes surrounded by cars buses and lorries.

    • IanT

      17 March 2016 • 18:57

      I agree with Leapy with regard to the stupidity of it but it has nothing to do with health an safety in real terms. Anyway most of those who introduce things under the guise of health and Safety are rarely professional. Mainly busy bodies know-alls and jobsworth

      One of the mainstays of true health and Safety is the provision of adequate training and instruction so the reality is that if there is a problem (which I doubt).then the school does not have an adequately qualified person in charge of Rugby.

    • the teddyboy

      18 March 2016 • 22:02

      So basically what they are saying once you have the ball no one can touch You.. So you can stroll or run down pitch to score a Try.. Because how does the opposing team stop the Player with ball ?..

    • IanT.

      19 March 2016 • 19:29

      Teddy
      That’s touch rugby. It is the first rugby experience and it was used extensively for training

    • Ian T

      20 March 2016 • 17:35

      No Teddy if an opposition player touches you you have to pass it.

      whatever this whole thing is a load of garbage.
      We,ve just won a grand slam. You won,t tever see that again if this lot have their way.
      Maybe they should play in gym slips as well

    • IanT

      22 March 2016 • 15:26

      Hey Anthony Mc
      Here,s a few things to get a good dialogue going.

      Offshore banking is tax avoidance says Mr Cameron whose fortune came from his fathers offshore banking activity.

      Or the national living wage, which we all know is actually a National minimum wage as the living wage put forward by the committee formed to establish it recommended over 2 pounds more.

      Or the perhaps question whether or not our UK National Health Service is deliberately being run in to the ground to set it up for privatization.

      Or maybe we should just have a go at Corbin the commie.

    • the teddyboy

      22 March 2016 • 16:23

      According to Money Pages in UK Papers Cameron’s income outside Parliament allegedly is received from offshore Banking.. As his dividend from Family Wallpaper Business making untaxed Profit
      As to NHS if not such a serious subject it would be laughable.. We look after & maintain certain items & where I used to deal with one person.. THERE is Now 6 People I have to deal with !!! So that is where money is going instead of on Doctors & Nurses & Beds … Cheers The UK TeddyBoy

    • Kally

      23 March 2016 • 04:00

      …Or the swathes of immigrants pouring into Spain, refusing to integrate or learn the language…send ’em all home!!!!!

      (No, please!!!! I don’t want to go ‘home’ to the UK, I’m happy here as one of the swathes of immigrants who poured into Spain!!!!)

      …then there are the swathes of immigrants who poured into the UK and now work as nurses and doctors because there aren’t enough pre-Viking Brits to practise medicine. I don’t know, coming over ‘ere, propping up the NHS, paying taxes…scandalous. Send ’em home before they do any MORE damage, like – perish the thought – saving the UK economy and pension pot from collapse.

      It cracks me up how British immigrants in Spain moan about immigration in Britain. Don’t they see the irony?!?!?!

    • Kally

      23 March 2016 • 04:13

      I wonder how much of it is urban myth perpetrated the way – well, the way urban myths tend to be perpetrated?! Whilst it’s a no-brainer that fiestas such as the Fallas would never be allowed to take place in over-cautious Britain, the whole point of health and safety is to preserve people’s health and safety. And British culture has always been anti-recklessness (if I rode my horse without a hat, drivers would beep at me and shout, “stupid c*w.” Here in Spain hardly anyone rides with a hat on. I used to curse those uncomfortable body protectors they forced us to wear at Pony Club, but if I had a child who liked tearing around cross-country courses on brake-less horses who threw in bucks and f*rts when they got excited the way my little mare did, I’d probably not let her out unless she was wearing a padded space suit!!!!! And let’s face it – how many deaths on building sites are there in over-cautious Britain compared to in Spain? But Spain’s getting more H&S-conscious, which has to be a good thing).
      Anyway, a lot of these seemingly farcical ‘H&S-related rules’ do sound a bit far-fetched, and were probably invented by someone once for a laugh, weren’t they, no? Are we on the same lines as ‘Muslims want to ban Christmas’ (which would explain why Muslims I know decorate their shops with tinsel and wish me a ‘happy Christmas’ whilst wearing Santa hats) and the EU’s straight bananas and curvy cucumbers??!!!

    • the teddyboy

      23 March 2016 • 14:21

      @ Kally : Spain needs the UK Immigrant that’s for certain.. They are Virtual Permanent Holiday Makers of which you need so many more !!!!
      They usually buy or build houses which is good for your economy !!!!
      They are not Burden on Your Health Ser

    • the teddyboy

      24 March 2016 • 14:17

      Hi Again Kally
      Guess we will just have to agree to disagree… & Leave it That I am correct & You are almost 100% wrong !!!!

    • Kally

      24 March 2016 • 15:16

      Based upon what facts, or evidence, do you believe I’m 100% wrong and you are 100% right, TeddyBoy?
      You live in the UK; I live in Spain. You don’t speak Spanish; I’m fluent in it (and in valenciano, the regional language and lingua franco of my ‘pueblo’). I’ve lived and worked in Spain for a third of my life and my job means I’m very close to the views of ordinary society and institutions, and to current affairs locally and nationally. Your knowledge of Spain and its expats is very limited.
      I’m intrigued to hear what grounds you base your comments on. Have you got any? Come on, do tell.

    • the teddyboy

      24 March 2016 • 15:42

      Based Kelly on Experience.. I had travelled round world twice before 20yrs in Merchant Navy & 2 Years in RAF in Germany.. Plus worked in Belize Army Camp & Gibraltar RAF Camp on Fuel Pipe Lines & still do.. In all that time I have never learnt a word of another Language because wherever I have been to.. Most understood & Spoke English.. As does every Pilot in World.. So why learn another Language…. As to knowing Spain :: I am Fully aware of Situation there as kept up to date by Lee who I have know since School & he should know Spain Well :: So as busy working & paperwork taking over the world !!!!! I see no point in Wasting My Time learning another Language which I will never require :: Cheers

    • Kally

      24 March 2016 • 16:49

      If you mean Leapy Graham, he’s not very clued-up on Spain either, I’m afraid. He’s certainly not integrated.
      If you live in Spain, or any other Mediterranean country, anywhere in Latin America aside from the former British territories (Belize) or Gibraltar, which IS Britain, or in most former colonies of France, Italy, Spain or Portugal in Africa…you need to speak the language. Period. Languages are essential and I couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread or a packet of aspirin if I didn’t speak the language of the country I live in. (I know this, because my ex-wife was narrow-minded about languages and refused to learn, and was literally stuck in the house unless I was with her, and I had to do all the errands, all the sorting out…when I fell into a coma with multiple organ failure, she had to ring my work colleagues and even Spanish-speaking friends in the UK to get an ambulance and to get them to talk to the doctors. Pilots need to speak English because it’s the lingua franca of the trade. Ordinary people in everyday jobs do not, unless it’s the national language of their country.
      Your experience in the RAF and Navy in Belize, Germany and Gibraltar doesn’t tell you anything about ordinary daily life in Spain, for Spaniards or expats.
      And as for getting your Spain knowledge from Leapy Graham (!!!) I’ve yet to see any column he’s written that even DEALS with Spain. Could he even name the heads of the main parties vying for government?! Does he even speak Spanish?!

    • Ian T

      24 March 2016 • 17:54

      Give it up you lot.
      I speak German but only because I learned it at school and spent 3 years in Germany with the RAF
      I can,t count the number of countries l worked in but I spent the last 10 years of my working life in Azerbaijan and Georgia where I spoke neither language . Added to that some of my team were Indian and Chinese
      I am learning a bit of Spanish but it isn’t a priority.
      The point is. It does,t matter. As long as you can communicate effectively and are polite and civil with people you will get along

    • Kally

      25 March 2016 • 03:25

      @IanT: If you live in Spain, learning Spanish IS a priority. Sorry. No excuses. You CANNOT communicate effectively in Spain if you don’t speak Spanish. Period.
      And refusing to even attempt to speak the language of the country you live in means, by d

    • the teddyboy

      25 March 2016 • 17:12

      All I can say is if you cannot live in Spain without learning the Language !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How the Hell do all the Holidaymakers Cope or the ones who spend 3 winter months there.. Most of them don’t speak Spanish & why should they??? I don’t say your experience is untrue.. All I can say is it must have been out in middle of nowhere … As I cannot believe any Hospital in Spain does not have a Person who speaks English !!
      As to living in France or Italy or Nederland’s the same applies they are taught English in Schools or learn it as English is the International Language !!!! I have stayed in all Countries you mention except Brazil & Never learnt a word of their Language as most speak English I freely phone all these countries …. & Now operating My Company from UK I phone regularly to all parts of world & just immediately start speaking English & No problems to date :: As to Leapy having no knowledge of Spain that is plain Laughable.. He has 20+ years to learn all about it & has !!!
      Ha Ha We sure got off the Subject of the Column he wrote

    • Kally

      25 March 2016 • 19:27

      @TeddyBoy, holidaymakers in purpose-built resorts have bilingual staff on hand because they’re purpose-built resorts. People who live here for three months at a time DON’T manage, or if they do, they have to get a Spanish-speaking friend to run around for

    • Kally

      25 March 2016 • 19:35

      And @TeddyBoy, as for Leapy Graham being integrated in Spain and able to tell you about its society, current affairs, values, views of the people on the streets…don’t make me laugh!!!!!!!!! He’s the proverbial ‘typical Brit abroad’!!!! He never even MENTIONS Spain in his columns! And 20+ years makes no difference: I know people here who’ve lived twice that long and have to pay through the nose at a British supermarket to get a bottle of milk, rely heavily on neighbours who speak Spanish for almost everything (and think a cheap bottle of wine is payment enough for calling on them every 10 minutes on their day off), and can’t even name a single local councillor at election time. I’ve known people who, after 30+ years, are still registered with their UK doctor and fly ‘home’ for treatment because they can’t speak to their GP in Spain. And they’ve never spoken to a Spanish person in their life, because they can’t. Given the job I do and the length of time I’ve been involved in the Spanish community, the thought that Loopy Graham might be an oracle on Spain compared to ‘clueless me’ is hysterically funny. You couldn’t make it up!!!!!

    • Kally

      28 March 2016 • 05:53

      @Ian, precisely what I mentioned in one of my previous comments: if you work for a large national or multinational company, there’s every chance you will be dealing, and working, with multilingual people. Outside of a large national or multinational compa

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