Geeks of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your lightsabers!

Greetings.

I want to draw your attention to a very old problem that we've not yet been able to sweep from our society.

The problem is called geekism.

Many other isms - racism, sexism ageism - are thankfully in decline as people are finding their age-old prejudices challenged on a regular basis.

Unfortunately it is still socially permissible to discriminate against people on the basis that they play dungeons and dragons, are able to recite obscure Doctor Who plot points from memory and know how to do a Vulcan salute.

I'd hoped that we'd got over this sometime in the nineties with the cross over success of the X-Files and (more recently) Harry Potter and Heroes perhaps indicating to people that genre is not without merit, but it still seems to be a problem in some sectors. I've encountered at least two instances over the past week when the old jokes have been trotted out in the media - i.e. geeks have no girlfriends, geeks all live with their mothers etc.

Had this been any other minority then the broadcasters in question would have been castigated for their stereotyping - but not with anti-geekism.

Like any despised minority we have our meeting places - Gamestation and Forbidden Planet being two of the most important - but we don't yet have our own subculture.

We need geek newsletters that list geek clubs

We need more geek-friendly pubs and b&bs and, in larger cities, geek villages.

We need more prominent celebrities to out themselves on national TV admitting that they've been living a lie and are actually fans of Babylon 5 and Blakes 7.

We need geek pride weekends and geek pride marches in which we walk down the street, humming the imperial theme to Star Wars (You know - it goes DUM DUM DUM DUMDEE DUM DUMDEE DUM)

Women's rights and gay rights have come on so far in recent years but geek rights are, as yet, not recognised in this country.

So I say to you all: let us rise forth from our hidden places, take up our lightsabers and sonic screwdrivers and march on Number 10 in order to force Mr Brown to make Britain a geekier place!

Say it once, say it loud - I'M A GEEK AND I'M PROUD!!!