WITH reference to Mr Paul Bailey, president of the Greater Manchester Black and Asian Police Association (Your Letters, Jan 5). If any apology is due, it is to William Hague from Paul Bailey.

It would be interesting to be told why British black and Asian citizens joining the police don't automatically join their comrades in the Police Officers Federation, which has looked after officers' conditions and welfare for many years.

Mr Bailey brings up the Stephen Lawrence murder. He should be aware that criminal charges can only be brought if there are witnesses, or forensic evidence. The Lawrence family milked the system for five years, finishing up with compensation of £350,000.

When PC Blakelock was hacked to death by a mob of black thugs on Broadwater Farm no one was sentenced for his murder and his widow received just the police pension. Likewise PC Dunne attended a disturbance at a house in London and was shot dead by one of three black thugs. There was no witness to who actually shot him and no one was charged. Mrs Dunne also receives just a pension.

This country could once proudly boast of its freedom of speech, freedoms which have been eroded by the "race industry," backed by a weak Home Secretary, which is too quick to label as "racist" anyone who speaks their mind on this subject. Even our elected Members of Parliament shy away from the topic.

Race activists and the Commission for Racial Equality have a vested interest in propagating the myth of mass racism in this country, a country which is noted for its outstanding tolerance.

Until they stop the £16 million a year grant to the likes of the CRE and to other pressure groups who are collecting high salaries, they will continue their mischief-making.

DAVID BEHAR