COULD Peppa Pig be banned?
Schoolbook authors have been told not to write about sausages or pigs for fear of causing offence.
Guidance from the Oxford University Press (OUP) prohibits authors from including anything that could be perceived as pork-related in their books.
The bizarre clampdown on everything pig was apparently aimed at avoiding offence among Jews and Muslims, emerged yesterday during a discussion about free speech on Radio 4's Today programme.
It was immediately branded 'nonsensical political correctness'.
The OUP says its guidelines exist because it needs to make its educational material available to as many people as possible.
A spokesman said: 'Many of the educational materials we publish in the UK are sold in more than 150 countries, and as such they need to consider a range of cultural differences and sensitivities.
'Our editorial guidelines are intended to help ensure that the resources that we produce can be disseminated to the widest possible audience.'
The guidelines have been widely criticised as political correctness gone mad and widely ridiculed by Muslim and Jewish communities who found no offence in the mention of pig.
A spokesman for the Jewish Leadership Council told the Daily Mail: 'Jewish law prohibits eating pork, not the mention of the word, or the animal from which it derives.
While Muslim Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "It's utter nonsense. And when people go too far, that brings the whole discussion into disrepute."
