In light of the national unrest after numerous shootings of black men during police stops, followed by the ambush shooting of over a dozen police in Dallas where five died, Fr Thomas uses the providential lectionary readings of the following Sunday to illustrate how to seek peace with other people, and the importance of casting off anxiety to put our trust in God.

Peter FitzSimons to discuss race relations in Australia at the NFSA

No one should be complacent about racism but the story is rarely as straightforward as some commentators routinely assert

In my city neighbourhood this summer a man on the run from police custody hit a black woman in the face. Understandably, she reported it as a racial attack. Except it probably wasn’t. The runaway also hit a boy when his mother opened the door and tried to spray another woman’s hair red at a bus stop. He had mental health problems.

Not much harm done in this instance. But it’s one reason why I don’t often write about race relations in modern Britain, though I first did so 50 years ago when many aspects of them were pretty grim.