Or two of them, anyway.
The chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been forced to apologise for reporting his findings that ecstasy is not really that dangerous. I wonder who's had a word in his ear. I would like to have been a fly on the wall at that conversation.
"Ecstasy is a non-taxed drug, you fool, and it's not a depressant like alcohol. It can lead to altered states of consciousness that reduce the fear of authority. I'm afraid you're going to have to fall on your sword, old chap. What you've done is offensive to the families of the victims, understand?"
"Yes, sir. I think I understand. Can you please loosen the screws now?"
And… Prince Harry in racism storm yet again.
I'm not going to try and work up the evidence to prove that Harry 'really is' racist, as if such a thing is tattooed indelibly under your armpit or somewhere. I just think this kind of thing shows what an offensive anachronism the royal family is. Before you meet the Queen, apparently, a little man tells you what you should and should not say, what you can and cannot do, 'Your Majesty' instead of 'Your Highness' and so on. But apparently no little man visits Prince Harry before he's allowed out in public to tell him how to talk to ordinary people in a way that won't make him look like a blithering fool. Now that's inequality.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090212/tuk-harry-sent-for-diversity-training-dba1618.html
At least the chairman apoligized but I still think he hasn’t a clue. Prince Harry should probably take the same stance as the Palace…no comment.
I don’t really see the need for him to apologise. He was simply reporting his findings. I don’t see why he should be required to be emotional about his statistics. A person can report on road accident statistics, and compare them to others, without having to think about the emotions of the families of the victims of such accidents. The emotion, in the case of ecstasy statistics, seems publicly engineered to me. If I’m totally honest, I’d much rather die by taking an ecstasy pill than in a car accident, but for various reasons, thousands upon thousands of deaths every year, caused by cars, is considered such a reasonable price to pay, that most people don’t even question it.Prince Harry should probably take the same stance as the Palace…
no comment. I think it’s only really the Queen herself these days who is perceived as keeping a vaguely dignified silence over this and that. I think, for royalty, as you suggest, that probably is the best policy. Otherwise it seemed they cannot help but revealed what a bizarrely privileged and archaic world they inhabit.