RACISM. It's an ugly word for an ugly sentiment. And in modern, tolerant Britain, few people would stand for being accused of it.

So when the Evening News was tarred with that particular brush yesterday, it was clear we had no choice but to defend ourselves.

The accusation came from Dr Mohammed Aslam, the chief executive of the Worcester Racial Equality Council.

Last year, there were allegations that Dr Aslam had acted improperly with respect to a £10,063 grant from the Big Lottery Fund.

As is our duty whenever there is a claim that public money is being misused, we reported the situation.

Then, when the Big Lottery Fund cleared Dr Aslam of any wrong-doing, we reported that, too.

At all times we acted impartially in telling the people of Worcester things they had a right to know.

Did we treat Dr Aslam differently to anyone else because of his religion or the colour of his skin?

No, we did not.

So to be called racist for doing our job is, as Evening News editor Stewart Gilbert says in today's story on page 3, both outrageous and false.

We call on Dr Aslam to withdraw those comments.

For such spurious claims cheapen his cause and distract his organisation from targeting the real incidents of racism.

No one would deny some people in Britain today are racist.

We are not among them.