Local paper, Bucks Free Press, reports on the launch of a police investigation after a racist post was added to the Facebook page of the Royal British Legion High Wycombe branch.

Vice chairman of the branch, Kevin Taylor, reported the matter to the police last week after the image was ‘shared’ on the club’s Facebook page. He said in a statement:

“It was brought to my attention that there was a post on the Facebook page of the High Wycombe RBL branch.

“This page is administered by the club and in no way represents the aims, objectives or beliefs of the Royal British Legion.

“As a branch, we find this type of racial hatred wholly at odds, particularly in light of the work this branch has undertaken with the Mayor [Cllr Chaudhary Shafique] and Wycombe Islamic Mission and Mosque Trust.

“The matter is currently being dealt with by the police as a race hate crime and has been referred to Haig House for further action.”

A second woman charged with spraying racist graffiti on the Shah Jahan mosque in Woking, and on other buildings in the vicinity, has been sentenced today reports the Surrey Advertiser.

Georgina Gontar, 20, pleaded guilty to a breach of an Asbo, four offences of racially aggravated criminal damage and two of causing criminal damage.

The local paper reports on the sentence passed on Gontar:

“For the Asbo breach and racially aggravated criminal damage, Gontar received a custodial sentence of 10 weeks, suspended for 12 months.

“For the criminal damage she received a custodial sentence of seven weeks, suspended for 12 months, to run concurrently with the first term.

“During the 12-month period, Gontar has a supervisory order in place and she is required to participate in a diversity awareness and prejudice programme.

“The magistrates also ordered Gontar to pay compensation of £650 to the James Walker Group, £40 to Hobbycraft and £20 to Unit 18 Boundary Way at the hearing.”

Her co-accused, Laura Woodward, admitted four counts of racially and religious aggravated criminal damage and two of criminal damage and was sentenced in March.

The Daily Mail and Independent both cover the investigation launched by British Transport Police after a video clip of a woman racially abusing an Asian man on London Underground was uploaded onto YouTube.

The video was uploaded on April 11th and shows the woman hurl a tirade of racist abuse at a male passenger, saying:

“eat s***.

“f*** off back to your country, piece of s***, c***.

“we don’t want it.

“oh, we’re racist? We want to live in our country, you want to take over the world. F*** off”.”

Detective Constable Lawrence Murphy said in connection with the incident,

"We believe the footage was filmed on an eastbound District line train, which passed through Stepney Green Tube station and Mile End station.

"At this stage, we urge anyone who witnessed this incident, or who recognises the woman, to get in touch and help us build up a full picture of exactly what took place.

"We treat all allegations of racism very seriously and urge anyone with information about this incident to contact us."

Ian Birrell in the Guardian today pens a column about the three Christians who are set to take their cases of ‘religious persecution’ to the European Court of Human Rights and anti-Muslim bigotry in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph reports that papers will be lodged with the ECHR by lawyers acting for Shirley Chaplin, Gary McFarlane and Lillian Ladele, three of the four Christians who pursued claims of religious discrimination last year. The new case is said to dwell on their claims of double standards being applied to Christians by UK courts and Christianity being treated as a ‘thought crime’.

Birrell argues that shrill claims of Christians being a persecuted minority in Britain mask “the real religious bigotry that exists on our streets” – that affecting British Muslims. Birrell points to the example of a Muslim woman in Bristol who was threatened at knifepoint by a drunken man who told her: "Take the hijab off before I stab you. This is England, you are not allowed."

Citing the findings of a report published by Chatham House and authored by Matthew Goodwin, Birrell notes that “fewer than one quarter of Britons perceived Islam as not a threat to western civilisation; just a similar number could be found who thought the religion compatible with our way of life.”

Such figures correlate to the results from a British Social Attitudes survey in 2010 which found:

· 55 per cent of people said they would be 'bothered' if a large mosque was built in their locality while only 15 per cent said they would have similar concerns about a church being built locally

· Only one in four people in Britain feel positively about Islam

· less than half of those questioned in the BSA survey, 45 per cent, felt that diversity had brought benefits to the UK

Birrell notes the fuel to the fire that violent extremism presents to Islamophobia calling it “al-Qaida's lethal legacy – the daily drip-drip of distrust.”

And remarking on the publication today of a report by think tank, British Future, marking the 20^th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Birrell notes that “even as prejudice declines against black people, there is acceptance of the unique problems now faced by followers of Islam.”

Birrell writes “…the highly charged and crucial debates over diversity, immigration and multiculturalism have been hijacked by this mistrust of Muslims”

“Whether on economic, security or societal grounds, we have a shared interest in bringing Britain's Islamic communities in from the cold. But at least recognition of a problem is the starting point to finding a solution.”