Interstin points again Derrick ............

Multiculturalism, a much abused and misunderstood concept, is I think, an attempt to reflect on the kinds of issues you raise so that we can live with the Irish, whom some English people have treated dreadfully, the Welsh, ditto and all the other people who trust us enough to live here.

I go to parties, generally thrown by 'white Brits' and attended by UK Muslims and loads of other people from various countries and faiths.

We drink a lot and the Muslims and some of others don't. We have a good time and a common cause helps us with our differences and it helps us to forge aliances for a common purpose. We also enjoy each others company.

Scruffy youths pass me in the street with most of their faces covered by huddies - such that no one is allowed in local bars with a hud up. A small minority of women wear the Burka - I try to smile at them as an act of friendship and minor resistance.

Some Border Morris Black up and it probably matters about as much.

However, some people in Morris circles (!) say the 'History of The Morris' is an important part of our culture. Well, if that is so it has to be an honest history not the usual fictional stuff we find on most Morris websites.

And so back to Blackface. Its roots are in 19C Music Hall. Lets be honest and say so. Dances can green up, red up blue up and if anybody asks they can explain why the have decided to do that in the same way the might explain why "They dance dances they have made up, to tunes that were almost certainly never used for morris and on instruments sometimes invented in the 20C. They wear costumes sometimes unrelated to the custom they claim to be reviving".