Prince Harry’s racist remark about a Pakistani member of his army platoon has prompted widespread criticism.

The prince issued an apology after the News of the World published a video diary in which he calls one of his then Sandhurst colleagues a “Paki”.

Oh my. Wow. Really? Well, yes, It’s on video.

Cabinet minister John Denham said it was “offensive”, while the Ramadhan Foundation called the prince a “thug”.

Indeed he is. Now the question I have is this – if you did that, would your friends ever forgive you? Even if you told them it was a joke (not that merely finding it funny makes it that much better)? How long before you forgive the prince, then? Well, lets see, shall we, maybe he’s got a good excuse…

St James’s Palace said he had used the term “Paki” as a nickname about a friend and without any malice.

Oh really? Presumably, then, he’s referred to as ‘Cracker’, then and he has two other friends called ‘Nig-nog’ and ‘Raghead’ – toether they are ‘platoon ironic racism? Pull the other one – it has bells on it.

The prince filmed parts of the video and in another clip, he is heard calling another cadet a “raghead”.

I stand corrected. Clearly ‘Raghead’ is indeed a close personal friend. As are ‘Wog’, ‘Dago’ and ‘Wop’.

He had to apologise in 2005 for wearing a swastika armband to a party, which offended many Jewish people.

In all fairness, that was just poor taste. I doubt if he was actually being anti-semetic there. It really isn’t the same. ‘Paki’ and ‘Raghead’, however, might be better qualified to answer that question than me, though.

‘Unfortunate timing’

when, exactly, would it have been a good time to call people ‘Paki’ and ‘Raghead’? The 50’s, perhaps? When it was all just jolly good fun? Oh no, it wasn’t jolly good fun even then, was it? It was racism.

The video obtained by the News of the World shows Harry while still an officer cadet at Sandhurst military academy.

Erm… bad timing?

He was filmed in front of other cadets at an airport departure lounge as they waited for a flight to Cyprus to go on manoeuvres.

Erm… bad timing?

The newspaper said the prince, who is third in line to the throne, had called the soldier “our little Paki friend”.

Oh, I see… You mean it was bad timing that he was being filmed whilst he was being racist… I see

BBC royal correspondent Daniela Relph said this was an extremely embarrassing episode for the prince and the Royal Family.

She said the emergence of the three-year-old video was “unfortunate timing” for Harry, whose image had greatly improved since he served in Afghanistan last year.

Oh, sorry, I see now. You mean that it was bad timing that the palace had been given hope of people not finding out that he’s gives people racist nicknames. That means that the spin butlers have wasted their time. I’m sure they will be most put out. They’re quite busy enough already with Prince Philip.

“That was a real step up for him, a real sense of maturity that people could see,” she said.

Absolutely. Now he’s killed a few ‘Ragheads’, I’m sure he’s much more mature. Killing people for no other reason than they are told to do it does that to a guy – really makes them grow up. After all, that’s what the army is for isn’t it, to provide an environment where the ignorant and privileged children of hereditary rulers can boss a few proles around and shoot the odd native in some foreign climb so they can become men. This still true, right?

She added that as a member of the Royal Family, Prince Harry was held to a certain standard, and everything he said and did was scrutinised “regardless of whether it was banter among colleagues or something that was being used by lots of other people he was working with”.

Or when the news of the world have a fucking camera crew following you around…

Ok, Jokes are jokes, and best kept private if the reason that they’re funny is that they’re inappropriate. Some kind of minor infraction or inappropriate comment, if simply caught by accident might be forgiven as simply bad taste, like the armband. Giving a person the nick-name ‘Paki’ or ‘Raghead’ because of their skin colour… erm… how can I put this? Oh yes. It’s racist abuse.

‘Absolutely disgusting’

Politicians and Muslim groups are among those to have condemned the prince’s remarks.

The BNP are quoted as saying ‘Go on, my son’.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the words would have caused “considerable offence”, while Tory leader David Cameron said it was “a completely unacceptable thing to say”.

Erm… Is Cameron here implying that it’s OK to think these things but not vocalise them… presumably not. On the other hand, he did go to the same school as Harry. Maybe that’s what they’re taught there. After all, how would we know? The ruling classes even have their own school, you see. 9am – racism and dog-walking. 10am. Rugby. 11am, rifle training. 12, lunch. With the queen.

Aki Nawaz, musician and political activist, said: “It’s absolutely disgusting and I think he should be dismissed from the MoD. We don’t accept these things, we’ve had to live with this for 40 years.”

Too bloody right. We all know that the army is hugely racist. This will never change if things like this are not pursued. Just because he’s the prince doesn’t mean he should get away with it. He’s just a bloody person, and behaviour like this should not be indulged just because he’s a toff. In fact, he has less of any excuse – nobody else on earth has the educational advantages he’s had – he is not some barely-literate poorly-schooled grunt. He’s an officer – it is his job to lead and set an example to his men. If he cannot do that job, he should be sacked just like anyone else should be of us should be.

What a twat.