This is an open letter to the pleasant, if somewhat deluded, lady who kindly crossed the road to try to persuade me to join the BNP at the Grand Ocean Hotel, Saltdean, at the recent demonstration.

You just want to keep Saltdean free of crime, I understand. Well, I had a burning car outside my home last year.

It wasn't a nice experience, especially at 6am. I don't think the culprits, who were evidently local, were particularly nasty - probably just bored teenagers looking for kicks. But give such people an excuse and I am sure they will be only too eager to try a spot of racial violence instead. It doesn't seem very far under the surface in adults, does it?

I wonder how you would have reacted if you had been living in Poland or Austria at the time the Nazis decided there were too many Jews taking all the money? Go and watch Schindler's List again if you are in any doubt about the merits of that society and its attitude to people it considered inferior and dangerous. The Nazi government got into power and stayed there only because of the consensus of people very much like us.

-Name and address supplied