Quote Originally Posted by johncar54 View Post
Arthur, I am surprised at your comment. Normally you read carefully what was written and then comment. In this case you have completely missed the point I was making. That was, that in most cases mentioning a persons race, nationality and religion (and even gender) have nothing to do with the crime they committed.

Here (in the forum) we are up in arms if anything is said which implies any possible anti Filipino sentiment. For example if a person jumps red right and the headlines read 'Filipino woman ignores traffic signal and endangers people.' I and probably most here would conside a possibly racist remark, as the fact that the offender was Filipino and a woman would have nothing to do with a person, any person, endangering life by jumping a red light.

If one feels the need to mention a persons race, colour or religion, when that has nothing to do with the thing they are talking about, then that implies they are prejudiced.

On the other hand if as someone suggested here, the police are looking for a suspect then their physical description would be relevant, but probably their nationality and religious views would not, thus if the police said a 'black man who was believed to be a Filipino and a Muslim' that probably be would be racist.

I know some here want to 'defend our right to free speech' but unlike burning poppies which is not a criminal offence making racist remarks is !

When Madeline McCann was taken, the Daily Mail and Express allowed certain derogatory remarks about the parents to appear in their forums. I contacted the editors and suggested they should consider editing them. They stood on their rights to print the comments as 'free speech.' Subsequently they each paid around half a million pounds in compensation for publishing remarks which amounted to libel.
The Politically Correct Police Force now can't mention that the fugitive they are after is male along with his nationality and religion, who because of his nationality and religion might seek to conceal or be sheltered by and/or amongst that community.

You are correct - Poppy Burning like thousands of other actions is not a specific and listed criminal offence. However in this incident with its timing and action in a public place it is "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress" and therefore contrary to Sections 4 & 5 of the Public Order Act. There are also inciting racial hatred implications.