The former commander of British forces there says there are British passport holders who live in the UK being found in places such as Kandahar. He adds: "There is a link between Kandahar and British cities: that is something the military understands but the British public does not." An estimated 4,000 British Muslims have undergone military training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

RAF Nimrod aircraft have been picking up West Midlands and Yorkshire accents in the Taliban front line. Some Taliban explosive devices contain British-made electronic components: David Milliband was shown some when he visited Afghanistan last month.

Ed Husain, a young British Muslim, who is fighting a valiant battle against extremism, says that extremists can be sure of a ready supply of recruits. He says: "Britain's mosques are run by men who are physically in Britain but psychologically in Pakistan. As long as young Muslims are confused about whether they belong in Britain or elsewhere, we risk handing them over to the extremists."

As a former member of the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir, Husain knows what he is talking about. A poll found that 97 per cent of imams were from overseas, and 92 per cent were educated abroad, mostly in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Nearly half of mosques do not make provision for women. Those that do provide "disgraceful, unhygienic quarters."

Of the 27 Muslim seminaries in Britain, 25 come from the hardline Deobandi tradition, the preferred school of the Taliban. Husain comments: "So while British soldiers risk their lives in Afghanistan, we allow the teaching of intolerance, unequal treatment of women, religious rigidity, the banning of music and theatre, and an end to free mixing of the sexes."

Nearly 100 hardline clerics have taken up posts as prison chaplains.

Mosque after mosque has been taken over, with moderate mainstream Muslims driven out. In Lancashire, 59 out of 75 mosques in the old mill towns fell under hardline control. Disgracefully, when Muslim moderates appealed to Government of both parties to stop what was happening, they were ignored. Over the years, the security forces showed no interest because they had their hands full with the IRA. Foreign warnings were similarly ignored.

British universities have been rich breeding grounds for Islamist radicalism. The list of terrorists who have been through the university system is remarkable.

Is it any wonder they regard Britain with total contempt for its tolerance of their extremism? In my view, we are now beyond the point of no return because there is no sign of the will needed to fight back.



THE dramatic headline says 'Council to Axe 400 Jobs'. It seems that Leeds City Council is "planning to shed over 400 jobs" as part of its budget.

I don't like to see anyone losing their job, but obviously if the private sector is being hard hit, it is fair that the public sector should share the pain.

But everything is not quite what it seems. The reduction in jobs will be achieved through "natural wastage and voluntary early retirement". There will be no compulsory redundancies.

The unfortunate employees of Woolworths and dozens of other companies might wish to have half of that consideration.

There are more than five million public sector workers, enjoying final salary, index-linked, pensions and most have the option of retiring at 60, or even earlier, before their private sector counterparts. The total cost of their pensions has reached a staggering £3 trillion – I won't bore you with the number of noughts needed.

They also have more flexible working conditions and are more likely to go sick than employees in the private sector.

So if you were about to shed tears at the plight of the employees of Leeds City Council, you can curb your grief.



Like most people, I have a hearty respect for the local postman and think village post offices are a valuable part of rural life. But the present struggle to stop the Post Office going bankrupt is not about that at all.

The issue is that foreign companies can do the job better than our home-grown Post Office because Luddite trade unions have fought against the mechanisation of the businesses over the years.

Michael Heseltine tried to get privatisation during the Thatcher government, but he was defeated by a crafty union boss. Instead of wasting time defending the indefensible incompetence of the organisation, he brought in Margaret Thatcher's favourite PR company and launched a brilliant campaign of appealing to Women's Institutes and the like, offering to send speakers to address little meetings throughout Britain. Heseltine was scuppered.

I was trying to think of the name of the clever union boss who masterminded the operation. Then it came to me: Alan Johnson, the present Health Secretary.

We have yet to hear what he thinks of Peter Mandelson's part-privatisation plan.