Prince Harry to be politically corrected!

Not content with Prince Harry giving a fulsome apology for remarks he made three years previously on a videotape, the Army top brass are to get him to attend a "training course" to relieve him of undue thoughts. I cannot for the life of me understand what he will have to endure. Maybe this is some kind of indoctrination?

I can just imagine some obsequious soul from the MOD turning up at the barracks. Harry is escorted off by two MPs to attend the lecture. Afterwards the commanding officer enquires about the "training". He has to make absolutely sure it won't happen again! "How did go?" "Very well, sir. He's completely cured. Thinks everybody talks the same, eats the same, thinks the same and is the same!" "Good. Just what we wanted. He'll be OK for Afghanistan again, then?" "No problems at all, sir".

This is all hogwash. There's no longer the concept of an officer and a gentleman. After all, Harry's apology counts for nothing. I'd dearly like to be a fly on the wall listening to the private conversations of the top brass. I bet they have been uncomplimentary about people. This is all so much hypocrisy. Motes and beams come to mind.

I much prefer the reasoned and sound response of Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty. She was was in the company of a fellow university student once, who described the local corner shop as a "Paki shop". Shami remonstrated with the student, who was apparently genuinely upset that she had caused offence. They are now firm friends. Ms Chakrabati has a lot of common sense and is my kind of libertarian and social animal. (She gave Geoff Hoon a few home truths!).

You don't get long lasting results with a politically correct type of "re-education". You get a civilised society where both parties feel they have been shown respect and understanding. All that the Army is doing is following some PC path to self-righteousness. When it comes to bullying, initiation routines and a generally poor attitude to service housing and equipment, they turn a blind eye often.

They need to get their priorities right. That would be the politically correct thing to do!