Tag Archives: dundee council

Mark Pack

Winterval: the Christian media has more questions to answer than local councils

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:19 pm

It’s become a seasonal cliché of British journalism. In the run-up to Christmas there is a flurry of stories about political correctness gone mad as the word Christmas is left to one side by local councils in particular as festive lights get switched on, celebrations run and greetings cards sent out. Following hard on the heels of the flurry of stories is a series of much less noticed debunking of many of them. But why let the facts get in the way of the annual season of such stories?

This year, in fairness to the media (and perhaps partly a reflection of the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

How The Times has left me worried I’m hallucinating

By Mark Pack | Mon 16th November 2009 - 8:37 pm

Here’s the email I’ve just sent to The Times. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out I’m hallucinating and saw 175 mentions of Christmas where in fact there were none.

I’m really confused.

In your story “Christmas lights switch-on ceremony renamed ‘Winter White Night” (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6915007.ece) you report that, “Christmas will not be Christmas in Dundee this year. All references to the religious holiday have been dropped from the switching-on ceremony for the city’s festive lights.”

Yet when I go to look up information about the ceremony online, I find the program at http://www.dundee.com/winter-light-night.html where “Christmas” is mentioned no less than six times.

…

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Recent Comments

  • Matt (Bristol)
    This article is arguing for a version of kindness that is as idelogically charged and specified as a socialist party's notion of justice. It's nice to be nic...
  • Simon Robinson
    This is a very good article in terms of highlighting the dilemma facing any chancellor. There are few good ways to raise money, and endless demands to spend mor...
  • Tony Vickers
    I had expected Sir Vince to mention Land Value Tax as Honorary President of ALTER. Especially because the PM is a fan of the idea and there’s no “red line�...
  • David Blake
    I agree with much of what Richard Cripps says - and I've been a member for 54 years. If I wasn't already a member I'm not sure that what the party has become w...
  • Richard Dickson
    Thanks for this. Kindness - to people, businesses, whole communities, our environment and to nature, to our past, present and future - requires us also to be br...