Well, shepherdlass, I suppose it's less the soupy pop idol stuff that I am worried about, so much as the mindless celebrity culture that seems to preoccupy so many people to the exclusion of most things that are worthwhile. Then they wail about immigrants undermining our culture...

With regard to the soul singer you mentioned, I think quite a lot of people have probably been fooled (or are determinedly deluding themselves into thinking) that the BNP are not racist. A friend of mine from Yorkshire in a recent discussion we had about the whole worrying topic of fascism mentioned an acquaintance of his from work, a 'nice bloke', who said that he "voted for the BNP because they seemed the only party to have the interests of the ordinary Englishman at heart". The fellow appeared genuinely shocked and remorseful when my mate told him the party was racist. There's one born every minute.