Didn’t see the show, but Westlife in general make me giggle.
Westlife as leprechauns would probably make me piss myself.
One more for the not offended.
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
(Hey baby let those free birds fly 
)
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely
Around the fields of Athenry
i think jjimm nailed it there
ah, go away and boil your head 
Just curious as to how many of the “unoffended” actually saw it? Believe me, I’ve a pretty thick skin.
Here is the Commission for Racial Equality’s report on the status of the Irish in Britain (warning, pdf file). And here is the full story behind the “fucking illiterate Irishman” comment - Reuben, Gary Kumquat and Racer1, please read it.
Philip Green is famous for his foul-mouthed rants. While that doesn’t excuse his outburst, it does mean he’s not necessarily representative of a wider problem.
Thank you for making my day much brighter.
Thanks also for the coffee stain on my pants
It was worth almost getting fired when I snorted out loud and my boss sees me shaking with laughter.
On the “the Irish are not discriminated against in the UK” issue:
Bout 5 years back I was on a conference for youth minority workers. One of the people running the conference was from the British Racial Equality Authority, there is a proper name for that, but it’s late and I am Irish, so forgive me for not remembering
He informed me that (at the time, this might have changed) the Irish were the only “white” minority represented (presumably he meant with it’s own department or whatever) by this authority. One of the examples of workplace prejudice he gave was that newley moved Irish women in their twenties have a very hard time getting as far as interview for jobs as the employers are of the opinion that “ah, she’ll get homesick and run off home”. Maybe not the most cutting example, but that is the one that stuck with me at the time (being a twentysomething year old woman).
Jeez, the CRE aren’t happy unless they can find a minority to justify their funding.
I’m of Catholic Irish stock:- my grandparents came here to find work, and all our family now have good careers.
I get jokes directed at me when I visit another part of the UK because I have a strong Liverpool accent. I live with it - I can’t get a nice pay-off because I’m officially a UK citizen and not part of a minority.
As for the CRE report about Irish travellers, there are also English ones as well. and the whole bunch of them are a fuckin’ nuisance. They occupy private land, pay no taxes, expect Social Security payments and when they eventually move on leave a load of crap all over the site. Us taxpayers then have to pay for the clean-up.
They can all bugger off as far as I’m concerned.
Oh, I love visiting Ireland BTW…
As an addendum, I was out getting pissed on St. Patrick’s day, so I just played Norton on tape, I found the call to the Estonian pub hilarious.
I read it, and there is no doubt the guy is an idiot who probably finds sea creatures sexual attractive, but you can’t seriously be arguing that something one guy has said proves that British people in general have anti-Irish tendencies?
That would be like claiming the whole country was anti-Man United because you overhear someone in a pub saying they hate the team. It just isn’t a valid representation. I’m sure you can dig up insults from individual people in any country on earth, directed at any country on earth.
On the disadvantage issue, I think manwithaplan has hit the nail on the head.
Anyway, at least we have all learnt one thing… don’t watch Graham Norton’s TV show! 
Bugger off where?
Really, this could be quite the informative conversation…
Aye. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting an education on the subject.
Personally I would be privately astonished if the CRE ever had a good word to say about the treatment of the Irish in Britain, the treatment of the Indians in Britain, the treatment of the Croatians in Britain, the treatment of the Somalis in Britain, the treatment of the Pakistanis in Britain, the treatment of the sub-Saharan Africans in Britain, the treatment of Black Caribbeans in Britain, the treatment of the Chinese in Britain, the treatment of the Malays in Britain… but I think you get my point.
Setting aside the issue of the objectivity of the CRE for a minute, I do not feel that even their most rabid Irish-rights advocate would ever presume to mention the status of the Irish in Britain in the same breath as the treatment of Black slaves in the pre-Civil War USA. Hence, I think that to draw an analogy between Irish self-parody on British TV (presumably voluntary and a nice little earner to boot) and blacked-up white singers parodying Black slave songs - or even Black singers performing slave songs in Uncle-Tom-ish fashion - is nothing short of contemptible.
The past injustices the evil Brits may have inflicted on the Irish is a can of worms I don’t plan to open right here and now. But it’s plain enough that you can’t go lamenting “By the waters of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion” when the gates of Babylon are wide open and Zion is only an affordable day’s journey away. The Black slaves whose shade you see fit to invoke would have begged on bended knee for the chance to trade places with the Irish in Britain, living within easy reach of their homeland and with no bar to returning any time they liked.
Which, again, is not to be interpreted as “Irish go home”.
Impossible to read this without imagining that dude from Boney M dancing around like a hip-replacement Grannie on Viagra. One of my life ambitions was to write prose that evoked a reggae beat …
Is that before or after he started smoking crack and beating up audience members?
He did ? I can’t believe it. You sure he wasn’t just attacking his hairdresser ?
damn, I can’t find a cite. I do know that in 1994 he was in court in Holland fro threatening to set fire to his wife.
And I can definitely remember the news report that he was in trouble for allegedly assaulting a fan at a show, but perhaps its an implanted memory.
Ra Ra Rasputin indeed.
Yeah, I think they’re quite strict about fires in public places in Holland.
Anyway, he wasn’t quite the full two-bob before he started. Then he got married … who wouldn’t that push over the edge …
I you detest Norton, like I do, then vote with your remote…don’t watch the pervy sleazbag.
I was referring to the ones who travel in convoys with old clapped-out trucks.
If you want an alternative lifestyle, fine, but sites are provided and there’s no need to take over some vacant land and make it into a rubbish tip, as has happened near my place of work on a number of occasions.
I’m still waiting for them to finish my driveway - said they were coming back with more tarmac three years ago ! Paid 'em cash as well …
That reminds me, I heard this yesterday:
Q: What do you call a female scouser in a white shell suit ?
A: The bride
Thang yew, thang yew … have you bought tickets for the meat raffle yet ?