I feel nothing but profound shame and the most heartfelt sadness to be living in a country in which the riots of the past few days in Oldham could have occurred.

Whatever the trigger for the initial violence, whatever the involvement of outside elements and whoever did what to whom, there can be no excuse for the days of violent thuggery perpetrated by both white and Asian youths. These were young hooligans totally out of control, beyond the reach of their parents, hyped up by a lust for mayhem.

We do not need the usual show of liberals, wringing their hands in angst, telling us these yobs were in some way fighting for a better life. They fought because they revelled in the anarchy.

And we really do not need some social worker, senior police officer or politician mouthing off about how we must learn the lessons from the chaos so we can ensure nothing like this ever happens again. It has become the most mindless clich that hapless public figures regularly trot out.

For one thing is certain, something like this will almost certainly happen again. It is the way of the world.

Whether or not the civil disorder can properly be described as a race riot, racism was, without question, an ingredient of the devil's brew that was concocted. As has happened during similar previous occasions such as Brixton and Toxteth, my mind has been drawn to the 'I have a dream' speech by the American black civil rights leader and Nobel peace laureate Martin Luther King.

Delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in August 1963, to a crowd of nearly quarter of a million people, the speech is regarded by historians as one of the finest of the 20th century. With the greatest respect to the late Dr King, I use a little of it, modified for my own purpose.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up and live out the creed that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day, in this fair land of Britain, our own children and the children of immigrants of all kinds will be able to sit down together and live in peace and harmony.

I have a dream that one day, all children will be judged, not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, little white children and little black children and little Asian children will be able to join hands and walk together as brothers and sisters.

Only when tolerance and humanity ring out from every hamlet and every village and every town and every city, will Britain be a country at ease with itself. I have a dream today.