Baa baa black sheep

It's usually only at Christmas when stories like this get the MSM treatment. The headline usually begins with "Now. . ." as in "Now Loony Left bans Christmas"... (actually when was the last time you heard 'Loony Left'?) "Now Councils deem Easter offensive" or "Now public caning of slaves outlawed"usually in the Cattraily Mail. The 'Now' obviously to give the impression that 'They', the Stalinist Mind controllers snooping about all over the country never rest in their fiendish quest to destroy everything sacred in this blighty of ours.

This one's from its slightly more intelligent sister paper the Telegraph that blares the shock, horror, probe headline "Toddlers who dislike spicy food 'racist' ". Of course, it's not true. Like all the baa baa black sheep black binbag banning christmas bollocks, it's merely the usual kneejerk right wing guff to top up the welly brigade's prejudice tanks.

The actual story is practically bland. The NCB - that den of revolutionary Marxist thought? That hotbed of loonyism? That crazed bunch of transregendered tree hugging PC terrorists - er, no "The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations." Get that "mainly from the government". There's your first step in the conspiracy. 'Its those facking socialist types at it again.'

The second - this twisted band of freaks have bladdy hell! "issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care."
Repeat in exasperated tone - then
"Really Lucinda in God's awful name what in the blighters is going on in this country!?"

Then the climax "This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food." Apoplexy!

Clearly the "could" there is doing a hell of a lot of work. The conspiracy theorist who beaver away in the dungeons of Telegraph house are doing their best to squeeze a sensation out of this one. Their failure quickly becomes apparent in the next breath,

"The 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice, warns: "Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships." "

366 pages condensed to that shrill headline followed by the advice to watch out for racist behaviour. "Now NCB advises carers to stop children saying racist things" doesn't have that 1984 connotation does it?

Yet the poison has been administered and the 'story' sinks to the bottom of the sea, to form another tiny layer of racist anti-PC bedrock in some toff's ferbrile imagination.

The story does draw attention, though, to the relationship between food and politics. Are the culinarily conservative usually Conservative in outlook too? Are socialists more open to different foods from across the world and how does this tie in with the ecological decroissance/degrowth pressures to eat local?

In the end, it is not "Political Correctness gone mad". If a work colleague with Pakistani anscestry brings in a national dish and people openly say "Yuk! That's awful." it would be a form of humiliation, presque, racism. If the manager brought in a duff quiche, practically everyone would eat it and stay schtum. I haven't done a survey but I'm betting that would happen. Somewhere.

Besides, the anti-PC brigade fall quiet when you ask them "Do you say 'I'm just off to the P- shop' do you want anything?'" or "Do you think the Black and White Minstrel Show should be brought back to the BBC?" or "Would you use the 'n' word to a black police officer?".

Like all conspiracies - it looks like something planned and dasardly ('They're taking over our kids' minds, Sir Guffton no doubt!!') but ultimately the plot has no legs. It's no more scary than getting your offspring to say 'Thank you' or 'Merci' or 'Bon Nuit' or 'Vive la revolution' every now and then.

Update 8 July: see Peter Osborne's Independent piece.