To just want to sob?

Sob, sob, sob..........

GRANSNET ARE GIVING ROYAL BABY TAT AWAY!!!!

See competitions.

To combine two different parts of this thread, when I commented that people who are not black can also experience racism I was thinking of the Duke of Edinburgh's nasty comment about English students in Asia becoming "slitty eyed" if they stayed too long.

In the 70s and 80s, I worked in three FE colleges of which the principals were all Welshmen.

That was probably because Wales was over-producing teachers at quite a rate back then. "The two main exports of Wales are coal and teachers" as they used to say. I'd still be surprised though stansgran if it applied in areas like West Glamorgan - but not in the north. My mother and step father were both teaching back then, and I never heard them mention that.

There was a time (the 70s) when you couldn't get a teaching job in wales unless you were a native speaker of welsh. In Liverpool there were plenty of welsh teachers. No discrimination in Liverpool .

Someone I knew went for an interview as head of maths in a London school. He was very well qualified. They did not appoint so he rang up to enquire why he was unsuitable. His Welsh accent apparently. This was in the 1990s.
So yes, I agree, white UK citizens can experience racism.
I also agree with Bags that a black immigrant to Uk might not experience racism. Depends on what they are doing, where they are doing it and who they are interacting with. A woman I know who is an independent consultant was saying the other day that being african in appearance was actually an advantage at times in her business, because she gets noticed (much more than white men in suits) and people always remember her.
I did know someone who once went on a demo in Oxford against a hairdresser who refused to cut "black" hair - but that was about 45 years ago.

Thanks Merlot , Little bit worrying for them , mind you seeing her at Ascot she looks "In the Pink", so perhaps it is not all bad , hope so , not that I am that keen on him, but I think it will rock a few boats , if he anything happens to him.

PS , do not think that using the term whelping for a woman about to give birth very attractive.

He's out now, Nonu but as the palace have not said what's wrong with him and he's going to be recuperating for two months we can only assume it's a lot more serious than an 'investigation'.

I think there might also be some kind of media blackout because there are none of the usual speculative articles that there were for Princess Margaret when she was ailing.

Having been away , I did not know he was still in hospital, not an awfully good sign IMO, still have to be positive , no news is good news .

absent I was speaking in the context of the reported comments made by an Asian Ugandan and an African Ugandan regarding their experience of racism in the UK.

Of course, white people can be the subject of racism in the UK also, e.g. Jewish people, Irish people and, more commonly these days, Eastern European people. Black people, however, are generally more at risk of casual racism because they can be immediately visually identified.

So from her I gathered that black doesn't mean black as such, it just means not 'white'. I'm all for as much mixing of gene pools as possible and then we can all just be vaguely yellowish or muddy.

My Asian friend called herself black, though she was only a slightly darker shade of yellow than me. She was very assertive too. Probably still is.

Eloethan Your final sentence is surely racist itself. Black people are not the only people who have suffered from racism.

A so-called "chip of the shoulder" could just as easily be described as assertiveness.

Some people are less assertive than others because of their particular background, and Asians tend to have been treated more favourably by their colonial masters than Africans. Some black slaves internalised the values of their white masters, in the same way that at the time of the suffragette movement a significant number of women internalised the values of the existing male-dominated culture and did not support equality for women.

Unless a person is black, how can she make a judgment about the existence or significance of racism?

He went back to Africa (South Africa though, not Uganda as that would have been too risky) to work for Save the Children. Maybe the fact that he was made an outlaw in his own country by other blacks, made him realise that a bit of mild racism in the UK was peanuts by comparison.

And maybe, just maybe, he never did encounter any racism in the UK. The idea is not completely outrageous you know.

petallus, the 'those days' you were referring to were the 1990s. Not so very far past. My black friend was doing a D.Phil at Oxford after having been a refugee from Uganda since being a very young man. He was a refugee in Nigeria for many years before coming to the UK. I don't think you need rose-tinted spectacles not to encounter racism in Oxford. Not in the university environment anyhow.

Why on earth feel sorry for a healthy young womanhappily married to a lovely husband, expecting her first baby and without a financial care in the world? Not begrudging her one iota of it, be glad for her.

I feel really sorry for Kate - there must be so much pressure on her and she seems like such a lovely girl. I wouldn't swap places with her...

And it originated on an early forum called Usenet.

Were you on that one Greatnan?

Apparently godwins law goes like this:

"Dude, shut up. Nobody cares what you think."

"Oh, so now you're trying to censor me? Go to hell, you damn Nazi!"

It is true that the Royals cannot control what the tabloids say about them - but they do actively manage their PR and choose who is going to be high profile and who not. Otherwise they would have had a quiet little private family wedding wouldn't they. And this thread began with a link that shows they are not above flogging royal baby souvenirs.
No reason why children should be offended by being referred to as pups. Pups are gorgeous. "whelps" - bit olde englishe and they probably would not understand. But wouldn't it be a pity if such words as whelping disappeared from our vocabulary? Got to work them in to keep them alive I reckon

Well if that was me Greatnan, 'fraid it rolled right off. Never 'eard of it. Not that I can remember anyway. #godisgood

I agree with what you say Bags, up to a point. The law backs the right of people to be offended though.

I recently spent the weekend with a (very) black woman from Rhodesia. Her family are 'upper class' and able to employ servants (this woman had a nanny for each of her children) and although she has been in this country for 8 years or so now, she does seem very confident and assertive (a little abrupt even) with waiters and other staff in such places as restaurants and hotels.

But she was telling me about an experience she had as a child in Rhodesia when she went into a whites only toilet. Two white woman told her she should not be there and she felt very humiliated but rebellious, pretending she could not understand what they were saying. Quite an incident developed and it nearly became a police matter.

She says this incident affected her for the rest of her life.

Incidentally I think your black friend who did not see any racism in Britain (especially in those days) was wearing rose coloured spectacles.