“No Outsiders” – a new front in muscular liberalism’s crusade against Muslim children.

  On the face of it a localised dispute between a few hundred Muslim parents and the assistant headteacher of a school. Yet the outcome of this particular confrontation carries implications that will resonate far beyond the catchment boundaries of Parkfield Community School. Centred on a controversial programme – “No Outsiders” – designed to familiarise…

Double Book Review: Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch and The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray (Part 2)

  Having expended over 7000 words on my review of The Strange Death of Europe I’m hoping my somewhat more concise examination of Brit(ish) doesn’t leave Ms Hirsch feeling too short changed. Though she may not have payed me to write this review nevertheless the incongruent word counts may give rise to the impression that…

Midnight Mass is not for us.

Dear Miqdaad Assalaam-alaikum. I appreciate your responding to my tweet censuring your planned attendance at midnight Mass, despite the lingering suspicion that it was motivated more by a desire to win plaudits as a man of moderation standing up to “extremists” rather than understanding my (and many others’) objections. First of all let me start…

Islam and homosexuality

What does Islam have to say about homosexuality? It’s a question not infrequently asked of Muslims in the West. While contemporary western European attitudes towards same sex relationships have mostly evolved to the point of being positively celebratory there remain pockets of resistance to this newfound tolerance of what was once deemed a mental illness…

Flying whilst Muslim

It wasn’t the first time it had happened to me, that was back in 2014. This time, however, it was different. Someone in the security establishment had decided it was time to upgrade my membership of the “Schedule 7” club from associate to plenary – with all its attendant perks and benefits. As a child…

Letterboxes, Niqabs and Poisonous Snakes

[My take on “burqa”-gate expressed by way of an open letter to comedian Rowan Atkinson. Image courtesy of the irrepressible @HashashinTag – thanks for making us all (even the haters) laugh, sis. For any Muslims who might raise objections: please note that my acceptance of the “right” to mock and lampoon Islam in a liberal…

Another four years of ignominy…

“If the French were really intelligent, they’d speak English.” [Wilfrid Sheed – “Essays in Disguise”] As an Englishman (yes, I “self-identify” as one) I’ve always been proud of my intense dislike for the French. Their arrogant hauteur, vainglorious boasting, gauche directness and worst of all, their pompous dismissal of all and any English achievements (the English language…

Checking out

Boom. Once more, only this time closer, unmistakably closer. And again, the walls and roof trembled, their moans articulated in the puffs of fine dust that engulfed him. Outside the cacophony of conflict blared loud and relentless. “Fuck sake!” His shalwaar kameez had been freshly washed and ironed only hours earlier; at 9 am he’d…

Mad Mel, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia

It’s not that I don’t like Melanie Phillips, I just can’t stand the sight of her [I’m trying not to notice!]. Actually I was intending to write this short piece even before the whole brouhaha over her “no such thing as Islamophobia” remarks erupted. As someone who has monitored her rantings for around thirteen years…

Double Book Review: Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch and The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray (Part 1)

What is it to be British, European, Black or some combination of the three? How far is Britain’s national identity anchored in its historical precedents and cultural inheritance? Is the much vaunted ‘post racial society’ now reality or just one in a long line of quintessentially British conceits? Do the shifting sands of Europe’s racial…

Minority vs Mainstream

For some years now the Muslim community has complained of a small fringe, whose opinions were completely at odds with the mainstream, being granted a media platform incommensurate to their numbers. Yes, I’m talking about the likes of Maajid Nawaz, Ed Husain (although he’s since disappeared), Iram Ramzan, Sara Khan and more recently Adam Deen…

Douglas Murray & Maajid Nawaz

A few inchoate observations about two of Britain’s most ardent Islam (as in what 99.9% of us believe to be Islam) haters. I once tweeted a link to a YouTube recording of a BBC Any Questions? discussion between Murray and Nawaz and strangely enough within a week or so it was taken down and the…