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Just for the record - although I have to say it really has been amusing to watch all of the furore over this - but I didn't actually ever say I wanted to ban anyone!

In fact I love France. I have an uncle who lives there that I visit often, numerous friends that I go and see several times a year and am actually known among my friends as something of a Francophile. I am also a committed and proud European who has studied in Germany, Finland and Hungary.

For what it is worth this nonsense began when I was speaking in a debate about the need for a coach park and mentioned that while we were at it we should ask teachers supervising foreign coach trips to make sure that the unruly MINORITY of young visitors that do rush about in the high street colouring each other's hair green and spraying string at each act more responsibly. Nothing more exciting than that I am afraid. It seems it was a slow news day.

Since then there has been a quite hysterical battle between newspaper headline writers who have read each others headlines and attempted to put an even more ludicrous slant on the story. (I think it is generally not the journalists but the editors that are to blame) KOS Media seem to particularly keen to make it up as they go along. But luckily very few people actually read their papers!

Then the BBC and various radio stations jumped on the band wagon too.

There is sod all to be done about it - it happens to someone just about every day - and although it will all have blown over in a couple of weeks I am more than a little annoyed that anyone might think I am a racist.

Alex Perkins