TONIGHT is a moment of truth for Britain.
Out of nowhere, a Channel 4 show watched by a few million has erupted from being a bit of a laugh to a defining moment in the way Britain is seen by the rest of the world.
Make no mistake. Much more hangs on tonight’s Celebrity Big Brother eviction vote than the issue of whether Jade Goody or Shilpa Shetty stays in the house.
At stake is whether we are happy to be seen as a nation willing to tolerate vile bullying and foul-mouthed yobbishness.
That is why The Sun urges every reader who loves Britain to pick up a phone and make sure the ghastly Jade Goody is kicked out tonight.
The argument will continue to rage over whether Jade and her moronic mates are guilty of racism.
But no one can dispute that we are witnessing some of the most degrading and repugnant scenes ever broadcast on British television ? and last night’s unconvincing peace-making between Goody and Shilpa did nothing to change that.
And the following day's:
SANITY has prevailed. Thank Heaven for that. Jade Goody went into the Big Brother house appearing to be simply a fun-loving working-class girl canny enough to have made millions from her 15 minutes of fame. It was all a meticulously manufactured lie. She has left the house with her true personality laid bare: A vile, pig-ignorant, racist bully consumed by envy of a woman of superior intelligence, beauty and class. Incredible as it may seem, last night’s vote was the most important in Britain since the last General Election. OK, it’s just a reality TV show. But it became a referendum on whether our nation, with the eyes of the world on us, was prepared to back a home-grown yob over a dignified Indian actress. We weren’t and the result has restored faith in the British public. Hopefully Jade will now slither back under the rock from where she crawled before her debut on Big Brother in 2002. As for her two spineless, sniggering sidekicks ... let’s hope they join her.
Back then to today:
From slithering back under the rock to the tragedy we all feared in just more than 24 months. Even by tabloid standards of attention span, this must be a reverse ferret that's close to rivalling the one following the death of Diana.
