Article on UK gun control
Much as I thoroughly detest the Tories and everything they stand for, I have to admire the recent move (so far only in the Daily Telegraph, a noted Tory paper) towards calling for better...
Author: Matthew Smith
No platform for religious conservatives
A few days ago I posted an entry on Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose meeting with the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and subsequent defence of it, has produced an awful lot of controversy. I reject...
The latest attack on faith schools
It seems the head of the government schools inspectorate is unhappy with the state of faith schools, and in particular, Muslim schools, in that they do not teach citizenship adequately, it seems. The speech...
Where are the broadcasts, then?
Every so often we hear a new outrageous statement allegedly by Omar Bakri Mohammed, the leader of the defunct al-Muhajiroun group. This time he is accused of telling British Muslims they should join al-Qa’ida,...
So, Stone ‘the killer’ goes back to jail
I was really surprised to hear in the news today that the appeal by Michael Stone against his conviction for double murder (and attempted murder) has been dismissed. For those who don’t know, he...
OS X really does not suck
The latest edition of Linux Format includes an article by its Deputy Editor, Paul Hudson, about how much he hates the Mac’s operating system. LXF produces all its content on Macs (in fact, I’ve...
Godhra train fire an accident
The news agencies are reporting that a fire on a train, which killed 58 Hindu fanatics (many of them drunken and violent) was not in fact started by the Muslims they appear to have...
Yet another ‘false Eid’?
It appears that this Eid is going to be another “two-day” affair, with a large number of mosques planning to hold their Eid on Thursday following the announcement from Saudi Arabia. I’ve been asked...
Spencer trots out the ‘apes and pigs’ lie again
Anyone who has not been deflected from reading Robert Spencer's blogs by the nausea they generate will have noticed his 'stuck-record' tendency of going back to the same themes time and time again: taqiyya...
Brighton Pavilion: Sacrilege?
I’m just in the middle of watching a BBC programme, Abroad Again in Britain, about Brighton Pavilion, an oriental folly in Brighton built by King George IV. The presenter makes much of the incongruity...
A poll shows the stupidity of opinion polls
There is a letter in today’s Daily Telegraph (The Simple Solution to the Sun-Lounger Crisis) regarding the difficulties British tourists have when travelling abroad. David Taylor reckons that British tourists are, for the most...
Scratcher’s connections work again
I was rather sickened to read that Mark Thatcher got a suspended sentence and a fine (yes, a six-figure one, but all the same …) for involvement in trying to start off a military...
Melanie Phillips on the “religious hatred” law
The British parliament is currently debating bringing in a law banning incitement to “religious hatred”, in order to plug a loophole in an existing law banning incitement to racial hatred. The latter law is...
Spencer complains over headscarf in Tennessee
Spencer has obviously forgotten the distinction between personal law and “sociopolitical law”, and indeed, the existence of “socio-personal law”, that is, law governing how people interact with each other and behave around each other....
Islamic articles on the Tsunami
Theological Lessons from the Sumatra Earthquake, by Abdul-Hakim Murad, at Mere Islam: Part of the brilliance of the Qur’an is that it makes no compromises over God’s transcendence, as it battles against pagan and...
Fasaad watch: Spencer on British 9/11 film article
She had gone to bed early claiming that she couldn’t stand the bulls**t. She was right, there was a lot of bulls**t, but Sandy’s wife would have detected bulls**t in a house brick, as...
Snouts in the trough in Aceh
It’s been reported that a Christian missionary organisation based in Virginia have relocated 300 Acehnese orphans to a Christian home in Jakarta: The appeal said WorldHelp was working with native-born Christians in Indonesia who...
The Harry’s Place gang on Qaradawi
Yet again it seems that Ken Livingstone is in trouble over his meeting with Shaikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Ken (as we all call him) has posted a defence (in PDF form) of his meeting on...
War opposition: unusual allies and their motives
One of the most interesting things about the recent invasion of Iraq is the different interests which have become united in both their support for, and their opposition to, the invasion. I’ve attended several...
So, there’s going to be a Mini Mac
Or rather, a Mac mini. I’d have used Mini Mac myself, because then you can write it miniMac and it sort of fits into Apple’s usual scheme – iMac, eMac, iBook (Mac laptop), iLife,...