THE abject failure of the extreme right in British politics suggests that the group or individuals behind the two racist nail bombs attacks in London are equally likely to be the same sort of bitter, frustrated nobodies whose noxious hatreds society has quite rightly rejected time and again at the ballot box.

But because they are extremely few - indeed, this could even be the work of a lone racist fiend, despite claims by the neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18 that it was responsible - it does not follow that the community can be complacent about these attacks.

The warnings by police that new attacks could follow in other parts of the country which, like ours, have considerable black or Asian populations must be taken seriously and everyone must be on the alert.

But all must be aware, too, of the purpose of these evil nail-bomb attacks.

For though they are rooted in the hate of extremist outcasts and are lethal expressions of it, their aim is to spread it by dividing the community on racial lines - by provoking fear and mistrust among the black and Asian communities and so encouraging their alienation from society. They must not fall for that sinister plot.

It is through precisely such separatism - be it forced or voluntary - that the supremacist distinctions at the heart of the preposterous ideals of neo-Nazism thrive and are spread, so that the awful upshot becomes the sort of evil we see today in the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

Let all those whose communities have been attacked and those who may be threatened be revolted and angered that people are made targets purely because of their colour.

But let them not become tools of the bombers by letting them drive a wedge between the British-Asians and blacks and the British white population.

Instead, while putting themselves on the alert for potential future attacks, they should show that they are determined to carry on their lives as normal in defiance of this evil.

The police must also show the utmost determination to bring those responsible swiftly to justice.

And when they are caught, as they will be, they should be locked up and the key thrown away.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.