It seems to me that the Padstow event has been a victim, not of cultural differences or racial sensitivity, but rather of the current guidelines, which compel police to treat as racial any occurrence which is perceived as racial by persons who feel offended by it.

This, coupled with the inflammatory language of the True Brits (definitely not a joke, not the least bit funny) article, has blown a bit of harmless fun out of all proportion. The only pictorial evidence in the article is one photo, which could be any black face morris side in the world, in which one person is playing melodion.
No sign of any Uncle Tom, ar similar. Surely the reporter could have produced pictures of any offensively dressed protagonists, had there been any such.

The police presence seems to have been the trigger for this interest, and as I said, they have no latitude under present legislation. It will be interesting to see their response to what actually occurred, rather than going off at half cock, and expanding a small molehill into a rather large mountain.

I would campaign tirelessly for the instant abolition of any tradition, however old, that was genuinely racist, but I want more than one reporter with an axe to grind, and an anonymous complainant to the police, before I accept that the Padstow event falls into that category.

Don T.