My wife’s family originated in India. Her parents were born there and would say that they were Indian. My father’s father’s family originated in Kent and would say that they were Kentish Men or Men of Kent. I can never remember which is which; it is to do with which side of the Medway you are born on. But when it comes to Covid and the BBC…
Yes, it is that BBC which employs Middle East Correspondent Tala Halawa who think Hitler did the right thing in killing six million Jews but is never, ever racist, to which I refer. The BBC now will, in the same sentence on Covid, refer to the Kent variant and the strain that originated in India. It is never, now, referred to as the Indian variant.
Because in the ball-achingly woke BBC, only good things can be Indian: my wife’s family, spicy cooking, world-class leg spinners, The Taj Mahal. But when it comes to bad things, they can only originate in India but they can not only come from bad old England, they can be English too.
I bet it took an almost entirely white committee of Oxbridge educated millionaires hours and hours to decide how to approach this issue so that they do not offend folks like my wife’s family. Folks who listen to these patronising words and just laugh and laugh at how silly the Britishers, or at least the Britishers at the BBC, have become.