An employment tribunal has dismissed claims of harassment and victimisation on grounds of religion brought by a sub-editor, arising out of a comment shouted by another sub-editor across the newsroom which contained offensive language relating to the Pope.
The claimant, a practising Catholic, found the comment to be offensive and complained that he had felt intimidated and frightened by it.
The tribunal found that there had been no intention to cause offence and that, although the claimant had been upset by the comment, it was not reasonable for the comment to have had the effect of creating a hostile environment for him. Neither had the comment been made on grounds of religion, when examined in context. (Heafield v Times Newspaper Limited ET/3202080/2010.)
It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament – apparently because otherwise they would be eligible for a state funeral and that is a bit costly for the authorities.
Figures have been announced this week saying that one in four criminals went straight back to crime following a stint in prison. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said 'We are tackling the shamefully high reoffending rates in this country by introducing a rehabilitation revolution - offenders must be punished, but we must also deal with the root causes of offenders' behaviour so they don't return to crime.' In 2010, a total of 497,969 offences were committed by 173,274 offenders. More than half (55.3 per cent) of the offences were committed by 78,149 offenders with 11 or more previous offences. For criminals leaving jail, the reoffending rate was 47.5 per cent, up from 46.8 per cent in 2009. Among adults jailed for less than 12 months, 57.6% went on to commit another crime.
