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Bernard Dineen: Muslim votes and the battle against terrorism
SOME of the £45m budget for fighting Muslim extremism is going to be diverted into tackling far-Right extremism – because it has upset Muslim voters. The Community Cohesion Minister, Shahid Malik, says he is softening his stance because Muslims feel stigmatised.
For all her trouble over expenses, Hazel Blears, the former Communities Secretary, was a tough opponent of Islamist terrorism and broke links with Muslim groups which did not denounce extremists. Her successor, John Denham, takes a more emollient line.
Mr Malik says: "We shall be putting a renewed focus on resisting Right-wing racism. We cannot dismiss the threat." I can denounce these white extremists with the best of them. But I can't recall them blowing up Tube trains or attacking airports.
So what is really behind this watering down of the fight against Islamist terrorism? David Davis, the former shadow Home Secretary, is in no doubt: "This has been done for political reasons. It is classic Labour – attack something on the Right to deflect attention. Anti-terrorist strategy should be about saving lives, not scoring points."
The parrot-cry is always, "The vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving". Of course they are. You'd have to be biased or ignorant to believe anything else. But what the majority think is irrelevant: it is the violent minority who are the menace. And whether the peace-loving majority are doing enough to combat the extremists.
The real truth is that Labour is scared of losing Muslim votes in inner-city seats. At least 20 Labour constituencies, including that of the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, depend on Muslim votes. So we are watering down our defences against terrorism in order to protect the careers of Labour MPs.
HUBRIS is a useful Greek word meaning wanton arrogance. It is common in politics, and Alan Duncan has it in abundance. The Shadow Leader of the House was secretly taped claiming that hard-up MPs have to "live on rations".
Mr Duncan enjoys taking part in the comedy programme Have I Got News for You, oozing self-satisfaction and obviously believing he is a huge success and a match for the regulars.
He obviously has not seen the contempt on their faces as they sit waiting for him to fall flat on his face.
That fearless guardian of truth, Peter Mandelson, says Mr Duncan is renowned for "saying one thing in public and the opposite in private". Well, he should know.
But Mr Duncan is talented. I once watched him at a small house meeting of leading Muslim businessmen who are not easy to impress. They recognised him at once as a man who really knows business, a rare quality in politics these days.
I have more time for him than for the nasty sleazeball who accepted an invitation from Mr Duncan and then bugged his host. But inviting this creep was another piece of hubris.
THE Farming Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, and his wife walked out of a Muslim marriage ceremony after finding they would have to sit in different rooms. He said it was a sign of segregation and radicalism. I have only one question: how did this oaf ever become a Minister?
I have never attended a Muslim wedding but I have attended many synagogue services where the same applies. To think of insulting one's host by walking out is unimaginable.
We are told that one-third of Fitzpatrick's constituents are Muslim, so I can only conclude that he has a taste for political hara-kiri.
IF the world is going to feed itself, genetically-modified (GM) food will have to play a big part. The Government's top scientist says that GM crops will offer developing countries, whose populations are rapidly increasing, the chance to feed themselves.
In the US and elsewhere, an area one and a half times the size of the UK is already under commercial cultivation. It could also lead to a reduction in the quantities of pesticides and herbicides which we spray on our crops. So what's the problem?
The problem is the long-running campaign by the green lobbies to discredit these new foods before the public has even heard the arguments. Irresponsible coverage in the news media plays a big part, using terms like "Frankenstein foods".
GM foods have been better monitored and controlled in Britain than anywhere else in the world. Small trial plots are all that have been planned and no ill-effects to health have been seen. But that is not good enough for the arrogant green lobbyists.
Almost all the 54 GM crop trials conducted since 2000 have been vandalised. More than 400 potato plants near Tadcaster had to be removed after they were damaged by protesters. A trial in Cambridgeshire was abandoned last year when trees were uprooted.
Why do we tolerate it? When Friends of the Earth campaigners vandalise fields, they should be treated as the criminals they are. What else can you call people who intimidate law-abiding farmers?
Leeds University is looking at potatoes that are resistant to a parasitic worm which costs British farmers 65m a year, but the whole affair is having to be cloaked in secrecy. It is a load of nonsense. We should stop allowing ourselves to be threatened by green bullies.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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