The Rational Ref | Whelan should be given red card for racism

Dave and Malky are a right pair of Charlies. This statement is not offensive, whereas these two individuals have been offensive by insisting it is acceptable to call Chinese "Chinks" and to say Jews "chase money".

However, being offensive these days is no longer absolutely black and white with the zeitgeist in many different societies continually changing and at very different rates. What is fascinating is the wide spectrum of views from everybody who has an opinion.

Whenever this column mentions the scourge of racism - such as towards Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos or Asians in general - there are always a few Western voices responding angrily by criticising the apparently reciprocal use of the term gweilo.

Sadly, these people's perspective has not changed with the times. The changing zeitgeist has generally made gweilo no longer derogatory and in fact has become a colloquial term of endearment whereas calling someone a Chink or a Nip remains highly offensive and racist.

Similarly, it used to be acceptable to use the term oriental, coloured and even mulatto. In these enlightened times, only old-fashioned, ignorant and uneducated people would use these words in everyday language. Society defines such people as being racist.

Being clumsy and old fashioned is one excuse used to explain the racist words used by Dave Whelan, the 77-year-old chairman and owner of Wigan Athletic. Whelan said it was "nothing" to call a "Chinaman" a "Chink" and that any Englishman who said he had not done so was lying.