COLUMNIST Julie Burchill has launched an astonishing broadside against 1970s childrens programme Chorlton and the Wheelies.
Writing in The Observer, Burchill described the Wheelies as pathetic little toadies, while Chorlton the Happiness Dragon was a sinister patriarchal figure, like Hitler crossed with Jimmy Savile.
The article went on to accuse Fenella the Kettle Witch of being a cross-dressing woman-hater while the Toadies, her mushroom henchmen, would probably be working in a concentration camp if they didnt live in Wheelie Land.
The 800-word article made numerous other criticisms of the programme, with King Otto, the ruler of Wheelie Land, described as an absurd parody of a potato with a vomit-inducing sense of entitlement.
The Observers website was swamped with comments from readers, who variously described the piece as deeply offensive, a manifesto for wheelie-haters and a beacon of reason in an increasingly wheeled world.
A spokesman for the newspaper said: Julie has never been afraid to address controversial issues, whether it is gender politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict or what a bastard Tony Parsons is.
On the other hand, maybe shes been writing contrived, provocative articles for so long shes simply run out of things to pretend to be outraged by.”
Burchills outspoken views have provoked outrage on numerous occasions, as with her 2010 New Statesman article, Why Dangermouse is an anti-Semite.
