eloquently as it needs.

For me this particularly issue has been taken over by media hype and has lost its grip on reality.

being discriminated against on the basis of colour is horrbile and must be incredibly frustrating for those affected - whether worse or equivalent to discrimination on sexuality, age, religion etc I cannot judge.

being abused in the street must be equally offensive and in the situation where I guess it is most prevalent, late at night by a gang of probably inebriated young men very threatening and scary.

Is this the same? It would appear that on this occasion there was an argument between ferdinand and terry with each trying to wind the other up to gain an advantage in a controlled environment on the sports field. Ferdinand admits to making comments designed to provoke. Terry responds. Had Terry shouted that ferdinand was an ugly c**T who shags his sister, it would be OK. Because he shouted he was a b***K c**T, it apparently merits a court case.

Would Ferdinand genuinely be expected to feel more hurt or intimidated or threatened or abused by the word black. I suspect in the real world no, and certainly nowhere near as serious as a gang of white youths late at night verbally abusing a single black man with an impied threat of physical violence to follow.

I fear pursuing this case has lost sight of common sense and thereby pursuing the case to this extent risks diminishing the outrage that we should all feel should an individual feel genuinely threatened or disadvantaged as a result of his colour (or sexuality etc).