I can live with Right Wing Death Beast Paul Sheehan’s dissing of Harry Potter, but stretching a single joke, and an unfunny one at that, to fill an entire column is another thing entirely. Even Phillip Adams doesn’t usually sink to that level of uninspired op-ed desperation. I wonder if Sheehan’s been overdosing on that magic hallucinogenic water again.
Maybe not his fault this time. I mean, the CIA’s poisoned water supplies in the past (remember that time where they filled an English dam with LSD so that everyone would think the Earth was being destroyed by yellow alien spacecraft?)!
and you know what – Harry hasn’t been to the toilet either, not once in five years!
hsaH
‘hsaH’
I didn’t do that!
What does it mean?
Mark – It worked as I recall.
Ken – Harry is an English lad. He bathes once a week.
wen – hsaH is what you end up typing when you’ve been spending too long trying to balance angels on pinheads.
Ah ha – think I’ll object to that comment Geoff (on Ken’s behalf)
Now, what evidence do you have for your nasty allegation regarding English bathing habits – why would the English be any dirtier than any one else in the world ??? If you look at the Brits in the context of ….
aargh, I can’t go on – pin-induced vertigo!
(actually, judging by my own seriously soap & water averse son, I think maybe the fact that Harry manages to get away without frequent bathing is part of the attraction. )
oh dear – meant Harry not Ken – very confused.
I’m sure you bathe, Ken. Sorry.
I know it’s a vile, stereotypical slur on the British people wen – many showered regularly when I lived amongst them (though not all, to which the Tube in August provided pungent testimony). Still, it provided the perfect opportunity for a cheap shot.
British Royal naval vessels used to have signs in the ratings messdecks which read “all ratings are to shower at least once a week.” It caused no end of cruel mirth amongst Aussie sailors.
Everyone knows that taking showers just gets the coal wet, which only makes it difficult to light a decent fire.