Tomorrow in Nottingham British soldiers home from Afghanistan will be marching with some stirring military music to make us all proud to be British in this land of hope and glory. There again there is an international inquiry (Chilcot Inquiry) underway into whether the war in Iraq was just and legal and by association many people feel that foreign troops have no place and nothing to win in Afghanistan
There will be protesters against the military campaign (do they really call it a war?) in Afghanistan and counter demonstrations in support of the troops by the anti-militant Islam English Defence League (EDL). The EDL claims not to be racist.
For White European looking people who are by far and away the majority in the UK - at over 92% nationally - this will make an entertaining spectacle to counter the lethal boredom of the German Christmas Market. Had Hitler had his way, then no doubt such markets would be even more commonplace in the UK - which may be partly the reason why an inquiry was never held into the legality of WW2.
But what do the planned marching, support and protest events in Nottingham mean for our people who do not look White European?
Today as we sat and listened to the news on the TV, my wife who is Black and was born in Nottingham of Black Jamaican parents announced: "Right then I'm not shopping on Saturday with the baby - we don't want to be caught in the middle of that lot of racists!"
I wonder what on Earth she might be afraid of? Come to think of it, several people have commented that our baby looks Asian.
Professor N. R. A. Casperson BA (Hons), MA, PhD
