If David Starkey is racist then so is everybody

Driving back from my holiday in Wales, yesterday, I realised what a lucky escape I'd had. As I exited the hills and finally got my mobile phone reception back, there was an old message from Friday inviting me to appear on that evening's Newsnight to talk about the riots. So it could have been me that fell into the BBC's "raaaacist" trap instead of poor old David Starkey.

And make no mistake it was a trap. Starkey's debating opponent was Owen Jones, the BBC's new pet angry young socialist whose default position is perpetual umbrage and righteous rage on behalf of the poor, working class, oppressed and – since Friday, apparently – black people. It's a cheap trick but one that goes down very well at the BBC, which is why they…

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