Long ago, but not very far away, I was asked to cast my eye over the advertising poster for a youth event organised by my employer, and sponsored by the Queensland Health Department's anti-drug campaign. They wanted a proof-read. The names, location, dates and times were fine, but along the bottom it had a tag. Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs free. I burst out laughing, and asked the organisers if they really wanted it to say that. They laughed too, and rang their contact in Queensland Health. Yes, they really did want it to say that. They were baffled. What was the problem? This tag-line went on everything they put out. We laughed some more, and the posters went out as they were. At the time, I wondered if perhaps I was just a little bit too pedantic. Now, however, I blame my youthful exposure to British television comedy. My parents were big fans of any funny person with a British accent. Political correctness had not yet been invented and so sexism and racism ran
'Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp.' - Rachel Carson