Lance Knobel writes "I've written a lot about anti-Americanism being an acceptable prejudice in Europe. Antisemitism attracts more criticism, but remarks like Dalyell's are accepted to a degree that would not be tolerated in the US" in response to Jonathan Freedland's Guardian article on Tam Dayell's recent racist slur. Both are off the mark.

There is no question this this was a racist slur: it was out of order and unacceptable. We all know that, and Tam Dayell (who is a spent force anyway) is further diminished by it. But it certainly does not warrant a public display of righteous indignation.

One should not take absence of condemnation as acceptance; tolerance is surely a virtue to which we should aspire; 'America's advanced intolerance' is not.