Black lives matter and the banning of Fawlty Towers

There has been considerable talk on social media about banning of certain episodes of Fawlty Towers and other TV programmes for fear of offending people. I am a UK born and raised Indian ethnic minority. Please watch this video to see my view on this.
An episode of classic 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is set to be reinstated on UKTV’s streaming service after it was initially removed because it contains “racial slurs”.

The famous “don’t mention the war” episode will return to the platform “in the coming days”, according to a statement from the organisation.

Guidance and warnings highlighting “potentially offensive content and language” will feature alongside the episode, it added. (1).

I find that STUPID. Please check the video to see my views on this. Watch my really offensive Indian Jokes.

See the Kenny Everett Do it yourself Bee Gees Kit and the reaction of the Bee Gees.

Kenny Everett was famous for this (2.)

I find this hilarious and see the reaction of the Bee Gees.(3)

Two of my favourites the Handi Bendi Ghandi and the mickey take out of all those who say White Christmas is racist.

Although I say Mahatma Ghandi was the greatest man who walked this earth but even I think the video from Three of a Kind is hilarious (4).

Every December people say that White Christmas is racist check out the 2nd video showing The Drifters version of it. (5.)

Gain respect like Stan Collymore.

I was at this game. It was Liverpool FC vs. Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of the season. Stan Collymore had been signed for £8 million. During the game, the Wednesday supporters were giving Collymore a whole load of abuse. I can’t repeat the racial abuse that they gave him or I’d get arrested. They threw bananas at him.

I can, however, repeat that they chanted “What a waste of money.”

Look at his response. (6) After this, the offending supporters shut up. Collymore instantly won the hearts of every Liverpool supporter worldwide. He made the ultimate response. He went on to become a Liverpool legend. We used to call him “Stan the Man.” There was a pub called The Stan Collymore named after him.

The great legend John Barnes.

In 1987 Liverpool signed John Barnes from Watford. I can still remember many on the Kop saying “we don’t want a n*****r playing in the red shirt.”

Within weeks the same supporters were singing his praises. Barnes became a legend and is mentioned in the same breath as the legends Grobbelaar, Hansen, Gillespie, Beglin, Lawrenson, Nicol, Souness, Johnston, Whelan, Dalglish and Rush (7.)

I never forget the 1989 Merseyside Derby. Liverpool were playing Everton and Goodison Park. In those days they did not segregate supporters at Merseyside derbies. We were in the Gwlady’s street end surrounded by Evertonians.

There was this guy in front of me hurling racial abuse at Barnes, even some of the Everton supporters got annoyed with it, especially when he threw a banana at him after Everton scored.

Barnes retaliated in the best possible way- he scored the equaliser.

At half time I asked this man a question.

“Why is it people like you go to countries like Spain to get a tan like mine which will last you two weeks and give you skin cancer when mine is free, permanent and protects me from skin cancer?”

People burst out laughing.

However, in the 2nd half, Barnes produced the performance of his life and tore the Everton defence apart. Liverpool won 3–1 and had it not been for their goalkeeper Neville Southall it could easily have been 10–1.

My Dad

He is an immigrant from India in 1969. The world’s most devout Hindu. He never claimed a penny in benefit. He arrived in the UK with £5. The following day he was at work in a hospital in a pre-arranged job. He was fluent in the English language. He was a family doctor for over 30 years. He employed 10–15 people and paid at least £30,000 a year in taxes. His only criminal offence was to get a parking ticket which was quashed on appeal when he proved he was seeing a patient with a heart attack and had to park in an emergency. If any family member ever went on welfare he would insist that whilst on welfare you worked voluntarily at a charity shop to give back. He gave a lot of money to charity.

At first, some hospital consultants refused to take his referrals. Some local GPs refused to do out of hours cover with him. They tried to get him struck off because he started a scheme with a local pharmacy. Under that scheme you would put in your request for a repeat prescription, the local pharmacy would pick it up and then two days later it would be dispensed and ready at that pharmacy. They had to throw out the complaint because his patients loved it. It saved them time.

All patients with a long term illness were seen every 3 months to keep their symptoms under control. Hence they rarely needed hospital referral. It also kept his waiting list down. He hired loads of nurses to do specialist clinics e.g. high blood pressure clinics. At one stage he was doing so many the health authority made a complaint to the minister of health because he was claiming so much money from them. The minister wrote back and told them to leave him alone and tell other doctors to do the same.

During the latter stages of his career government targets stated that emergency patients were seen within 3 days. He saw them on the SAME day.

As time went on the tables turned. Patients from other practices came to him. He exceeded all government targets and the other doctors were humiliated when the health authority had no choice but to ask him to design protocols to have such an efficient practice.

For the reasons above his patients loved him.

That is how you win people over-you gain their respect.

Bibliography

1. Fawlty Towers: UKTV to reinstate ‘don’t mention the war’ episode with added warning over racial slurs https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/fawlty-towers-racist-uktv-major-gowen-cleese-black-lives-matter-a9564146.html

2. Do it yourself Bee Gees Kit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJtBWJS0v7s

3. Bee Gees — In the Show “This Is Your Life” 1991 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwO7sqm9NBc&t=908s

4. Handhi Bendhi Gandhi — from Three Of A Kind (1983) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjMx05NeiAc

5. The Drifters White Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax9FCq-A9xc

6. Fantastic Liverpool debut goal by Stan Collymore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCM5QXJ86Ns

7. Top Ten John Barnes Goals For Liverpool FC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yw27wSs6mI