Racism exposed in a world where hi-tech recordings catch you out

NEVER mind the morality, consider the electronic threat. That’s arguably the key message emerging from racism controversies on both sides of the Atlantic at the moment.

First of all, there’s Jeremy Clarkson, who, for some reason which escapes all of us, deployed the old “Eenie, Meanie, Minie, Moe” nursery rhyme to indicate the difficulty of choosing between two equally attractive cars, and in the course of so doing, seemed to use the ‘N’ word. Because his programme, Top Gear, is sold all over the world, all hell broke loose.

Secondly, Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, more than 70% of whose players are black, ranted in a telephone call to his personal assistant (and/or mistress) that she shouldn’t be seen associating with black people. He warned her she should not bring black people (and you can guess that he did not use that term) to LA Clippers games.