Some of the sentiments expressed by Steamin' Willie and Bluesman are frighteningly intolerant, not least Willie's exhortation "Tell you what, let's end their plight shall we?"

Words like this can have tragic consequences, and such language doesn't belong here. The family of Johnny Delaney have suffered terribly though his death; no more families should be subjected to such brutality.

The killing of Johnny Delaney in Ellesmere Port on 28 May 2003 wasn't widely reported at the time, but it deserves to be far better known. He was living at the time with his family on a traveller's site in Liverpool, and went over to Ellesmere Port that day to visit some cousins. He was taunted by a group of five youths who called him racist names; he tried to run away but fell, whereupon the youths assaulted him, kicking his head so violently that he died from his injuries later that night in the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The police rightly treated this as a hate crime, but at the trial at Chester Crown Court the judge ruled that the attack was not racially motivated, and sentenced only two of the youths to four years imprisonment for manslaughter.

Johnny's family campaigned against the injustice, but the struggle was too much for Johnny's father who died not long afterwards.

You can read a report of the trial on the BBC and there is a very good article by Audrey Gillan in The Guardian.

I have made a song about Johnny, but I won't publish it here yet as I want to be sure his family are happy with it first.

Matthew