FORTY years ago, the Northern Irish Troubles were still happening.

Whenever the IRA carried out an atrocity there were those who sought revenge by attacking the Irish.

Public desire for revenge was fuelled by a media which openly derided, debased, dehumanised and ridiculed the Irish.

This resulted in people being attacked, killed, arrested and imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit, simply because they were Irish.

For centuries the Irish have suffered countless atrocities including oppression, slavery and attempts at their genocide.

Collective blaming was used, the Irish were told to be ashamed of their culture, history and they had no right to exist.

All of which was fostered by England’s ruling classes who benefited from atrocities against the Irish, Britain’s poor and others around the world.

Such racist language ceased barely a generation ago.

But recently I’ve heard the same collective blaming and racist language used by Far-Left extremists.

If people listened to Liam Neeson’s recent comments, they’d realise his actions forty years ago were driven not by racism, but by a desire for revenge.

I don’t condone him, but I do condemn the hypocritical media and those accusing Neeson of racism and committing a hate crime.

CT Riley, Spennymoor