Press watchdog gives ‘Piano-wire Parris’ a good licking

As expected, the Press Complaints Commission has cleared Matthew Parris for his pre-Christmas comments in The Times about wishing the decapitation of cyclists should become a festive custom.

The PCC’s admin manager Patrick Evenden said: “While it acknowledged the deep concerns that many readers had about the piece, the Commission’s decision was that there was no breach of the Code…Although the Commission has come to this view, we will be writing to the editor of the Times to let him know the scale of complaints we received about Mr Parris’ column.”

The PCC received nearly 500 complaints about the Parris piece.

The PCC judgement said:

The third Clause of the Code identified by a number of complaints was Clause 12 (Discrimination). Here too, however, there could be no breach. Clause 12 lists a number of things that the press must not refer to pejoratively when talking about an individual: race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability. Preferred method of transport is not included in the list.”

Very droll.