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How is it that some people can be so ignorant, so utterly clueless, that in the 21st century they still can't understand why calling someone a Paki or dressing up in full golliwog regalia is offensive.

Political correctness is unhelpful and confusing, and has possibly even obscured the average Sun reader's understanding of what actually is blatantly racist, but it shouldn't have. Racism is ugly, irrational, inexcusable and obvious. Political correctness is just daft and a waste of everyone's time. Calling a blackboard a chalkboard for example is unnecessary. Calling someone a Paki is racist - even if you meant it in jest. In fact that's even worse.

This Strictly Come Dancing chap; (I don't know his name) by now you will have heard his comment to his dance partner - who had just received a spray tan, "Oh my God you look like a Paki." A comment Bruce Forsyth has tried to defend with a speech so ignorant it has made Ron Atkinson's previous excuses for his own sojourn into racial bigotry sound quite reasonable.

Brucey, let's examine why this is offensive. Let's break it down into easily digestible chunks. It's not just that he used the word "Paki." This comment was fundamentally offensive because of his expression of horror that his partner should look like a Pakistani. He then compounds the offending comment by using a derogatory word for a Pakistani - in this case, "Paki." See?

It would not have been OK had he just said, "Oh my God, you look like a Pakistani" or, "Jaaaysus, you look like an Asian." It's the fact that he is appalled by her appearance that makes it offensive. He's just made it much worse by using the term -Paki. Two offending statement's for the price of one. Brucey's argument that we don't mind being called Limeys is both ignorant and irrelevant. He may as well have just said, we're very sorry, we didn't realise anyone could hear him.

And finally...it's made eeeeeeven worse by the fact that his apology was not given to the Asian community who are constantly having this racial slur slung at them and are the people who have been offended here, he apologies to his dance partner!! "No darling really, I didn't mean that you looked like an awful Paki. You look like a lovely white British person."

And she accepts his apology! Which according to my way of thinking is just as bad as the initial comment as she's essentially saying, "oh sweetie, don't worry, I know you didn't really think I looked like a Paki."

Wrong wrong wrong wrong.




Things get no better in Australia where apparently they still laugh at "blackface" golliwog humour. On a reunion show for something called "Hey Hey it's Saturday" five doctors DOCTORS PEOPLE!! dressed themselves in full golliwog costume and offered up an act they called Jackson Jive. A parody of the Jackson Five. Another one then appears with a white face - making six of them, but we'll excuse their poor maths for now.


This act was so appalling they actually gave an American the moral and cultural high ground, which is really quite an achievment. Harry Connick Jr, one of the judges, sat open mouthed at what he was watching and commendably and calmly explained to the host why this was deeply offensive. Not sure the host understood though.

The audience certainly didn't as they clapped along with the act and booed when it was halted by one of the other judges. The third female judge gave them 7 out of 10.

Apparently this act won the very same competition 20 years ago. I know it's Australia, and I know it wasn't too long ago much of our own population sat down and watched "Till death us do part" without appreciating you were meant to laugh at Alf Garnett rather than with him, but we have progressed since then and you'd have thought in two decades Australia may have made some progress too without requiring the edifying intervention of an American. Bloody ignorant crims.