Calling all spongers

[An Fear Rua]

its a new one on me.


Police outlaw 'fenians and huns' 


Fenian, hun, taig and jaffa are among the terms outlawed for police officers in a pamphlet which outlines to them how to avoid causing offence.
The Guide to Appropriate Language has various categories of words and suggests acceptable alternatives.

Religion, minority ethnic communities, gay people, women and transsexuals are among the linguistic issues covered.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde says in his foreword that using the right language "sends an important message".

"It is essential that we take a lead in using language that does not exclude colleagues or members of the community, does not stereotype and always shows a wholehearted commitment to supporting our Equal Opportunities Policy," said Sir Hugh.

Catholics should not be called fenians, taigs, chucks or spongers, while Protestants should not be referred to as huns, black, prods or jaffas, the booklet says.

There is one exception to the use of fenian, but it is probably rarely used.

"It may be perfectly acceptable to use it in an appropriate historical context, for example, if referring to the Fenian Brotherhood," it says.

Officers are advised that if a witness uses language which is not politically correct, they should use speech marks to attribute this when taking a statement.

Terms which could be used by Life on Mars' 1970s old-school cop DCI Gene Hunt are also banned when referring to the gay community.

When it comes to older members of the population, police should not call them geriatric, old codgers or say someone is "just like an aul' woman".

"Old can carry connotations of being worn-out and of little further use. It can also be used as a term of abuse," says the booklet.

The booklet is "intended to help avoid the unintentional offence caused by unthinking use of language and to improve relationships between officers, staff and across the whole community".

[Donagh]

A pity. I used to grin with pride whenever I was called a "Fenian bastard" by members of her majesty's constabulary on dark nights around the Bleary. "If you are trying to annoy me lads you'll have to do better than that." 

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

Are the PSNI that neanderthal in the 21st century that they had to produce this document?




And since when has a Catholic been called a 'sponger'? Us hard-working civil servants are far from being wasters.

Anyhow, I thought Harold Wilson had only called the loyal(ist) people of Ulster (sic) spongers.

[lynchbhoy]

harold wilson was right !


heard this week that the stats on psni's new catholic cops are an underhand effort to 'cook the books'

it appears that the stat they are so proud of - that there are 18% catholics in the psni, is not all it seems.
Apparantly a massive percentage of this percentage are actually catholic cops being shipped in from England !


as my source said, until they manage to get recruits from the previously victimised nationalist/catholic areas of NI , the psni will struggle as an 'impartial' service

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Does this now mean that we aren't allowed to called the police "dirty black bast*rds" anymore?

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

For those of you who can't remember that far back, here's what British Prime Minster Harold Wilson said about loyalists/Ulster 'Workers' Council in 1974:

"Yet people who benefit from all this now viciously defy Westminster, purporting to act as though they were an elected government; people who spend their lives sponging on Westminster and British democracy and then systematically assault democratic methods. Who do these people think they are?"

Broadcast on 25 May 1974, referring to the Ulster Workers Council strike.