A black day for fairness & respect

I WENT to Shrewsbury once. Lovely place built many, many centuries ago on a bend in the River Severn.

It’s the sort of place, deep in the glorious county of Shropshire, where you would imagine good, old- fashioned common sense rules.

Where the “trendy” ideas of loony- left, London- style Britain are given short shrift. Alas, no. Because the pernicious cult of political correctness – that noxious virus that sees sexism and racism everywhere and takes offence when none could be reasonably be expected – has come to Shrewsbury.

The town has a lively cultural scene and the annual folk festival is a highlight.

But now Shrewsbury Folk Festival bosses have announced they will no longer book morris dancers who wear full black face paint.

Because, you guessed it… IT’S RAAAAY- SISST! Except, it’s not. Blackface in morris dancing has NOTHING to do with race. It comes from the ancient tradition of beggars blacking their faces so they could not be recognised and done for vagrancy. But facts, truth, British culture, history all count for nothing when it comes to the equality group FRESh – which stands for Fairness, Respect, Equality Shropshire.

Jonathan Hyams, from FRESh, said the group contacted festival organisers after a complaint from a member of the public.

“A” – i. e. one – complaint. And that was enough to make FRESh ( for f** k’s sake, who thinks of these c** ting names?) swing into action and get blacking- up banned.

Some c** t with a wispy beard and a sociology “degree” decides something is “racist” or “sexist” or “homophobic” or, the latest fad, “transphobic” and decides it must stop.

Over in another Shropshire town, Telford, dozens of young girls are being subjected to horrific sexual abuse by members of the Pakistani community.

You would expect that a group like FRESh – dedicated to “fairness” and “respect” – would concentrate their fire on real problems, like child sexual exploitation, rather than pissing about with morris dancers.