HA ha ha - chavs are really funny, aren't they? (Sorry, but when did it become cool to laugh at poor people?).

The way they dress is so hilarious, and they talk funny and - hee hee hee - they don't have jobs. (I mean, maybe I missed a memo or something, but the last time I checked, laughing at people less fortunate than you was a bit unpleasant.)

And that ChavScum website - the one that makes fun of chav baby names and celebrity chavs - that's brilliant, isn't it? (And maybe it's me, perhaps I'm being too squeamish, but a website that bills itself as a 'user's guide to Britain's peasant underclass' makes me think we have somehow sleepwalked back to 1983 and all become the sort of Young Conservative numbnuts who used to laugh at the unemployed.)

And that Vicky Pollard from 'Little Britain' - she's hilarious when she says "yeah but no but yeah but", isn't she?

And Lauren, the girl from the 'Catherine Tate Show' who keeps saying "Am I bovvered?" - why, that's the height of comedy brilliance...

OK, I can't keep this up any more.

Quite apart from the fact that 'Little Britain' and 'Catherine Tate' have somehow got away with having one joke that they repeat every single week, it's starting to leave a slightly nasty taste in my mouth when I see wealthy performers getting wealthier by making fun of the people on the bottom rungs of our society.

I know people have always laughed at different social groups, and you might think that laughing at poor people is no worse than laughing at fat people, geeky people or stupid people.

Catherine Tate and the 'Little Britain' boys would probably point out that they make just as many jokes about rich folk as they do about chavs, but at least the well-off can take comfort from the fact that they have the best jobs, their children get the best education and the status quo is likely to remain pretty much in force for generations to come.

But when we laugh at single mothers, they also have to cope with the worst housing, a daily struggle to keep their head above water, and the likelihood that they will die younger. Go on, laugh at their shell suits.

No doubt you will say that this is political correctness gone mad, and I will respond, "Am I bovvered?" (Hee hee, brilliant: I'm a comedy genius. I think I will keep saying that every single week.)

And you can, of course, laugh at whoever you want to.

I just think that getting your thrills by laughing at those people who are less fortunate than you isn't particularly cool.