Comments made by Oliver Letwin in 1985 about the Broadwater Farm riots, have filled today's headlines. But there is another Conservative race row which perhaps says more about the type of racism which still exists within British politics. Allegations have been reported by the Guardian that a canvasser, working for the London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, referred to rival candidate Sadiq Khan as "the muslim". Our first piece today suggests that the battle between Khan and Goldsmith could see a return to some of the ugly racial and religious politics that have been largely absent from the mainstream in recent years. Elsewhere, we have a piece by Matthew Goodwin which looks at how political journalists, academics and analysts got just about every prediction wrong this year. The general election result, the upsurge of the SNP and the rise of Jeremy Corbyn were some of the major political events that took experts by surprise during 2015. |