Adrian Ratcliffe

I have known Adrian a long time. The first time I met him was in the 1990s when he chaired Sherwood Community Action Group and I was a councillor. He was one of the few people in Sherwood at that time prepared to get off their backside and attempt to improve the estate.

A few years later I met Adrian when he was involved with industrial chaplaincy on North Farm.  More recently we have become friends on Facebook and I have been following with interest the activities of the English Democrats (ED) and the English Defence League (EDL), neither of which am I a member nor a supporter. 

Should anyone care to peruse my Facebook page you will find it is eclectic. There you will find individuals from the far left to the far right, from many nations, of many faiths or none, people with a very diverse range of interests, opinions and prejudices.  Cosmopolitan.

In my opinion we should withdraw from the EU, have an English Parliament and elected mayors. I oppose AV. Nothing far-right in that and as far as I am aware (apart from AV) more or less what the English Democrats  (ED) stand for, as do some within the Labour and Conservative parties.

The trouble for the ED starts when it comes to the issues of  immigration and multi-culturism.  At one time it was taboo to talk about immigration, as to oppose immigration was equated to racism.  Now, both the Conservative and Labour parties recognise that the scale of immigration is a major issue and thankfully it is possible to talk about it without being branded racist.

The Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Conservative Party have both spoken in recent months about the dangers of segregation of communities along ethnic, cultural and religious lines.  Opposition to Shari Law has been expressed by a former Lord Chief Justice no less. In many respects the policies of the ED are reflected in mainstream opinion.

The problem for the ED is that some of its supporters also have links with the EDL and the British National Party (BNP).  Whilst the EDL denies strongly it is racist, some supporters are as are some ED members/supporters.

Undoubedly Adrian posted items in  very poor taste, but it is ironic that he should be castigated in the local paper on the very day militant Islamists murdered United Nations staff in Afghanistan because a fool in America burned a copy of the Koran.

To spread the story about Adrian across the front page and two inside pages of the paper in my view was excessive.  What it has done is given the right-wing racist morons a huge publicity boost  which will undoubtedly aid recruitment.

The po-faced comments of those rushing to disassociate themselves from Adrian were to be expected.  Head in the sand time by people unwilling to acknowledge that there are serious  underlying issues and tensions which will not go away simply by applying the epithets  'right-wing' or 'racist' in a  casual manner.  Fortunately there are some, John Denham whilst in government  for one, who recognise that understanding the issues and finding solutions is essential if the constituency which supports the EDL, BNP and to a lesser extent the ED is to  be countered.  The real issues relate to deprivation, not race, and unless tackled  minority groups will continue to be the scapegoats.  It is the message we should be concerned about, not vilifying one of the messengers.