I have just watched the Paxman interview with George Galloway, which has made me very very angry. I am personally not a Respect supporter, and abhor their tactics of targetting possible Green seats, thereby splitting the anti-war vote. I think this is totally couter-productive.

However, having won in his constituency, to then be asked by Jeremy Paxman whether he was proud of having ousted one of the few black female MPs in Parliament is, frankly, ridiculous. Paxman's question, which he repeated several times, demonstrates positive discrimination of the worst kind, amounting in itself to heinous racism. The idea that a candidate should be elected to Parliament because they are a black woman, rather than on the merits of their political abilities and representation of their constituency is a total farce. It is equally farcical to suggest that Galloway should not have stood in this constituency simply because the current MP was a black woman. Those who suggest that he was somehow undeserving of this seat because he won it from Oona King seem to me to be totally missing the point. Galloway was elected because the majority of that constituency agreed with his views, in exactly the same way that King was elected eight years ago because the majority of the electorate agreed with her views then - it is naive and patronising to suggest that she was elected in sympathy.

Paxman's confrontational interview shows a complete lack of thought and a real penchant for positive racial discrimination - hugely racially damaging in itself. For this, Paxman deserves to lose his job.

You can see the interview at  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4519575.stm#