The judge who came under fire for his outspoken views on the wisdom of hauling a 10-year-old boy before the courts for alleged racial taunts of another child won few supporters today, writes Alexandra Smith.
But is this really a case of political correctness gone mad, as he described it, or a new form of bullying that could have serious ramifications?
Justice Finestein was highly critical of the Crown Prosecution Service for pursing the case against the boy who allegedly called an older schoolmate "bin Laden", a "Paki" and chanted the taunt: ""He is on the run, pull the trigger and shoot the nigger, five, four, three, two, one."
To drag a young child and his parents through the court system is probably extreme and the judge had a point when he said: "I am not condoning what he supposedly said but there must be other ways of dealing with this apart from criminal prosecution."
Justice Finestein said they were just "boys in the playground" and that he used to be called "fat" at school but said the headteacher would have just given the children "a good clouting" and sent them on their way.
But it is a bit much to suggest that a child calling a playmate in the school playground "bin Laden" is no worse than calling them fat or ugly or stupid.
Children can be cruel - few of us would have escaped at least the odd bout of teasing in the playground- but describing intolerance racial abuse as "political correctness gone mad" is suggesting that it is okay for a child to taunt another based on his race or religion. Would we tolerate taunts about someone's sexuality or gender? Of course not.
If a 10-year-old child knows and uses such words as nigger, Paki or bin Laden, shouldn't we be teaching them what they mean why it is wrong to say these things rather than dismissing it as nothing more than school yard antics?
