[1] this meaningless analogy is by way of a tribute to Manchester’s greatest man of letters.

What on earth does “racist” mean? Does it mean dislike of an entire group based on their ethnicity? Or can it include *admiration* on the same basis? Or are we supposed to banish the whole notion of ethnicity and the fact that certain generalised claims can be made concerning their nature? Can one dislike a group as a political and social entity but still like individuals and if so is one still a ‘racist’? And where does ethnicity end and nationality begin? Is it ‘racist’ to dislike a nation of people? Was I a racist when I disliked Germans in the 1940s and the southern Irish in the ’80s and ’90s? Or am I to be granted a sort of absolution on the grounds that many of then were trying to kill me and mine and honestly I just didn;t have the time to go throught them one by one to pick out the ‘goodies’ from the ‘baddies’?

Is it now a requirement before entering polite society to *like* everyone? Or is it only necessary not to mention one’s dislikes, in the manner of Victorian ladies avoiding the subject of sex? I, like everyone else I have ever known, dislike quite a few people. Why is it especially wicked (assuming it is wicked at all!) to dislike groups of people?

And why shouldn’t the Jews try and control the world, everyone else with half a chance has tried to do it?

Finally, is it really better that we never find out which people are nursing a dislike of other groups of people because they make sure never to let their guard drop in case they are pounced on by the thought police and banished into the outer ring of Hell by the likes of our host?

Let people speak their minds and then we can all make our own judgements.