Getting Better

Celebrity Big Brother is a total knob-head show and no one is watching it, but the one thing that is keeping it alive is a row over supposedly racist bullying by some housemates. The alleged victim is Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood star. I really don't know what is going on in the house, because I haven't watched any of it, but I have read a couple of news reports. Apparently one of the housemates, who has now been evicted, persistently referred to Shetty as "The Indian", and claimed she couldn't pronounce her name. There have also been allegations of people making fun of her Indian accent, and one allegation of a conversation in which housemates objected to Shetty touching their food with her hands. The phrase "don't know where those hands have been", was apparently used.

There may have been other instances of alleged racism, but I don't know of any. What I find astounding is the fuss that has been made about this, bearing in mind that Shetty herself is not able to comment, and as far as I know, has made no complaint. Apparently Channel 4 has received over 10,000 complaints (that must be just about all their viewers) and the matter has been discussed in parliament. It's quite possible that the friction in the Big Brother house is racially motivated, but none of the incidents I've seen reported appear to be self evidently racist. No one has said, "I hate Shilpa because she's an Indian". It all seems most strange to me.

Dumpy had a good night last night. There was a small screaming incident of less than 5 minutes around midnight, but apart from that, he slept until 6. Very proud of him. I also managed to get a seat on the train this morning, though it was crowded. Amazingly, it also left on time. Thus today has started better than yesterday.

It seems that tomorrow is going to be foul weather. It's going to pee down with rain with 80mph winds in England. Scotland is to be carpeted in snow. Oh joy.