I WONDER if a Muslim had posted similar comments to the Ukip canvasser from Guisborough about the British, would you have devoted a full front page to it (Echo, May 2)?

It appears that many newspapers, and unfortunately the Echo, thrive on discrediting Ukip.

If you ran a quarter of the hate-filled facts written by the small percentage of Muslims who are fanatical, you could fill your paper from back to front.

I have spent long periods in Abu Dhabi trying to start a business to no avail. I have met many Muslims and class them as friends. In fact, I have a copy of the Koran given to me by one of them. It preaches about Mohammed but does not discredit Jesus and certainly does not condone the evil of attempting to destroy every other civilised society.

There is good and bad in all religions, and in atheists.

It would far more productive to concentrate on getting our troops out of those Muslim countries they have no right to be in.

Mohammed or Jesus – what is in a name? They are both one and the same to their followers and they deserve the respect and love of good not evil.

These people are Lucifer’s children – not those of either Mohammed or Jesus Christ.

John Cumberland, Rushyford.

I DON’T want to defend the anti- Muslim words used by Tony Nixon, the UKIP canvasser (Echo, May 2). But I have some questions for Hope Not Hate and the numerous others who are foaming at the mouth in response to his words.

According to surveys in Europe, about half the population thinks Islam is incompatible with Western civilisation. So is half Europe racist or Nazi?

If Hope Not Hate thinks Tony Nixon should be investigated by the police, why not also investigate the recent hateful remarks about Margaret Thatcher? Is it that critical comments about people with white skins is OK, but not people with brown skins? Because if so, that’s racist.

Or do we take it that opponents of mass immigration should be arrested, whereas advocates of mass immigration can say what they want? The latter sounds very much like the sort of “free speech” policy advocated by Adolf Hitler – say what you want as long as you agree with me.

So who are the real racists and Nazis: the pro or the antiimmigration lot? Bit of a moot point, isn’t it?

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.