Let me say from the outset, that I have never considered as racist, the comments concerning Shilpa Shetty made by Jade Goody during her second stint as a Big Brother housemate.  Though I had not watched a single episode of Big Brother, when the furore broke I did take the time to view the offending scenes.  It was patently clear to me that the cause of Jade Goody’s antagonism was nothing to do with race, but everything to do with Shilpa Shetty’s natural grace and intelligence.  It was entirely a class issue, with the ill educated Miss Goody responding to the cultured, educated and so obviously top drawer Miss Shetty in the only way she knew – with disparaging comments (the worst of which, I seem to recall, was referring to her as “Shilpa Poppadom”).  The politically correct mainstream media did not see it that way of course, with the result that Miss Goody was pilloried and relentlessly bullied for being racist.

Even Paul Routledge, a hammer of anything even vaguely suspected of being middle class or Conservative supporting, felt constrained to annunciate,

“Shilpa Shetty was slagged off by slatternly morons who are unfit to kiss the hem of her sari. Their illiterate grunting had no place on prime-time TV. By contrast, the Bollywood star bears herself with remarkable dignity. She showed a calm alien to the other “housemates”, especially Jane Baddy. I think that's her name.”

How times and tunes change.  Now in the eyes of Mr Routledge Mrs Jack Tweed is a heroine.

“Jade Goody, 27, has probably filmed her last TV appearance. The shades of eternity are gathering round her….Jade sought stardom as an escape from the hell of a broken home and dead-end jobs.  She succeeded beyond her wildest dreams, becoming rich, a household name and controversial.  She has loved living in the limelight… But poor Jade never had the start in life that Gail [Trimble]’s parents gave her. She had to do it all herself, so I think her achievement is the greater. To break out of that deprived background and do what she did - including her indiscretions - took courage. I respect her for that”

avers Mr Routledge, continuing elsewhere,

“Meanwhile gorgeous, pouting Gail Trimble, Corpus Christi's famous know-all team captain, is inconsolable at losing the [University Challenge] trophy. “Too upset to comment,” say friends. There, there, luv. It's only a game.  Try imagining you're Jade Goody, still talking to the media on the brink of death.  That’ll restore your sense of reality.”

Inconsistency, incoherence and large servings of hypocrisy are to be expected of a newspaper suffering a significant fall in circulation, and as such perhaps it is not surprising that a gifted young lady who had not sought publicity other than by being a member of a successful team appearing on University Challenge, is now so meanly used to venerate an individual who herself was so cruelly abused by the tabloid press.

Asks Iain Martin,

 “I have been waiting, in vain, for this scandal [the debacle of LloydsTSB acquiring “toxic” HBOS]  to catch fire. But instead the story is fizzling out.

Why? Well, Britons are punch drunk after the past six months. And perhaps the numbers involved are so large that they are difficult to visualise. Fred the Shred's pension, involving sums more easily grasped, was handily leaked by the Government as a distraction.

Yet the chain of responsibility is straightforward. Both Sir Victor and Brown made catastrophic errors of judgment, thinking a great deal of their own interests. The cost to the rest of us will be higher national debt and higher taxes.”

The actual answer is that there were so many depositors and investors who would have lost money by a catastrophic collapse of HBOS, they were happy to see their investments and savings protected even though that might beggar LloydsTSB.  It hardly lies in their mouths to then join vocally in the condemnation of Sir Victor Blank and Gordon Brown’s extraordinary agreement which led to the wreck of a sound bank.  This is not to say however, that Gordon Brown's involvement in this monumental blunder has passed unnoticed.  The electorate's anger will simmer until the General Election, when retribution will be delivered.