Psst...wanna buy a golliwog?

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.