Tomorrow the voters of Henley have the chance to elect a new MP. I was in Henley, for unrelated reasons, the other day. It's a lovely place and my wife and I had a very enjoyable night and morning there.

But I saw something there which I never thought I'd see again, at least not in the civilised world.

There's a teddy bear shop in Henley, called Asquiths. Cute, you might think. And although I can't understand grown men who still go weak at the knees at the thought of a teddy, even I could see the shop had its charm.

At least I could, until I saw one of the window dispays (pictured). There, in all its 'glory', was a Golliwog. As if that wasn't jolting enough, inside the store, entire shelves were devoted to 'golly' paraphenalia - mugs, 'wogs' themselves, badges and such like. I was struck dumb by the sheer blatancy of a display that would not have been out of place in a BNP shop.

Although most were called simply 'Gollies', some were described by the full word, Golliwog.

As readers will know, I am hardly the most politically correct of people. I have no time for stupid and misplaced so-called sensitivity - such as when the mayor of Washington DC sacked an aide for using the word 'niggardly'.

But there is nothing funny or ironic or any other justification for such crass, offensive, dolls. I imagine how I would feel if I saw a hook-nosed doll called 'the Yid'. And although I've read some defences of Golliwogs on the basis that there's nothing racist about them, I think that's total balls. They are entirely so. They may have seemed innocent fun in a bygone and ignorant age, but in today's world they are simply revolting.