Zero tolerance for Welsh rugby songs
Spare a thought for Charlotte Proudman.
The “fearless advocate for women’s rights” is again in the news, this time because Labour peer Joan Bakewell — otherwise known as “the thinking man’s crumpet” — told The Times (£) she shouldn’t have made such a fuss when IP lawyer Alexander Carter-Silk praised her looks.
Proudman stood up for what she believed. There are many people who agreed with her, even if they weren’t quite so sure about her zero tolerance policy of naming and shaming. But also in the news as the RBS 6 Nations got underway are calls for the Welsh rugby anthem Delilah to be banned.
Yes, the killjoys of the world don’t want any more hearty renditions of the Tom Jones classic.
But wait a minute. Delilah is a great song, and sure, the Welsh sing it with gusto — but it’s about killing a woman. “I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more,” is the refrain, as the song’s narrator reveals a zero tolerance policy of his own: death to the woman who betrayed him.
Is it right that swathes of people should seek to inspire their national team by singing a song about murdering a woman? Or is this precisely the kind of thing that Charlotte Proudman has every right to object to?