We abhor racism in Britain, but refuse to recognise where it comes from | Letters

Paul McGilchrist says we will remain complicit in the rise of racism until we can accept that it emerges from problematic behaviours and attitudes. Plus letters from Dr Peter Purton and Michael Bulley

In considering the continued popularity of Nigel Farage despite his alleged racism (Opinion, 15 December), Nesrine Malik concludes: “If he survives … it will be because there is now a little bit of his poison everywhere.” She is right. But not simply because racial intolerance has become newly contagious. It is because of a peculiarly British paradox: we abhor racists yet often excuse racism because we too often want to believe that only racists are capable of it.

But racism is no more dependent on racists for its existence than it is reliant on malice to find expression. Too few among the general public are cognisant of this and too many politicians appear to be ignorant of it, which is why so many can be wooed by a hardline anti-immigration stance without recognising the extent to which it employs racist tropes.