In Britain today, some people have learned there is so much mileage in being a victim of a "hate crime" that they can't be bothered to wait for the "racists" to strike.

In Birmingham, a 24-year-old black man claimed he was attacked by White racists and set on fire. Ashley Cane did, indeed, have serious burns to his face and arms, and the incident became so notorious it came up during debate in the House of Commons. Now it appears Mr. Cane burned himself while setting fire to a stolen car. Police have charged him and two accomplices with wasting police time and conspiracy to defraud. News that the "racist" attack was a hoax appears not to have been debated in Parliament. 

Chris Cotter, a White man also from Birmingham, is the ex-boyfriend of black female track star Ashia Hansen. In March he was allegedly stabbed in the back and slashed across the forehead by White thugs who told him, "We warned you not to mix with niggers." Miss Hansen got hate mail and went into hiding, while the country wailed about racism. Police warned other black athletes to look out for thugs. Now it turns out Mr. Cotter and two accomplices staged the knife attack and mailed the hate letters themselves. In Britain it is common to charge large sums to grant exclusive interviews, and Mr. Cotter hoped to make a bundle telling his story to the papers. Miss Hansen, the black athlete, is now worried there could be "a danger of distracting attention from the legitimate racist issues we have in society." 

In London, non-White police officers started getting messages saying, "Not wanted. Keep the police force white. Leave now or else." After the usual hand-wringing the sender turned out to be Gurpal Virdi, a Sikh police sergeant who had been denied a promotion. Mr. Virdi has been dropped from the force. 

In Byker, near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Asian shopkeeper Mohammed Bashir made headlines when he complained of harassment and intimidation at the hands of Whites. Soon afterwards someone bombed his shop, and Mr. Bashir immediately blamed racists. A police investigation found that Mr. Bashir, his two sons and a neighbour planted the bomb and set fire to the shop. According to Chief Inspector Gary Shaw, "the motive for this crime was money. Mohammed Bashir had taken out an insurance policy on the shop shortly before it was destroyed."