Why is Ron Atkinson going to be vilified for the rest of his life?

He made a single outburst on live television and has apologised for it.

Yes, what he said was wrong but he cannot now un-say it; this man should not be made an example of when there are far worse race issues to deal with.

I'm not trivialising the issue or suggesting that ethnic minorities don't have a right to be offended but let's have some perspective.

During the 80's and 90's, no man did more to kick racism out of football.

He even pressurised the England management to recognise the talent of black footballers and their assets to the national game.

Yet I find there are double standards over the whole race issue and the Commission for Racial Equality do little to help the matter. They are quite selective about whom they condemn, ie, the white British majority.

Week in week out, Sheikh Abu Hamza spouts his racial and religious hatred but is he ever labelled racist? Of course not! This man is a conservative muslim according to the politically correct.

Similarly, Louis Farrakhan proclaims "Hitler had the right idea about the Jewish problem", but is he condemned as a racist? No, he is a hero to many but the thought police decide we must call him an extremist.

Granted, he is American and affects us little; but if he decided to come to Britain to peddle his philosophy I doubt there will be much of a stir, certainly not the outrage that would have been expressed had he been the leader of the KKK.

Racism is and will always be a touchy issue but in the last 30 years we have gone from one extreme to the other.

Matthew Mason

Station Road