A Punch-and-Judy book has been pulled from the shelves of the public library in Marlborough, England, following a parent's claim that Punch's "sickening violence" is harmful to children. The Wiltshire county council ordered the library's two copies removed pending an investigation into its suitability.
According to the February 4 London Telegraph, the local Police Federation agrees, objecting to portions of the plot in which Punch tricks a police officer into putting his head in a noose and then hangs him. Puppeteers are calling the removal "political correctness gone mad."
A spokesperson for HarperCollins, which owns the rights to the Picture Lions Book series of which the book is a part, said the book had been out of print for years, but library lending sheets show that it remains quite popular.
Posted February 16, 1998.