One Small Step ...

Saturday, 2 November 2002

The Boston Globe and the Jamaica Observer report on how a threatened boycott of the Miss World pageant has forced the Nigerian government to act to prevent the stoning to death of a four women sentenced to this punishment under sharia law. Tony Delroy had a great deal of fun with this bit of news on the ABC last night, launching into an extended sequence of bad puns which I won't repeat here.

It's a pity that our local news outlets don't appear to be covering this story - after all, it's a clear triumph, however small, for western democratic values. And it's in no way diminished by the fact that it took a group of beauty queens to do it. It's the sort of clear, unambiguous and above all untainted victory that we can all be proud of. I'll have to stop now - I'm finding this uncharacteristic seriousness and sincerity a bit difficult to maintain.