I believe that President Barack Obama said little wrong in his comments about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, the eminent black Harvard professor, in his own home after a verbal confrontation with a white sergeant.

The police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were called after a passer-by had phoned to say two men appeared to be trying to break down the front door. It transpired it had jammed and the professor had asked his cab driver to help force it open. It all went downhill from there, with Prof Gates carted off to the police station in handcuffs and accused of disorderly behaviour, charges dropped 24 hours later.