I met Danny and Cosmic (and Ayisha and Spooks) for that matter when I was at Edinburgh University, not somewhere that was remotely racially diverse at the time. Through my Women Writers Group at the same time I met Sheila , a white Scotswoman who had lived in the Caribbean for many years. She introduced me to Caribbean cooking, helped me understand the specific problems of racism her sons faced (mixed race and dual nationality) and took me to see black poets at the Edinburgh Festival, one of whom focused on the specific problems of racism in the Netherlands (even whiter than Edinburgh at that time, as I remember).

Okay, so maybe I do subconsciously seek out people of colour because one of my role models growing up was a black mechanic in what was then an exclusively white branch of motor sport. Another role model was the holder of the Ladies Records at several of the tracks we went to, which may be why I subsconciously gravitate towards little people, I dunno. But I don't think socialisation ends at 18 or 21, or whatever age you think it stopped for you -- I know my Parents are still open to new ideas and to changing their opinions of groups of people for example.

I don't think you mean the same thing I mean by 'radical feminist', but I would say that some of the problems we have today, including the tendency to judge people by their appearance, can be found throughout history and across all societies. Which suggests to me those problems are a result of people being human and not of the patriarchy in the form as it exists now.