Benazir Bhutto

Given that corruption on a wide scale is to be taken for granted within the political systems of most countries, Bhutto should still be remembered as a force for positive change, and was clearly too much for a military junta or Islamic fundamentalists to stomach. I now have a real fear (in somewhat nimbyish fashion) that this will lead to repercussions against the Pakistani (and thereby, indiscriminately, any South Asian or Muslim) community in Britain. Coupled with the insanity evidenced in the points of origin of other immigrant communities - the Sudanese government tells us Allah must be protected from do-gooders who let children name teddybears, and Poland still has a homophobic fundamentalist as president despite recent reversals - there are real developments afoot which may in turn exacerbate anti-immigrant feeling here. Having been a dirty banana-boater myself, I would hope that we can all be quick to try and stifle xenophobia wherever it rears its frothing head around us, if only with a simple reminder to the effect that the wogs shooting each other are very often the reason why the guy running your local store or driving the bus left their country in the first place.