'I'm not a racialist, but...'

At least the BBC's recent post-Brand/Ross tendency to react to any outcry with a swift sacking has produced an upside, with Carol Thatcher's summary dismissal. Cue a cascade of complaints to the BBC, presumably huffily protesting that they used to have a golliwog as a child and it's all Political Correctness Gone Mad. Meanwhile, as so often when the concept of modern liberal society collides nastily with the barricades of a cloistered ruling class, Thatcher is doubtless still baffled at how casual racism isn't considered harmless any more. Maybe Ron Atkinson's purring consoling words to her as we speak.
Let's be clear about one thing: this was no passing comment on someone's mop of hair. This was an example of the historical legacy of the one-drop rule. The French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was simply too Non-U, the definition of which should really be updated from non-upper class to Not Us. Thatcher's ilk of hee-hawing morons must recently have been emboldened by Prince Harry's talk of Pakis and ragheads, and rather forgotten that the only reason the royals somehow get away with acting like fossilised buffoons is because they're still constitutionally sacrosanct. Thankfully, the daughters of former PMs no longer are.