The New Statesman tries to play the race card

This week’s issue of the New Statesman contains some great stuff, a fantastic piece on Mervyn King by Alex Brummer and a revealing interview with Douglas Alexander. However, there is one piece of cheap journalism it that is not worthy of a magazine of the New Statesman’s quality and standing. James Macintyre writes in his column:

If a man is judged by his friends, a political party can surely be judged by its supporters. The New Statesman’s senior editor Mehdi Hasan had a troubling encounter on the Tube last week. “Are you Indian?” demanded a leering, apparently well-oiled skinhead. When Hasan confirmed he was of Indian origin, there followed a sinister tirade: “Your time has come. You’ll be out when my boys get into power.” Whom did he mean, Hasan wondered, the BNP? Then came the answer: “The Tories.”

This kind of crass attempt to play the race card debases public debate in this country.