Heavy-handed police ran up a £10,000 bill for a helicopter, a plane and ten court dates to fine a woman driver £60 for holding an apple. For 13 months, police battled to bring the offender to justice. To prove Sarah McCaffery's guilt, they commissioned photographic evidence taken from a helicopter, aeroplane and patrol car. An estimated £10,000 was spent to show that the 23-year-old nursery nurse was not in control of her vehicle. And her offence? Holding an apple as she turned left at a junction.

When Rebecca Miles was given a job helping battered Asian women, she felt confident she could make a lasting difference to their lives. But less than a month later, she had resigned after being accused of making a racist remark. The 37-year-old had been discussing the case of a Bangladeshi woman with colleagues when she forgot the name of an interpreter. 'It was Pamala, Popalam or Popadom - something like that,' she said.

Later that day she was ordered before her bosses and given a written warning as well as the ultimatum to take anti-racism classes. She said: 'I was told it was a credit to my colleagues that they were prepared to carry on working with me. When I got home I was in floods of tears. 'I only went back the next day to finish taking the Bangladeshi woman's statement. I did it for her'.

To her shock, she was hauled before a disciplinary meeting where she was told she could stay in the job only if she attended anti-racism lessons and wrote an essay on the Stephen Lawrence case. Instead, she handed in her notice.

Last night Muslim leaders attacked the 'trigger-happy' action by her bosses at the Alert organisation in East London. Anas Altikriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: 'It is immensely important that we demonstrate a high level of common sense and tolerance towards one another, otherwise we will turn into a society where every utterance is skewed to fit a political agenda (good for them!). This is not the sort of case where any action should have been taken and there should be no slur on this woman. To be trigger happy when accusing people of racism is not healthy.'

The world is going nuts! Scotch Tape is so called because we Scots are supposed to be mean... I could sue their a--es off. My daughters come home from school with red dots (Bhindis) on their foreheads when they have to "celebrate" other faiths.... rant, rant, rave, rave...

It appears that AJLS is right on, as evidenced by this BBC News article:

Britain is gripped by a "culture of fear" of legal action, the lord chancellor said as he set out plans to end the so-called compensation culture...

Elias Mattu, an NRI local councillor, decided to fight this extreme political correctness and won. After years, thanks to Mattu's efforts Wolverhampton in northern England will bring 'Christmas' back into this year's £150,000 display.

"I don't know of a single minority in Britain who is offended by the mention of Christmas. I have spoken to Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus living here and they all agree with me. It is patronising to suggest they're offended," said Mattu. "I pointed out that in India we have more than 500 religions and we have no problem getting on with each other," said the 46-year-old Punjabi Christian.

Mattu's father served in the British army and he migrated to Britain from India 38 years ago. "My earliest memories of this country are of seeing snow and Christmas lights. It was cold but wonderful. Why should we take this away from our children," said Mattu.

Extreme political correctness had forced council bosses in Havant in Hampshire to replace Christmas lights with 'Festival of lights', while Lambeth Council in South London had started referring to them as winter lights.