About every three months I am accused of being an anti-semite. It is not difficult to predict when it will happen. A single, critical mention of Israel's treatment of Palestinians will do it, as will an article that does not portray Louis Farrakhan as Satan's representative on earth. Of the many and varied responses I get to my work - that it is anti-white (insane), anti-American (inane) and anti-Welsh (intriguing) - anti-semitism is one charge that I take more seriously than most.

Similarly, when the Wall Street Journal hailed Tony Blair as "America's chief foreign ambassador" it did little to enhance the reputation of a man determined to "heal the world". So when Norman Tebbit praises the home secretary on his "vision" of race in Britain, David Blunkett should take it as a sign that something is seriously awry.

There are some pledges of assistance and praise a Labour government could do without. The North Koreans' offer to monitor the party's flawed internal ballot for London mayor was well-intentioned but hardly helpful.