PK I do not make excuses for racists but nor do I tolerate every mention of 'black teenager' as being labled as racist. Why you seem intent on picking a fight on a point that is clear....that too many boys from lower socio-economic backgrounds fail at aschool, is mystifying. My point has been consistent throughout, improve education, work with parents and give these youngsters other options than gang culture, knives and so on. And in fact one reason why the gap has closed between white and black male pupil failure rates is because of the work done to target ethnic minority groups in schools. Try looking at the stats for ten years ago and you'll see a very different gap. In fact in every post I have made clear the link between socio-economic groups and anti-social behaviour. Just because I also am prepared to face the hard cultural realities of some of these groups does not mean I'm making excuses for racists.