Police spotting (junction watch)

is it really necessary to focus so much on whether a gender-neutral pronoun was used or not? can't we just all laugh at fat people, together, regardless of vagoo or cock?

I'm sure we could, but it would say more about us than about them. And not positive things.

The issue here isn't what's funny, or witty, or whatever, but discrimination. Before anyone tries to deflect that point by decrying 'political correctness', let me assure you that that's a completely separate issue and has no part to play here.

Discrimination is essentially blaming people for their weaknesses or perceived weaknesses and then victimising or disadvantaging them for it. What gets picked up on are usually highly visible weaknesses or perceived weaknesses, such as, in this case, being seriously overweight.

Quite often, a history of being bullied for such weaknesses or perceived weaknesses can be the source of confidence problems in a person, arising from a neglect of their less obvious personal strengths, which they then often don't get a chance to develop. Discrimination is nasty and can wreck lives and careers.

Obviously, this is 'only' an Internet forum, but that shouldn't stop us behaving with civility and dignity on it. Why not reserve judgement and, when the time comes, pick up on people's strengths? It's much more positive and more rewarding. 'Jokes' about people being 'fat' can be schoolboy sniggering at best.

The Golden Rule applies--you wouldn't want people to discriminate against you based on your weakness or perceived weakness, so don't do it to others.

What I found amusing was the idea of the officer on her mountain bike trying to chase down a courier. Having gone to all the effort of occupying 7 coppers' time for a day, you'd have thought they'd have put someone a bit more athletic on a better bike!

Bike officers are not primarily charged with 'chasing down' people. One of the main purposes of bike-based policing is a fast response time to the scene of a crime. Police also work in teams, and if someone needs chasing (which police are often reluctant to do owing to the resultant risk to the public), you can be sure that there will be officers in the squad capable of picking up the baton.