More on Matthew Parris...

QuickreleaseTV has this:

The infamous ‘kill all cyclists’ piece by Matthew Parris has now had a stonking 430+ complaints, many filed online on this easy peasy form.

In 2007 the most complained about story had 480 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission. The second generated 180 complaints and the third had only 40 complaints.

So, it looks like the Matthew Parris column could be an early winner of 2008’s ‘most objectionable story’ booby-prize.

It’s also well on the way to becoming the most objectionable story ever. Stephen Abell, the PCC’s assistant director told Quickrelease.tv:

“We don’t have the precise statistics for the last 16 years of the PCC’s history. However, we think that 480 is probably the highest ever.”

There's this to consider, also from the UK:

LINK

Jailed for writing a poem

By Liz Smith 12/18/2007

On December 6, Samina Malik, a 23-year-old from Southall, West London, became the first woman in the UK to be sentenced under the Terrorism Act 2000. Malik was sentenced to nine months, suspended for 18 months, with the condition that she be supervised for the whole period and undertake unpaid work. She has already spent five months in custody and one month under house arrest after her conviction. ...The jury was told that Malik, who dubbed herself the "Lyrical terrorist," had written "extremist poems" praising Osama Bin Laden, in support of martyrdom and beheading. One of her poems, "How to behead", was extensively quoted in the media and used by the prosecution to arouse a sense of repugnance in the jury. It states, "It's not as messy or as hard as some may think/It's all about the flow of the wrist. No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream/But ignore the donkey's ass/And continue to slice back and forth/You'll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe/But don't stop/Continue with all your might."

Terrorism: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion (Merriam-Webster).

Funny, isn't it? Both Matthew Parris and Samina Malik advocated beheading. Mr. Parris apologized for his inappropriate attempt at humor, and Ms. Malik is now a convicted felon. Methinks he got off too lightly.

But then again, I'm an unforgiving bastard.