Nanny's Neds

I am guessing that many of you will fondly remember, from you youth, that fine British comic The Beano?

This noble "organ" gave us Lord Snooty, Minnie the Minx and the Bash Street Kids; it was something that made Saturday mornings worth getting out of bed for, in order to rush down to the newsagents to buy a copy.

Unfortunately The Beano has upset Nanny.

A new set of characters, called the Neds, have been introduced by The Beano; the Neds are a slobbish lazy family, parodying the chav "culture" of parts of Britain.

The Neds feature Ned, Nedette and their teenage children, Asbo and Chavette; they upset their respectable neighbours by playing loud music, shouting abuse and littering their garden with rubbish.

The publishers of The Beano, DC Thomson, say that it is a harmless parody of modern Britain.

Unfortunately, Nanny is not amused; Kathleen Marshall, the Scottish Childrens' Commissioner, has launched a debate about this issue.

Quote:

"Some people will have concerns about this comic strip.

What I hear time and again from young people is that they really do resent being labelled or stigmatised as 'neds' or 'chavs'.

I have to ask young people what these terms mean to them and whether or not they are offensive."

So what?

She goes on to say:

"It's been suggested that this cartoon is a bit insulting to children and young people and their families,

particularly those who choose to dress in baseball caps and tracksuits".

Rosie Kane, the Scottish Socialist MSP, also got in on the act by trying and failing to get the word "ned" banned from use in the Scottish parliament.

Nice to know that the Scottish MSP's are "earning" their wages by pursuing such vital issues!

Stewart Stevenson, justice spokesman for the SNP, said that The Beano portrayed a "grotesque" and "damaging" caricature of modern Scotland.

Quote:

"I am surprised that DC Thomson has chosen to address a subject such as this in a comic aimed at young children.

It serves to reinforce the image of parts of Scotland as being inhabited by individuals who are disengaged, unemployed and anti-social".

I like Scotland very much, and indeed spent a very happy 4 years at Edinburgh University. However, the "misty eyed" chocolate box image that some try to paint of it simply is not reality. It may be worth remembering that Glasgow recently hit the headlines when an 11 year old girl collapsed in class, as a result of regularly taking heroin.

The publishers are taking this in their stride, as indeed they should, saying:

"We have had a very positive response to The Neds.

We have received a number of e-mails from our readers saying how much they enjoyed it and as yet we haven't had a single negative comment.

Originally The Neds was going to be a one-off strip, but their popularity means we are now going to bring them back in the future."

Nanny should stop trying to create a chocolate box image of Britain, much like the Dickensian Snowy Fezziwig Christmas, it never existed.