There are two issues here. One is the act itself, and the other is the desire (or not) to cause offence.

I do not believe that the good people of Padstow set out, in 2007, deliberately to cause offence. Nor do I believe that the people who took part in minstrelsy necessarily hated blacks. We agree there. My grandad, as it happens, was an enthusiastic performer in minstrel shows. And you want to talk photographic evdence, I've got loads. I don't believe he was a deliberate and conscious racist - but that doesn't mean that what he did wasn't a racist act, deliberately or otherwise.

My point about Padstow, and the other blacking up traditions in England, is that many of them are rooted in or are deeply entwined with minstrelsy. But a lot of the people who take part in them today will tell you that this is not the case, citing the old chestnuts about disguise as the reason why they do what they do. This isn't necessarily a deliberate attempt to hide the truth - many of them probably believe this, as it's what they've been told themselves, possibly by older generations who wish to protect their tradition or who might simply be embarrassed about the truth.

My argument is a simple one: if people want to continue blacking up, they should be willing to acknowledge that, at one time, their tradition may well have been rooted in a practice which would be deeply offensive to many people in Britain today. They need to accept this as part of the heritage of what they do, rather than sweeping it under the carpet. Now, if that bothers them, perhaps they should think about stopping. Or choose a different colour. And if it doesn't bother them, perhaps they ought to ask themselves why.

"If blacking-up was presented as one among many inversion rituals and practices, I believe it would suitable to present graphic and video evidence of the practice."

Again, this is not my question. I asked whether, in introducing children to English traditional song and dance, you'd be happy to see blacking-up traditions, with all their chequered history, presented as something to be equally proud of. Would you be happy to show those early photographs of Padstow to a black child? It's that simple.

Finally, a few people have said that it would be interesting to hear from a black person what they feel about all of this. Well, the article from EDS that I quoted earlier interviewed several people about the practice, including a dance caller named Nigel Hogg. This is what he had to say:

"I have watched many different dance groups around the country, and on certain occasions I have seen groups black up to perform. As a mixed race man I do find this tradition offensive because I see it as a parody mocking people of colour. I would imagine that the people who perform these dances are not racists, and on some levels the people involved have not even though about the implications these dances might have to people of colour.

The bottom line is that we now live in multicultural Britain, and although these forms are traditional, they are not really acceptable anymore. Times, attitiudes and trends move on, and now is time to move forward, not just in dance and song. If there was a display of this kind of dancing in an inner-city area, how would it go down? In my opinion it would be taken very badly and many people would be offended, because as i see it, it is a backward step. I do not think that blacking up to dance achieves multi-racial harmony."

So, not just us white middle class do-gooders finding it offensive, then. I don't know about you, but i am always really chuffed to see black and Asian people at traditional events, from festivals to calendar customs. I think it says something incredibly positive about the culture we live in. The idea of people of different backgrounds trying to engage positively with English traditional culture being confronted with a blacking-up tradition that has its roots in minstrelsy is incredibly depressing.

But maybe that's just me.