'Get out of our Queen's country before our bonfire night and parade day, other than that your building will be blown up.' The message was sent to Muslim, Polish and Indian community centres in Belfast at the start of July. Having driven more than a hundred Romanians from the Queen's country the previous month, Belfast's Aryan fraternity must have felt they were on a roll. And why wouldn't they be pleased with themselves after attracting the international media to town and even prompting Esther Rantzen to offer her thoughts on the matter?

LRB 27 August 2009 | PDF Download