I don't dislike George Formby, neither do I dislike Kipling; I can contextualise their racism within the culture of their times but I'm not about to excuse it, much less pretend it something else other than what it was, or that a) that mentality exists today b) it is rancid and has no place in the multi-cultural England I know and love. Of course both Kipling and Formby (died a few months before I was born) are probably gyrating in their graves at the way things turned out, but Gungadin and Mr Wu are both crappy creations of an xenophobic imperialist mindset which the optimist in me believes will vanish one day.

Middle class? Next you'll be holding up Carry On films and (certain) ITV sit-coms as paragons of proletarian enlightenment and racial harmony...