That, and there's also the part where Parminder is Asian in origin, and while Howard doesn't make a direct allusion to this, Shirley does. (When she complains about Parminder wearing a Sari for Barry's funeral instead of wearing something "traditional".) Sukhvinder's school experiences aside, it's not as if anyone ever calls her parents "Pakis", but there is some racism there which expresses itself in subtler ways than that. Now I'm not British myself, but I wonder whether Howard, by making Parminder treat him, isn't also evoking some British Raj stereotypes by placing her - who is his opponent on the council - in a position where she has to perform services for him.

(BTW, the tv version changed Shirley's line re: Parminder's Sari as part of making Shirley more formidable an opponent (I assume). Earlier Vikram, Parminder's husband, whispers to her re: Sari "you're just wearing this to annoy the Mollisons" and she says "no, I'm not". Then they pass the Mollisons and Shirley says "showing your waistline at your age? You're courageous" whereupon Vikram whispers into Parminder's ear "you just got owned by a granny".)