Not all immigrants pull the ladder up as soon as they get theirs. Some - the best ones - remember all they went through.

George O'Dowd, 48, better known to the world as Boy George, has strongly defended his Irish heritage and his multicultural outlook from the "racist" British National Party (BNP), who he says are currently attacking asylum seekers and Eastern Europeans as the cause of all Britain's woes.

Recalling how his own Irish mother came over on the boat to Britain from Ireland in the 1950's (when there were signs outside many guest houses saying 'No blacks, No Jews, No Dogs, No Irish') O'Dowd writes "as a child of an Irish refugee, I find this (Britain for the British campaign) stomach churning."

You can read his entire response by clicking HERE