POLITICAL correctness dictates that we must not say anything that might be deemed offensive to those of a different ethnicity/sexuality/colour etc than ourselves.

However, the explosion of hate crimes, together with verbal and physical abuse hurled at innocent people after the result of the EU referendum was made known, has made one thing very clear.

Political correctness is just a surface veneer. It does not reflect what actually goes on in people’s hearts and minds. The referendum result seems to have made some people believe that all their prejudice is now justified and they can let it all spill out like foul vomit.

Many of my foreign-born friends have said to me they do not feel comfortable in England at present, including my delightful French teacher who said she felt unwelcome.

It shows just how near to the surface these negative feelings are and how, with some people, you just need to scratch the surface to expose it.

It is therefore very important that we try to bring up our children to recognise that all racism is evil, that we are all one common humanity, so that these negative and destructive emotions never develop in the first place.

Children are born without these prejudices, small infants playing together are not aware of differences in their playmates, they only pick this up from adults who discriminate and tell their children that some people are bad, or to be feared.

No matter what the future brings, we all must show tolerance and unity for our society to move forward in a positive way.

Carolyn Jones (member of Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel and Hon. Sec. Altrincham Interfaith Group)