Nobody who heard the local news in London yesterday morning could have failed to hear the latest bizarre story about a local council bending over backwards to "accommodate" people who never asked to be accommodated (guess who?). Publications coming from Lambeth council, which serves a chunk of south London from the south bank through Brixton to Crystal Palace, omitted all reference to "Christmas lights", substituting "Winter lights" and even "celebrity lights" instead. Whoever this was meant to placate, the Daily Spew (right) was in no doubt: it was aimed at us Muslims.
What I was amazed to find out was that the council involved was not your archetypal "loony left" Labour council, but a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Tories (from the Times via Harry's Place). Listening to one of their councillors, Bernard Gentry being interviewed on the Vanessa Feltz show, it became apparent that the decision wasn't the council's but was made by some lowly petty bureaucrat and got into the publications without the council itself knowing. It was just unfortunate that the next council meeting wasn't scheduled until after said lights were due to be switched on.
I always have the same feeling whenever I hear of these foolish attempts to "avoid hurting our feelings" without asking us first. I mean, there's no shortage of community leaders whose opinions could be consulted, but for the record, Muslims do not expect people outside the community to tone down their religious celebrations to avoid offending us. True, we are not allowed to participate in the religious aspects of these festivals, but if our brothers are to be allowed to take up half of a main road in east London every year for a big Mawlid march, how can we object to people putting up lights in their town centres and calling them what they are? And as acknowledged on the show this morning, it's incredibly patronising, and has big PR damage potential.
Like those piggy stories, this was a lot of nonsense, and comes from the bureaucratic PC lot rather than Muslims.
I'm no fan of Islam, in case anyone hadn't noticed, but it is important to get the facts right.
I'm telling you, they want stop hating you until you start putting up your christmas lights.
Who owns the daily express? And pRickler, since when have facts been a part of your thinking?
This is total madness now.
Who owns the Daily Express?
One of the biggest pornographers [seriously]/ publishers of adult magazines in England. And this is a paper which caters for a white Tory moralising right wing middle England.
It used be [some 20/30 years ago] a fairly serious and sombre rightish wing publication. It's since lurched rapidly more and more downhill with celebrity gossip and the like.
I sometimes wonder whether the people responsible for banning Christmas lights, displaying pig ornaments in windows etc are actually Islamophobic agents provocateurs...
Of course Jesus wasn't actually born on 25 December - this was actually a pagan festival anyway.
There's a story like this every year. The big stores are in on it to get everyone to do their Christmas shopping.
Daily express will make a lot of sale on that paper, which of course was the point.
Council is ashamed to be christian: And what does is it mean to be christian? The minor headline answers -" to drop a dress size in 10 minutes"? showing your body?.
These are psychological and business games... Quite sad. My heart bleeds.