JIM Bowen has expressed his sympathy for the position Robert Kilroy-Silk finds himself in - and he has first hand experience of clashing with the forces of political correctness.

In Kilroy-Silk's case if his now infamous newspaper article referred to all Arabs then it was a lunatic generalisation.

But if he was talking about some Arab states he was absolutely right. There are places where limbs are amputated, women are appallingly repressed and which have bred suicide bombers.

His writing may have been badly crafted and ambiguous but it is also true that the majority of the British public have come out heavily against the battle cries of the politically correct that we have heard in the furore of the past few days.

Racism is abhorrent but political correctness is also distasteful because it alienates large parts of the population who feel they cannot criticise the Asian community or individuals within it under any circumstances without being labelled as racist themselves.

At the same time it is perfectly all right for French, German or a range of other peoples to be lampooned.

Jim Bowen was the victim of political correctness gone mad when he made a mistake on air. He should have been more careful and have had his wrists slapped - not been jumped on by the politically correct mafia at the BBC.

Racism has to be defeated but it will not be beaten by political correctness which simply creates a vacuum for the lunatic fringes of the far right to eagerly occupy.

In East Lancashire many people feel they have no voice because local politicians are too frightened to shed the comfortable clothes of political correctness.