The Independent: PD James criticises 'political correctness' in policing speech

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PD James criticises 'political correctness' in policing speech

Friday, 2 May 2008

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/pd-james-criticises-political-correctness-in-policing-speech-819720.html

There is a growing risk that Britons will live in "ghettos" and experience little contact with other people, the crime author and peer PD James has warned.

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PD James criticises 'political correctness' in policing speech

By David Barrett
Friday, 2 May 2008

There is a growing risk that Britons will live in "ghettos" and

experience little contact with other people, the crime author and peer
PD James has warned.

The novelist also said in a speech on policing in the 21st century
that modern-day life was "bedevilled" by political correctness.

Baroness James of Holland Park, best known for creating the fictional
detective Adam Dalgliesh, told an audience in the Palace of
Westminster: "Our society is now more fractured than I in my long life
have ever known it. Increasingly there is a risk that we live in
ghettos with our own kind, with a strong commitment to our local
community but little contact with those outside it. Mutual respect and
understanding and recognition of our common humanity cannot be
nurtured in isolation.

"And in our relationships we are bedevilled by the cult of political
correctness."

She added: "If in speaking to minorities we have to weigh every word
in advance in case inadvertently we give offence, how can we be at
ease with each other, how celebrate our common humanity, our shared
anxieties and aspirations, both for ourselves and for those whom we
love?" It would be "unfortunate" if the police became "enamoured" of
political correctness, which she described as "a pernicious if risible
authoritarian attempt at linguistic and social control".

Modern-day police forces were also hampered by a "culture of blame"
and red tape, the peer went on.

"There is little point in Government promising money to recruit extra
policemen if they are to spend their time in filling in forms," she
said. The 87-year-old novelist concluded that police deserve "our
respect and gratitude" for a "complex and demanding" job.