Dianavan, if I read her right, makes an important point: It's easy to slip from caring to patronising. Indeed, the discussion about affirmative action can fall foul of that too. But I'll take patronising as second best, in preference to ignoring the issue altogether.

It's just that I don't think affirmative action by itself is enough on this, because it can generate a feeling of "well, we're taking action, that 'll be sorted then" - when society's attitudes are just as much to blame. Some of the education needed should be aimed not at the "mutts" but at the rest of society. I hold no answers, I just see the problem as a real toughie, yet very important, and at the heart of other evils we often argua about on these pages.

By the way, I wasn't there, MG, I just read history. Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is a good start. I remember reading it and noting way too many parallels with today's US. I wish I had pencilled them at the time, so I could quote now - but I haven't.