Young Writers Society

Prince Philip: would you correct him if he was your grandad?

If elderly people use bigoted or outdated language, it's natural to let it slide. But you can speak out without being self-righteous, says R. L. Cosslett

You'd think it would be tricky having to wake up and face the dawning realisation that every word in your vernacular to describe ethnic minorities is now unutterably wrong. It must happen with alarming regularity, in these politically correct times, although it's not something that seems to hamper the Duke of Edinburgh, who told a Filipino nurse that her country must be "half empty", because so many Filipinos work for the NHS. In all fairness, a passing comment on the proliferation of Filipino nurses is nothing compared to him saying "so you managed not to get eaten then?" to a student in Papua New Guinea in 1998 or, indeed, his 1986 assertion that Chinese "slitty eyes" are catching. Clearly, old Phil peaked with his early material...