To put the record straight, Dr Mike Cole (Letters, October 10) appears to go further than the Macpherson Report, which many people, including the Home Secretary, regard as flawed.

This report accused the Metropolitan Police of being institutionally racist, which might just be fair comment because individual police officers could be said to represent a national institution.

But to call everyone institutionally racist is an insult to the British people, who are not beholden to any particular institution. Therefore, Dr Cole's premise is a nonsense to start with.

It is a curious paradox that so-called anti-racists are introducing racism into our society by accusing people of being racist.

This introduces fear and uncertainty and there is a risk of people seeing racism where none exists.

Dr Cole's analogy is a classic example. I know nothing about the rights and wrongs of the Yasser Dirki case - that will have to be decided by the appropriate authorities - but on the face of it, racism just does not come into it.

Of course, racial intimidation or violence must be severely dealt with, wherever it comes from, but at the same time people's concerns should be taken seriously by those who have allowed such a large influx of immigrants.

-Alan Nunn, Hove