Peter Howson (b. 1958)

The idea of xenophobia is one of Howson's most readily identifiable and enduring themes. Howson has always felt very strongly against neo-Nazis, fascists, bully-boys and racists of any kind; people who commonly use brute force to brute ends. The mob was closely associated with this idea as so often in history it was the tool of fascism. As Howson says, 'the mob is a very pliable thing, it's like plasticine, and it's an ugly, horrible thing. Any ordinary person on the street can be involved in the mob, can get sucked up into it, can become fascist, can become part of the mob. It can be anyone from any walk of life, it could be a bank manager, warehouseman, road-sweeper, a stockbroker, a schoolteacher'. He quoted St George as an example. The painting was taken from a real person who was a clerk during the week, but a football hooligan, a neo-fascist, at the weekend match (op. cit., 49).