Britain is a tolerant country and a few football racists don’t change that

The racist messages sent to England football players in recent days are shameful, but to suggest that the UK is a festering hotbed overflowing with racist thugs is a step too far.

Out of the hundreds of thousands of social media posts about the Euro 2020 final, only a tiny number contained racist words. Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak out against such abuse. What happened is indefensible and the culprits should be dealt with by the police. But the frenzied debate the messages have generated risk giving those responsible the attention they crave and which they do not deserve.

As well as failing to see the bigger picture here – that Britain, generally speaking, is a tolerant place to live – there is also a danger that the wrong people are being held responsible for the racist abuse directed at Marcus Rashford and other black players.

For the ‘crime’ of criticising those ‘taking the knee’, Priti Patel has been vilified and condemned by those – including footballer Tyrone Mings – who should know better.