Populist bigots need not be fascists
Yesterday there was an article published in the Times by Melanie Phillips (it is paywalled, but a scanned image can be found here), a writer whose rantings against Muslims used to be a favourite...
Category: Windbags
‘House Muslims’, whatever we call them, are a thing
The other day Tell MAMA, which monitors hate crimes against Muslims, published an anonymous article claiming that certain unnamed "moral guardians of the Internet", mainly aged between 20 and 35 "who spend their time...
Yes, we do get rid of ‘hate preachers’
‘If you hate the migrants in Calais, you hate yourself’ | Nick Cohen (in today's Observer) People have been sharing this feature by Nick Cohen since it first appeared online yesterday (and I had...
Will the wheels fall of Maajid Nawaz’s bandwagon now?
In today's Daily Mail there is a report that Maajid Nawaz, the founder of the so-called counter-extremist Muslim organisation Quilliam and Liberal Democrat candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn in the forthcoming election, was filmed...
Muslim women silenced on Muslim women’s dress
Last Saturday, the Guardian published a long-winded screed by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (or Alibi-Brain as we call her) claiming that "the veil" as worn by Muslim women constitutes a "rejection of progressive values". It's basically...
Race: Things we can’t say (except when we can)
Last Thursday Channel 4 broadcast a 65-minute-long discourse by Trevor Phillips, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality and then (after its amalgamation with all the other equality bodies) the Equality and Human...
No, not “regrettable errors”. Lies. #FoxNewsFacts
Fox Correction: "We Have Made Some Regrettable Errors On-Air Regarding The Muslim Population In Europe" | Video | Media Matters for America Fox News, on which a number of ludicrous and obviously false claims...
Nick Cohen shows his irrational hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood
Why must we tolerate police spies in our midst? | Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer Nick Cohen, as long-time readers will know, has a long-standing hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood,...
In-your-face racism is back (but victim blaming never went away)
A few people I know yesterday tweeted an article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, the mainstream media's favourite "Muslim" and authority on all things Asian, which claimed that "in-your-face racism" had returned and that she was...
A rail geography lesson for jihadis and journos
Over the years I've noticed that a standard tactic of the dishonest journalist or columnist in the age of the Internet is to rely on the geographical ignorance of your overseas audience, most of...
Make no mistake: "halal hysteria" is malicious
Last week a number of newspapers ran with prominent stories that supermarkets and restaurant chains were using halal meat, or had been doing so without their customers’ knowledge for some time. This is actually...
Taj Hargey is wrong: there is no ‘British Islam’
Yesterday (Boxing Day), there was a letter in the Guardian from Taj Hargey, the self-appointed leader of the so-called Muslim Education Centre of Oxford and a regular go-to figure for media wanting someone to...
More on “segregation” pseudo-controversy
Following my entry on the fake controversy over "segregation" (i.e. separate seating for men and women) at Islamic society events in London, Channel 4 News covered the issue this evening, featuring interviews with Maryam...
Separate seating is not segregation
The last couple of years various groups have stirred up a controversy out of nowhere about the tendency of some Muslim groups to separate men and women at lectures on university campuses. This has...
Maajid Nawaz plays to groundless fears over niqaab
Why I, as a Muslim, believe the veil must be barred in our schools: A provocative view from Islamic thinker fighting for Glenda Jackson's seat Maajid Nawaz, the former member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir who was...
Outbreak of media splaining over niqaab
The recent wave of media interest in niqaab that resulted from the Birmingham College and niqaab-in-court affairs has, as previously noted, featured a lot of opinionising from almost everyone except for wearers — plenty...
Britain’s mosques are not a ‘swamp’
As the dust settles on the Woolwich murder, so the vultures are starting to circle and the ground is being prepared for generalised attacks on the Muslim community, however much it was made clear...
What’s an imam to do?
Last Friday at 1pm, Jeremy Vine had a slot about Islam and Muslims on his talk show on BBC Radio 2 — nice timing. This was, of course, prompted by the brutal murder of...
Taj Hargey is wrong on grooming
Last week seven men from Oxford were found guilty of various sexual offences, including rape, for ‘grooming’ young girls and ultimately raping and allowing other men to rape them. Many of them were in...
Let’s not panic over Mali and Algeria
Until we learn to be as single-minded as the fanatics – at home and abroad – we’re ALL hostages | Mail Online In response to the attack by an “al-Qa’ida franchise” on the gas...