They came up for dinner yesterday and a member of my close family used the word 'Paki' in conversation. I pulled them up on it and got accused of being a 'London goody two shoes' whilst they went on a rant about 'This is a Christian country so I don't see why we should have to put up with mosques and temples and their teachings over here in our schools and towns; and if they want them so much why not stay in their country?'

We also walked past a ridiculous number of cops (I counted two riot vans, 4 cars, two unmarked ones and a dog unit) all parked up around one black male in his 30's.

As we walked past, they then said something about 'probably part of a black gang' and 'knife crime'...

Thing is, it's not just them. Everytime I go home to Southend, I sense this issue growing and growing. Up here in London, I feel detached from it and like racism is a thing of the past. But it's not. Some of my girlfriends mates have issues with race (one of her friends dumped their partner recently after finding out his mum was from Asia), I've openly heard my northern boss cracking racist jokes down the pub after a few...

Does racism come with age? Is it poor education? Is it drastically on the rise outside of London as times are getting financially harder? Or does the issue of race get confused with other issues such as religion, education, benefits, immigration and become just one huge minefield?

I found it very hard to know how to deal with it really. I tried arguing my case but got shouted down by people with no desire to listen or change their stance. Which in all fairness, I was unwilling to do too. And maybe that is the problem? two sides unwilling to budge or move towards one another?

So racists; a bit of a nuisance.