I would say thank you for your compliment, but since we've been accused of mutual back slapping just because of your comment, I shudder to think what we'd be accused of if I did say thank you.

so is white trailer trash racist.

because I'm sure as hell that Jermaine Jackson used it in that way.

Did he? when? If so I feel outraged and insulted on behalf of the person/persons it was aimed at.

And you know this for certain because ...

Just because he wasn't fined 10s of thousands of pounds, suspended from work for a month or, (as some would like) summarily dismissed doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't disciplined only that we weren't informed of it.

Good lord. I can't believe there are people on this thread who don't think P*** is an offensive term! Scary stuff!

My personal view is that it's unlikely Anton used it with racist intent. It comes across as rather embarrassing ignorance to me. Many of us have ingrained and subconscious prejudicial attitudes - I'm sure I've got some, but I don't think racism is one of them - and it often takes something like this to make us take them out and see them for what they are. The reflection of someone else's reaction to something we say or do should tell us a great deal and I'm sure Anton is a wiser man for this event.

There was a Channel 4 series a while back called "I'm Not Racist, But..." and it brought up a lot of the same issues that are being discussed here. People were frightened and shocked by their own attitudes when they were brought into the open and analysed and many of them gained a greater understanding of the world when it was seen from someone else's perspective.

I know many of you think this thread should be closed and I know it's fairly combative - but it's better argued out than left to fester.

i have heard some fms say piky,now i didn't know what until an other fm told me.

is this not as racist as **** as it is a derogatory meaning for an ethnic minority.

i would just like to point out,that at no time did i say anton wasn't wrong in what he said.

my point was and is that he did not mean it in a malicious way.

Sorry but your memory is slightly out as what Jackson said was quoting another and in reality said that another housemate had called them white trash and that he didn't agree with that description, So yes while he did use the words "white trash" it can only be twisted without the full line he spoke and was only used by people that cared nothing for Jade and her cabal at the time but their own continued pathetic use of racist insults.

On the grounds that an employer has an obligation to create and inclusive working environment under, I think, equal ops laws initially but there are other later laws extending this to other groups. Also for common sense to avoid being sued for constructive dismissal etc.

In compliance with this employers including the BBC are supposed to put policies in place so that staff have a clear idea of how to deal with a situation where for example a colleague is rude or insulting and the working relationship is strained. They also put an obligation on employees to be professional and polite at work and not insult their colleagues. The remedies if they aren’t include talking to them on a first incidence, sending them for respect in the workplace training, separating staff where there is awkwardness, a warning, or if the incident is serious enough or repeated sacking them. In this case obviously the BBC have torn that up all this in favour of ignoring the first incident and then having a Anton issue a half hearted apology for the second one and announcing that he has their full support.

I think you mean Pikey?

Pretty soon we won't be able to call anyone a name

nope shilpa was up set and he said,they are only white trailer trash.

he was being racist .

well there you go thats my point.

a word can be used in a racist manner,but also the very same word does not mean the person using it is a racist.

i mean use the word to insult or cause offence to anyone.

now I'm

but at the end of the day anton didn't mean to offend anyone.

It's troubling that you find the thought of not being allowed to call people names reason for a sad face.

Is calling someone a racist name calling then?

Generally I prefer to call what someone says or does racist rather than the individual, as I think it is unfair to label someone based on their worst moment. However, in extreme examples such as members of racist organisations who are actively devoted their lives to racism then I don't think it is name calling to call someone a racist.

The High Commission for Pakistan in United Kingdom haven't used those number plates for a couple of years now.

Here is list of some other UK diplomatic number plates:

AUS 1 Austrailia
BAH 1 Bahrain
BOL 1 Bolivia
BOT 1 Botswana
CAN 1 Canada
CHI 1 Chile
COL 1 Columbia
ELS 1 El Salvador
FIJ 1 Fiji
FRA 1 France
HAI 1 Haiti
ISR 1 Israel
ITA 1 Italy
MAU 1 Maurittius
MEX 1 Mexico
NEP 1 Nepal
NIC 1 Nicaragua
PHI 1 Philippines
SEN 1 Senegal
SEY 1 Seychelles
SUD 1 Sudan
TUN 1 Tunisia
UKR 1 Ukraine
ZAI 1 Zaire
ZAM 1 Zambia

I hope the meaning they spell out is easy for you to understand.

You've added the word trailer...so your recollection of the events is questionable.

no it is not.

he clearly said white trailer trash.

i fed up of some fms thinking that to call a white person a name can not ever be racist .

ah must be because white people NEVER get called names. by any ethnic minority's.

No he didn't...go ask in the BB forum, if you dare!

You can't know any more than those who insist he definately meant it in an offensive way can since none of us are mindreaders. We can only realistically state whether we think it was meant malicously or not and why.

The point is that it was reasonable for a person to take it as malicous especially as it was not an isolated incident. The second point is that it did offend her and he knew it but when questioned by the press about it originally he denied it had happened, thus making the situation even more awkward for her. He then issued a non-apology apology when the matter was taken up by the tabloids which indicates to me that he was sorry his actions were highligted rather than because he was sorry that he had made his partners SCD experience so difficult.

I think even if he didn't mean it malicously, which I doubt as it wasn't a one off, that his actions afterwards indicate that he was selfish and not really sorry.

He said "white trash" and he was reporting that Leo Sayer had said it.

That Jermaine Jackson, who did more than anybody else to try smooth over the uneasy relations in that house, has apparently come out of it as some sort of standard bearer for "reverse racism" is frankly appalling.

Sorry he was quoting H ( Ian ) And why would anyone say "white trailer trash" ? White trash ( agreed racist ) or trailer trash yes but to put the two together ? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that there was no action taken against Jackson apart from the rumblings of a few forum members trying to justify their own racism.

I suggest that anyone still wanting to defend Du Beke would probably be best advised to avoid watching Panorama tonight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/fr...00/8303229.stm

I'm also wondering if BBC bosses have brought forward this episode to try and defuse the row as they probably didn't expect Jan Moir to have taken over all the flak so suddenly.

You are correct.

He did indeed say "white trash" - I remember it well. I even joined in the debate.

He said "white trash" I heard him say it and joined in the lengthy BB debate on the subject.