By golly....

This week Carol Thatcher was fired from The One Show for "inappropriate behaviour", according to the BBC.
The daughter of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is believed to have referred to French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a "froggy golliwog guy" backstage during filming of the BBC One programme.
Since Miss Thatcher's sacking however, the BBC now faces growing criticism. By last Friday, the number of complaints to the BBC about the dropping of Carol Thatcher over her "golliwog" comments had risen to more than 3,000.
Thatcher axed by BBC's One Show
Thatcher complaints to BBC rise

My first reaction to the Carol Thatcher saga wasn't surprise - after all, her mother once remarked, "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture".

However, the nature of the complaints to the BBC has left me more angry than the actual incident itself.

Supporters of Miss Thatcher have spoken of political correctness gone mad - excuse me, but if it's now acceptable to make humorous remarks about black people by denigrating the colour of their skin, then one might as well bring back Love Thy Neighbour on British TV.
I find myself agreeing with a comment on the website for BBC's TODAY about a growing racist sentiment disguised as an attempt to redress an overly politically correct landscape.

By the way, having actually been called a "golliwog" while at school, one can appreciate that I find use of the term completely unacceptable - even in "jest".