From listener Daniel, here is the response received to his complaints about the recent Matthew Parris article:

Dear Daniel

As you may know, the PCC received a large number of complaints about the Matthew Parris article about which you recently raised concerns.

The Commission has now assessed whether the article in question, headlined “What’s smug and deserves to be decapitated”, breached the terms of the Code of Practice (which can be seen on our website at www.pcc.org.uk). 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 and a full explanation is enclosed. Please let me know if you would like further clarification of the reasons for the Commission’s decision.

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.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your complaint has been handled – as opposed to the Commission’s decision itself – you should write within one month to the independent Charter Commissioner, whose details can be found on our website.

Thank you for taking this matter up with us.

Yours sincerely

Patrick Evenden
patrick.evenden@pcc.org.uk
Administration Manager

The full explanation mentioned above can be found here (Adobe Acrobat document).

So . . . what do you think?