It was a relief that the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ report into institutional racism was published yesterday. We might otherwise have thought it to be an April Fool.

In a nice touch, with its conclusion that institutional racism in the UK does not exist, they served up a prime example of precisely how institutional racism operates.

So, not a complete waste of time, then.

The UK is apparently ‘leading the way on race relations’, but that’s in much the same way that Mussolini led the way in being not quite as right-wing as the Nazis.

Yes, there has been change in the right direction but not nearly enough. The real issue in the UK had always been less about whether structural racism existed and more about the struggle by the elitists to maintain it via the status quo.

And that was always becoming so much easier because protest had long since become more a fashion accessory than a robust endeavour.

Now the woeful and limp failure to marshal arguments has given a free rein to wholesale denial.

The Government and their acolytes have effortlessly conflated the slacktivist noise of the fake-woke, hobbyhorse, BLM summer with the issue of structural racism itself and have dismissed the whole shebang as an emotional and idealistic response to something that is perceived rather than is in existence.

That is quite the two-fingered salute.

Time and time again, protest movements get hijacked and rinsed by careerist loudmouths who scuttle causes and feed what’s left to the hyenas.

That doesn’t excuse the wilful gaslighting by an egregious, crypro-fascist administration, but is does help to explain why protests crash and burn with tedious regularity, and nothing ever really changes.

For most, the cool ant-racist label is great for personal brands and makes the continued exploitation of their elevated status a little more palatable.

With the racism gig, many will for example bemoan white privilege, but few take concrete steps to relinquish it.

Their bandwagonning is so shameless that this, along with the other most serious of causes, is promptly boiled down to fad status.

From then on, it’s child’s play to put out the fire.

And make no mistake, managing to swat away concerns at structural racism as exuberant idealism is no mean achievement.

But Johnson and his gang didn’t do it on their own.

Today, we can thank all the ‘allies’, the knee-takers, the bogus, fake, posturing online posters, and every other shameless slacktivist out there for hanging out to dry all those who frankly deserve better.

They’ll be back after the Easter holidays.