Mail laughs at racism

The Mail (9 March 09) has once again made it seem that claims of racism are something to be mocked.

Muslim PC sues after workmates 'laughed at his beard' takes one of the less serious aspects of the allegations and makes a headline out of it, so people can say things such as: 'Here we go again!!!!' and 'Look out, there goes another half million quid in compensation,' among fifty-plus comments that all concentrate on the beard.

Yes as the story makes clear, the PC making the claim (Javid Iqbal) has also claimed he was called a 'fucking Paki' by colleagues and 'white officers openly discussed in front of him how they were 'better' than their ethnic-minority colleagues.'

So why isn't the headline 'Muslim PC sues after workmates call him 'fucking Paki''? Because that would make it seem like a serious story about anti-Muslim discrimination and racism. And in the Mail, that would never do.