It is quite unfortunate that Brian Jones is no longer writing a column for The Telegram, a circumstance I hope will be short-lived. I looked forward to his often divergent opinions and agreed with him more often than not.
As a former public-service worker myself I took only minimal offence of his negative portrayal of government workers and assumed it was the result of pension envy and his passion getting ahead of his prose.
Yes, he painted all in the civil service with the same brush as he has often depicted businessmen and politicians.
But are public servants such an underclass of shrinking violets that they may not be criticized in jest, satire or stereotyped exaggeration?
Beware of becoming so politically and culturally correct that we quash dissenting views to the extent that we develop Orwellian “Samespeak” similar to Fox News subscribers.
Newspaper columnists are meant to stir the pot, to incite some while giving comfort to others that they are not alone in their thinking.
As a decades-long Telegram subscriber, the absence of Brian Jones column weakens the product. I hope his withdrawal is of short duration especially with a Liberal leadership review about to restart and perhaps a provincial election to follow.
Tom Hawco
St. John's
