Dennis the Menace receives politically correct makeover

"Dennis The Menace has been banned from using his catapult, water pistol and peashooter in a new BBC series.
The Beano character has been re-imagined for the new CBBC series.
But rather than terrorise characters including Walter The Softy, he will get into scrapes by dreaming up contraptions that cause mayhem, including turning faithful pet dog Gnasher into a cleaning device.
He has also been redrawn to look less menacing, with his usual scowl replaced with a boyish grin.
And Gnasher has also been reimagined, with him no longer sinking his teeth into people.
A source told The Sun: "Dennis can't be seen to use weapons and giving other kids grief in a BBC cartoon. The BBC doesn't want to be accused of encouraging children to be violent."
The news of Dennis' transformation has angered some fans, because the classic character is still at large in The Beano.
Jim Stewart, 64, of Salisbury, who has been reading the comic since its launch in 1951, told the newspaper: "It's ridiculous. Dennis is supposed to be a little bit edgy and a bit of a lovable
rogue."
The last Dennis series to appear on CBBC was more than 10 years ago, but it has been recommissioned as repeats have proved popular for the channel.
When the BBC initially announced the new cartoon, they said they wished to appeal to the modern "iPod" generation.
The new series is set to feature the return of other well-known characters including Dennis' mother and father, Curly, Pie-Face and Dennis' little sister Bea.
Red Kite, the production company behind the new series said on their website: "Dennis and Gnasher believe the world is truly their oyster and that kids should make the rules. They are active, creative and possess a charming, cheeky self-confidence which gets them both into and out of trouble!
"Dennis and Gnasher is a series for 5 to 10 year olds, where the irrepressible energy and enthusiasm of childhood is celebrated." "

And now ...

"Jacob Rush, of Ipswich, Suffolk, wrote to DC Thomson to complain that his favourite comic strip character had become "boring" as he was no longer wielding his traditional catapult, peashooter and water pistol.
Staff wrote back to confirm that the character, who first appeared in comic in 1951, had been changed to match the softer Dennis seen in the new BBC cartoon launched last September.
The comic confirmed that the new version would not use his catapult or peashooter in a destructive way "to comply with the rules of broadcasting".
Reports that the TV character of Dennis and his faithful dog Gnasher were being "toned down" in the cartoon caused outrage last year.
Staff at the Beano dismissed the reports at the time, describing them as "another political correctness gone mad" myth.
But Beano features editor Claire Bartlett confirmed in her letter to Jacob that changes had been made to the comic Dennis to match the Dennis and Gnasher cartoon.
"The main reason that Dennis looks different is because of the new animation series on CBBC," she said.
"It was felt we should have Dennis looking the same in the comic as he does on TV to stop people getting confused.
"We thought that a lot of people might not have seen Denis before seeing him on TV and if he looked different in the Beano comic then they might not realise it was the same."
Jacob said: "I don't like the new Dennis because he doesn't have his catapult or water pistol any more and he's not menacing enough. I want to see the old Dennis back."
Beano editor Alan Digby confirmed that the changes meant Dennis was no longer able to use his catapult or peashooter in a destructive way.
"Dennis has had to comply with the rules of broadcasting and he is more creative in the tricks he gets up to now," he said.
"He is certainly not allowed to fire his catapult directly at someone any more - but he would be allowed to use it creatively. He is far more creative in the tricks that he gets up to now.
"There were scenes in the 1960s when he would walk down the street with windows that he smashed in buildings alongside him. He would not do that now.
"It is the same with his pea shooter. He might use one for target practice or to set off a game of some sort - but he would never fire it at anyone."
Jacob's mother Virginia Rush, 39, a high school English teacher, said: "Dennis is his favourite character and he kept saying that they had taken away his catapult and he did not seem to be as menacing as he once was.
"Jacob was angry that Dennis had begun to look much nicer in the comic rather than having a horrible scowl on his face.
"One of the Beano issues he had said that Dennis was being revamped - but Jacob thought things had gone too far. "

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't walk about thinking 'when I was little there was never any trouble in the world' and neither do my parents who are both very nearly 60.
But I do think that since I left college things have become a lot worse in the UK and I can't help but wonder, is this due to coinsiding with when 'political correctness' really started to become OTT?
Both my dad, me and my younger brother all read the beano as children and (apart from my dad who made a mini cannon at school and shot things into the school long jump sand (which he was caught and punished for! lol)) we don't run around out of control. Infact, most people I know who read the beano as children have all turned out ok!
Who makes these rules and regulations?
Is it the government creating 'issues' that aren't actually there so that they can line their own pockets and be seen to be doing 'good'?

Debate.