From the Press

In today's Times, there is an article that compares the number of white and other (colour, I suppose) kids in primary schools in Britain today. There is actually a graph that shows these statistics. Gasp. Can anybody imagine something like this occurring in a South African paper? I still occasionally reel from the free use of descriptions like 'a Pakistani man' or 'a black man' in the press over here.

In South Africa this has become a big a no-no, the reporters mostly referring to persons. In this article of South Africa's edition of the Mail and Guardian, there are bodies, men and women all over the place. Note the absence of colour, race or anything else that might state the obvious. (I'm surprised they're still differentiating between genders - somebody should put a stop to this!)

The UK press has never avoided their duty of calling a spade a spade, in fact, spadecalling has been developed into an exquisite art. A blush-inducing art, believe me.
Calling attention to the fact that many UK state schools are rapidly filling up with non-white. non-British children, is statement of a fact. In South Africa it would be considered racist.

And South Africans have just become very adept at reading between the lines.