If I had any sense I wouldn’t touch Liam Neeson with a barge pole but, hey, nothing ventured nothing gained!

If I am not going to write about Brexit, this story has been one of those that dominated the news last week and I have to say I am not sure how I feel about it.

Anyone who starts a sentence with, “I’m not racist,” usually is – but I really am not.

In fact the only time I was really upset by a comment on my writing was when I spoke of the death of an Indian man and it was suggested by a reader that I wouldn’t have cared if he was white. I can assure him, I don’t care if a skin colour is white, black of shades of tartan, underneath it all we are “all Adam’s bairns” as the saying goes.

So when Liam Neeson announced that he wanted to kill “any” black man after a dear friend was raped, my first reaction was to be horrified.

He clarified the statement by explaining that his anger ran so deep he just wanted revenge and, in answer to the interviewer’s question, agreed that if the rapist had been Irish or English, for instance, he would have wanted to seek revenge among the race concerned.

I can even identify with him to a certain extent. I remember the white hot rage that came over me when one of my kids was bullied at school. In a split second I could have killed the bully and all is family.

I like Liam Neeson. I am more likely to “forgive” him, if my forgiveness is even wanted or cared about, than I am to “forgive” Mel Gibson, who seems to be an anti-Semitic hypocritical drunk.

Neeson was admitting to something that happened a long time ago – and would have been wiser to keep his mouth firmly shut.

It was a stupid thing to say and an even stupider thing to do. And worst of all, blaming a race for the actions of one made him no better than the bigots we decry every day.

Hate crime is on the rise in this country and it’s a tragedy.

Violence among religious extremists is growing – and I guarantee that none of these extremists an any side have a true religious bone in their bodies.

Racism seems to be re-emerging on and off the football field, making a mockery of the so-called beautiful game.

All these hateful people have one thing in common. They are individuals. They do not represent a race, a nationality and often, not even a family.

To condemn the whole for the actions of one is neither wise nor clever. Actually, it is just plain stupid and that is one of the tragedies of the situation - I never took Liam Neeson for a stupid man.

We are all human. We all make mistakes and maybe we have to admire those who own up to them, especially before they have been found out.

Liam Neeson owned up and you must react how you will.

But I think what I have learned is that Avenge is a good title for a movie and it may be a good film.

But seeking to avenge is not a great way to live our lives.