The Sergeant in Hill Street Blues (1981) always sent his staff out onto the streets with the exhortation “Hey, let’s be careful out there”. If you ever wondered who else this might apply to – the answer is everyone. Along with being careful out there you should also be careful with what you say and how it is received. For example the Telegraph of the 6th September carried the following:
“A hospital advertisement for a senior doctor was published on an NHS website with a reference to “the usual rubbish about equal opportunities”. .. The advertisement sought a “regional anaesthetist fellow” to fill a one-year post at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University NHS Trust, Merseyside. But under the job description section of the advert… a hospital employee had inserted the phrase “the usual rubbish about equal opportunities etc…”.
The gaffe, which was in reference to the NHS’ equal opportunities policy, was “swiftly” deleted after hospital chiefs were
made aware of the damaging comment”. There but for the grace of God go you and I.