What you won’t read about terrorism in Britain

Kevyn Bodman

Five questions:

1)How do you propose protecting the victims of false accusations whose lives may be damaged or ruined by defamation?

2)Why settle if allegations are true rather than referring the plaintiff to the well-known case of Arkell v.Pressdram?

(For younger readers the Arkell case was dealt with by telling the plaintiff to 'go away' but in 2 words of only one syllable each.)

3)Why not establish a libel fund if the costs to the plaintiff are so insignificant that you incur costs to defend yourself?

4)Why not publish and be damned?

5) See question no.1 again.

Frank Leader

Why treat him in Hospital or anywhere else. His burns are self inflicted.

Frank P

Ahhh, I see... that's why Fraser's Neather promise didn't materialise. It was lawyered! Has Melanie given the Speccie an indemnity clause in her contract, then? No sign of her reluctance to bow to the dictates of 'stifling libel laws' on the subject of jihad and its myriad tributaries of treason in this country.

This a not, by any chance, a ruse to indirectly excuse Cameron's reluctance to address head on the Muslim threat to our culture, is it? To facilitate his pandering to inimical interests for electoral stretch.

Funny that the only writer with cojones on this mag is of the fair sex. Grow some and cut this craven copping-out! What's the point of a blog if it doesn't breach the boundaries imposed by baleful bullies of Cherie Blair's NuJudiciary of neoMarxist mechanics/Gramscian Gremlins. We need a few test cases to expose their evil. Publish and be damned!

The Laughing Cavalier

A friend of mine left the country eight years ago. Writing to him this morning in relation to the Equalities Bill I reminded him that the country has changed beyond all recognition since then. The sustained assault during that time on civil liberties and on Christianity by this government of neo-fascists and degenerates has been unprecedented. We no longer live in a free country. Sadly, I fear that Dyve and his Notting Hill pals will not be much better. Certainly, I have little confidence that Labour's repressive laws will be repealed.

denis cooper

Interesting article here:

http://www.thelawyer.com/carter-ruck-defends-1849-libel-rule-against-reform-campaigners/1002647.article

and I particularly like the reference to cases:

"... where the defendant behind the first publication was not worth suing."

Verity

The bovine British voted in the clearly, blatantly disreputable socialists in three times in a row. They deserve everything they get. It was Labour's mission to destroy Britain and their efficiency is mind-boggling. Amazing what one can accomplish when motivated by unalloyed malice.

Olaf Rye

It seems that the British policy under Labour of coddling these Islamic extremists has failed and I cannot blame the US for wondering whether British Muslims, or Muslims living or studying in Britain, should not be subject to stringent security checks. We should be ashamed of how Labour, desperate to win constituencies with large Muslim populations, have refused to deal with this problem appropriately. With the economic mismanagement of Labour, the introduction of ridiculous policies, the total incompetence of our civil service, and the failure of most things in this country, we should be wearing paper-bags on our heads in shame. Under Labour, Britain has returned to its habitual state as the 'sick man of Europe' but has also added the contemptible title of 'centre of terrorism' to its list of honours,

anne allan

Whenever anyone writes about islamic terrorism, all that needs to be added is 'there is more information on this subject, but British libel laws forbid their publication'. The writer hasn't said anything that the sharks can construe as libel and the readers have been alerted to the existence of more evidence; so many of us now know how to access information outside the British MSM that the facts can be circulated by other means. Plus it drives home how freedom of speech has vaporised during the last decade.
Would this development have anything to do with Mrs. Blair's legal practice?

Wilhelm

You forgot to mention the National Union of Journalists is Leftwing Multy Culty Central. They adore the delights of multycultyism.

Frank P

Verity

"The bovine British"

Hmmm .. where's the beef? I would have thought 'ovine' was a a better description now. Particularly as the new generation has been offered up, through the so-called education system, as lambs to the slaughter.
But as that generation comes to realise what has been done in its name, the silence of the lambs will be broken by the sound of much bleating, I fear.

Hope you've managed to find some fun, fellowship and festivity in your exotic clime. Keep up the relentless barrage with your Big Bertha blogging, crucial times ahead.

M. Rowley

All of which begs the question of how Brown can claim that operations in Afghanistan are necessary for the security of the UK.

These bastards are freely living amongst us already, so much so that they can plot terrorist activities both here and abroad with impunity. Stop wasting the lives of British service personnel in that god-forsaken land and bring our troops home now. The next government must instigate proper security measures to eliminate the traitors and fifth columnists in our midst.

London Calling

Its Boxing Day Fraser and your already up for fight…put your kilt back on and have a jig for crying out loud…only joking ;)

I agree with you Fraser, that’s how it is, although Frank P does have a point regarding Melanie Phillips, it does sound like flips flops in the snow…

Do not despair…It was ordinary people who became heroes and subdued a terrorist on the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight and it will be ordinary people who will ensure that
Freedom of Speech is not subdued and suffocated in Libel Laws…

I understand the restriction journalists like yourself face, the debate is open, well done…

Frank Leader

Why treat him in Hospital or anywhere else. His burns are self inflicted.

Kirsty Richards

Fraser, surely now is the time the opposition should come forward and call the government out over this. What are the Tories going to do about the libel laws and Judge Eady trying to establish a privacy law? Cameron should be out front and centre and be the attacking opposition we need. If the Conservatives wonder why they are down in the polls it is because they seem identical to the Government. I am in total despair of this country and our leaders at times. It seems in terms of Islamic terrorism all roads are leading back to England. But what are the Tories policies? No-one knows and we are a few months away from an election, Cameron is letting victory slip through his fingers.

Anne Wotana Kaye

A Nigerian national who finished his studies in 2008, must surely have been here on a student's visa. Nevertheless, this crappy government shuts its eyes and he can live in an expensive flat just off Harley Street. I seem to recall another 'student' whose visa ran out and who was shot and killed because police were rightly highly suspicious and nervous after recent terrorist outrages in London . That student became an icon of the 'humanitarians' who saw no wrong in living illegally in this country, and the tax payers had to fork out damages to the late student's family. If the police and Home Office did their jobs properly, much of this would be avoided. If pigs could fly!

Sevo Slade

There is a general feeling in the UK (and indeed outside of it) of a judiciary branch in Britain completely at odds with both common sense and the public interest.

What is puzzling is that the press don't really ever delve into the issue; politicians ignore it completely; and the public only rant spasmodically when another terrorist, paedophile, mindless thug, or psychotic rapist-murderer is released only to kill again - but then the outrage subsides, as it always does, and nothing more is said about the matter until the next time it happens. There seems to be almost no public awareness, and no media interest, at how we have come to have the laws and legal decision-making that so frustrate us. Why doesn't "life" mean "life?" Why are sentences regularly cut in half? Why are there never any sanctions when a judge, often against expert advice, releases a dangerous individual who then goes on to kill? Why are our libel laws so favorable to those who would suppress freedom of speech and freedom to inform?

The Spectator, it would seem to me, is in a unique position to take up this cause; shed some light on the matter; and indicate to its readers what might be the democratic tools we could use to start to turn things around. We clearly can't go on like this.

Anne Wotana Kaye

A Nigerian national who finished his studies in 2008, must surely have been here on a student's visa. Nevertheless, this crappy government shuts its eyes and he can live in an expensive flat just off Harley Street. I seem to recall another 'student' whose visa ran out and who was shot and killed because police were rightly highly suspicious and nervous after recent terrorist outrages in London . That student became an icon of the 'humanitarians' who saw no wrong in living illegally in this country, and the tax payers had to fork out damages to the late student's family. If the police and Home Office did their jobs properly, much of this would be avoided. If pigs could fly!

Herbert Thornton

The British courts made a very sensible decision in 1955 when, in the case of the Government of India v. Taylor (q.v.) it was held that claims on behalf of a foreign State to recover taxes due under its laws were unenforceable in English courts and moreover that there was no valid distinction for this purpose between foreign States and those in the British Commonwealth.

It is a great pity that the same principle does not also apply - universally - in respect of libel and slander.

Any arrangement for the reciprocal enforcement of judgments ought, surely to be limited to judgments based on universally respected law and handed down by courts of impeccable integrity? When political correctness infiltrates both the law and the courts that apply it - and many people have been driven to conclude that this has happened in Britain - then the reciprocal enforcement of British judgments can operate as a very great evil.

In Canada there has been some excitement over a judgment delivered within the past few days by the Supreme Court of Canada on the topic of freedom of expression in the press which you may find encouraging. You can read about it by Googling -" Supreme Court Of Canada Recognises New Libel Defence - Public Interest Responsible Communication."

Bonzodog

What is deeply worrying is that most of this loss of freedom of speech has been due to one man: Mr Justice Eady who seems to always take the most extreme interpretation of the libel laws. A good example is that of the Chirpractors v Simon Singh. This ruling had a chilling effect on science and evidence based research. That man (Eady) is a disaster ....

Snowman

Kevyn Bodman @ 1.24:

So how do other countries manage to protect the victims of false accusations without recall to laws that curtail freedom of speech coming whisker close to an outright censorship then?

How do the Americans do it? Closer to home, how come that some of the countries that embarked on the democratic model of governance enjoy a much freer press than we do here? Pity, you cannot read Czech, you would be more than amazed to discover how free the media is in the country of which many still know next to nothing.

Also, just telling a spurious plaintiff to ef off ain’t good enough. A lengthy prison sentence to anyone chancing it would have been by far the better outcome.

It wouldn’t shock at all if the ‘fireworks’ terrorist asked for extradition to the UK where, if found guilty, he could expect a headline screaming life sentence, but a laughable tariff attached to it. It wouldn’t shock either if he simultaneously began legal proceedings against those who jumped on him. His Uman Rights were infringed, weren’t they?

Not for Prophet

Wow! This also from Jihadwatch.org - the terrorist didn't even have a passport.

A fellow passenger and his wife, Americans, were passing the time playing cards near the check-in counter and saw him being ushered to the counter by an "Indian looking" man who said the African was from the Sudan, where people often had difficulty obtaining passports. Somehow, he wangled the Nigerian terrorist's way onto the flight without a passport! And the US authorities had been warned about this Nigerian by his own father.

Wilhelm Velleity

How long before Brown is on screen explaining this is why we have to be in Afghanistan?

MisterP

What you won't hear about from the mainstream media...Security at Schipol is run by ICTS, the same company that ran security at those airports from which the alleged 9/11 hijackers departed.
Singularly inefficient..!

Andy Leeds

The Libel Laws have, I think, been 'stretched' beyond their original scope. As to the bench having met many members they are quite often of the 'Left'. I'm hardly surprised they deliver the judgements they do. And I have told a few so to their faces - they didn't like it !!
Oh and Verity, as a point of interest Labour lost the vote in England at the last General Election.

Jez

Whoaaaaaa' there Bessy!

Just turned my PC on for the first time since Christmas Eve.

OK.

Nigerian Al-Quaeda terrorist tries blowing up trans-Atlantic jet liner.... and he could very possibly be from London!

Fraser comes out guns blazing!

Could having a young child and wanting the very best for his future here in the UK (as everyone reading the 'Specsta'), mean the crap's getting cut at the 'source' now?

If so, well done my son. Welcome to the real world. And the BluLabour elite may want to drop you like a dodgy rash.

(I'm only joking about the BluLabour 'ting'... i'm sure the opposition front-bench will be compiling a knock-out attack, amalgamating all available information like Neathergate, Nulab's Quasi-Marxist social-enginnering and the establishments hardcore fetish for the destabilisation of a Great British nation-state into a borderless & culturally redundant Euro-trade zone... with loads of 5th columnist Islamic lunatics wanting to 'take the place out' at an ever more constant speed)

What a wonderful country we've made.

Happy New Year!

daniel maris

I'd like to feel more sympathetic to this article but I am not sure I can.

1. The UK media have conspired in disguising the reality about Islam, about what the vast majority of its clerics teach as its true beliefs. They have raised up this shadowy entity "Islamism" and tried to distinguish it from Islam. They have failed to report on and highlight the disgraceful oppression under which Christians live in the Islamic world. They have (largely) argued for propping up the extremist Wahaabi regime in Saudi Arabia.

2. The libel laws may indeed be leading to self-censorship. But there is nothing to stop the BBC or newspapers using the word Islam in relation to this and other attacks, given that the perpetrators do.

3. The UK media singularly failed to organise defence of free speech when Salman Rushdie or the Danish cartoonists were put under a death Fatwa.

4. The UK media failed to defend Geert Wilders and Michael Savage when they were banned from this country.

5. The UK media have engaged in appalling self-censorship on the McCann case so that the public have been kept completely in the dark about the details of that case.

Free speech is about allowing people to speak freely, not about allowing people to give utterance to only approved thoughts.

Verity

The Dutch hero who leapt over the seat and tackled the muslim terrorist, ripped the "bomb" which he said resembled a bottle of shampoo but was molten hot to the touch, off this moron's leg. He had it strapped to his leg just near his crotch. Too funny.

This Nigerian's father warned US Immigration about his son SIX MONTHS AGO. And today, he was let on a plane without a passport, and with a bomb strapped to his leg.

Derek

"I was told by elders that the good governments in England and Europe were not at first natural to those places, but that men had brought about a change in themselves. In England years ago there was just the same corruption, just the same forgeries in courts and the same cruelty, but that the Englishmen loved liberty and the Englishmen had said: 'We shall no longer stand these things, we shall change them'.” Sun Yat Sen 19th February, 1923, Hong Kong

Kirsty Richards

daniel maris@ 9:19pm

What do you know about the McCann case that you say the media has covered up? Enlighten us.......

Watt Tyler

It is another aspect of the cultural war against us. Our universities have been taken over by Marxists, who allow their institutes to become breeding grounds for islamism. The legal and justice system that has been perverted in one respect so that police criminalise innocent people, also allows protection for those whose intention is to attack this country. The Marxist tool of political correctness won't permit the discussion of what should be done.

To fight the problem of Islamism is to fight the other problems facing our country, and to do that we must shake off Marxism. @Kirsty Richards, the Tories don't recognise that they are cultural Marxists so they are powerless to fight any of this.

gary smith

In the words of the great Al Murrey, "This country is in fackin trouble".

Roy Smith

The reason Britain has been overrun by Islamics and others is purely that people are helpless to criticize these people who are living in British space. The whole spectra of immigration rests on the inability of the people to speak their mind. They are silenced by these iniquitous laws preventing free speech. This isn't a Blair/Brown phenomena it's being going on since the 50's. There are now great, great, grandsons (at the present rate of reproduction) taking trips to Pakistan for indoctrination and military training. When is this bastion of freedom going to start living up to its name and stand for truth, honesty, and free speech. The truth is we have been taken over by the weak and silly. The pampering welfarists, the multicultural propagandist, the anti British Cultural bandwagon. The spokespeople for society have been silenced by the draconian dumbing down of free speech. The first stop to put this right is a finish to public funding of the BBC. Then a move to adjust the laws we are talking about.

Michael Booth

Verity, I for one did not vote for New Labour three times in a row (in fact, not once) and I don't think I deserve what I am getting... neither do the British people. New Labour were elected on smoke and mirrors, not honesty.

Jez

Although suggested by a top-level Northern B*stard (e.g. me), if there could be an intellectual study (by all visiting this thread) on what exactly the end product is in store for this country 20 to 30 years down the line.

What is it?

On a sensible level; we have the best (or very good-ish) Health Care, life expectancy and high standard of living (for most) that anyone has had so far.

On the flip side we've sold-out every trade / industrial asset we've had, lost sovereignty to Europe (and we have) and the disolvement of British culture that we know of (different things to different people; e.g. Fraser; Family, Champers and Polo / our lot; Family, Pub, footy).

Where's this masterplan of Balls, Brown, Cameron and Osborne going?

What are we going to be?

No need to comment- but all of you lot think of what's in store maybe.

William Campbell

Honestly, Fraser. If you like the libel laws in America so much, why don't you go and live there? This is England, if you don't like it, you know what you can do.

Rhoda Klapp

I find it revealing the the Sunday Telegraph is willing and able to publish a serious attack on the dealings of Pachauri, the head of the IPCC and a leading global warmist, written by Booker and R A E North, and although denials and threats have been issued, there is as yet no legal action. Readers who are interested may google it, I won't link here.

The Spectator has AFAIK not referred to this story at all. Could it be that the Spec is rather more cautious than is strictly justified? What exactly have you to fear? What details which were in the public domain due to US stories were not publishable in the UK? What scenario do you see playing out which could hurt the Spectator if it prints the truth?

Yarnesfromhorsham

So we are in Afghamistan to keep terror off our streets. Yeah right.

Anne Wotana Kaye

I hope the damage in this filthy creature's underpants is so severe that when he quits this mortal coil, he will be unable to avail himself to all those wretched virgins awaiting islamic martyrs.

anne allan

Anne Wotana Kaye - better still, he discovers that the virgin thing is the rumoured mistranslation and finds 72 sultanas waiting for him.

Watt Tyler

Jez - we have a terrible Health Care System. It is like a shop where you give the keeper money, and he decides what you can buy.

High standards of living? Lots of people live in terrible ignorance, and lots of people have lives that are shot through and worthlessly led thanks to the lack of moral guidance.

There is no benefit from Marxism. We have to call it out. First thing: demand that the Conservatives stop being cultural Marxists - i.e. don't vote for them.It is a wonder to me how people think that things are going to change by voting Tory. They are the most voluminous moaners, and then they name call you when you say that you are going to vote UKIP. I know that it is a terrible thing to contemplate that your Tory party has now joined the ranks of the Self-Hating, open-boderite Internationalists, and that you'd rather put your head in the sand. But you have to face up to it. Also, stop funding the Marxist-Statist propaganda machine. Stop buying your TV license.

Coeur de Lion

I have it on excellent authority that the chief virgin is 45 years old, a virgin for good reason and is called Fatimah. As you arrive, naked of course, she takes one look at your equipment and roars with laughter. She then gives you a fearful swipe around the ears. Meanwhile the other 71 continue playing patball amongst the orange groves.

Anne Wotana Kaye

Anne Allan: Loved it. Hope it gives him the pip (s)!

Anne Wotana Kaye

Just a thought: Wonder if this ass hole can rustle up a UK passport. If so, he will be well away, since he will receive disablement benefits, free parking, etc etc. Also, like Hook Hand Abir Hamza he will have free housing in a mansion and possibly legal aid to sue the brave man who overpowered him on the plane. I bet the Loony Left lawyers are already onto his case.

mandeville

One day. Maybe just one day, Brown will have his 'Ceauescu moment' on a balcony somewhere, waving and muttering to the crowds.
Then to be led silently away... never to be seen by the electorate again.
As the Bard once said "a consummation devoutly to be wished".

Beer Moth

William Campbell

What a childish argument. The libel laws have only recently been brought to their parlous state, it is therefore entirely appropriate that any British person should seek to redress the situation.

Mine d'Boggles

Well, Mr. Nelson, I took your advice and ploughed through some US newspaper websites and a number of blogs. I don't think that these sources were disclosing more information, except in the case of the well-known explosive used, but they were certainly intelligent, wide-ranging, and analytical as well as a little bit desperate that their government agencies were letting down the country. They were not abusive or crude. Neither did the contributors endlessly rage or snipe at each other. Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

ndm

Speech in this country isn’t free.

Curiously, much of the American press is suspicious of "leaks" about US politics in the British press. The basic assumption is that they are false as the British press is regarded as being much more willing to publish uncorroborated material than is its US counterpart.

Tim Carpenter LPUK

Fraser, put up your caveat then. Make people realse what they are reading is incomplete. Transparency is a powerful thing.

General Zod

Verity, you owe the English an apology. we did not vote for Labour in 2005 (I never have and cannot imagine ever doing so).

Augustus

And what you also don't get to read about here is the pathetically amateurish security checks at Schiphol airport. According to people in the know, even flights to America are handled by Group4, who handle the X-ray systems and body checks
and who 'don't know how to detect explosives
strapped to a person's leg. They are only programmed to listen for the peep at the detection barrier.' Some checkers are even sympathetic towards Islamic causes. It's even possible to print out a false bording pass there, because they only look at it, nothing is scanned. One member of the security team there said that one of his colleagues even tryed to convert colleagues to Islam. Also, one of his colleagues was actually friendly with Samir A, a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to 8 years last year.

So there you have it, no wonder Abdulmutallab managed to pass security with explosives strapped to his legs when the riskiest flights at an international airport depend on the checks of such people.
Let's hope they get their act together before the next attempt is successful.

Verity

General Zod, I can't find your reference, but I probably said "British", not English as I'm aware that the English voted for Michael Howard.

Anne Wotana Kaye 1

Not just ordinary underpants - they are thermal underpants!

JohnAnt

I'd be interested to know whether he really did get on the plane at Amsterdam (and/or at Lagos) without a passport, under the flimsy third-party pretence that he was passportless, 'because he was Sudanese'. http://chattahbox.com/world/2009/12/28/did-northwest-atempted-bomber-mutallab-get-on-plane-without-passport/
And why did the US authorities not react more quickly after the boy's father conscientiously went out of his way to warn them of his son's islamist radicalization?
The US government seems to be deliberately withholding information about the security lapse; Johnson is casually uninterested in whether the UK authorities shared their rejection of this man's bogus application for a student visa with the US and other agencies. I can hear the slippery sound of a*ses being covered and government papertrails being destroyed.
But the rest of us will continue to have our suntan lotion confiscated by officious airport staff who wouldn't know a binary bomb from a plate of salad.

General Zod

Hmm, Verity, the British inlcuded the English last time I checked, so you do owe us an apology. If you had meant to except us from your insult, you would have said either "the British (with the exception of the English)" or "the Scots and the Welsh".

London Calling

Its a start...

Jack Straw to review Britain's libel laws

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/27/jack-straw-review-libel-law

Melanie Phillips spot on assessment...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1238843/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-To-eternal-shame-Britain-STILL-hub-Islamic-terror.html

hadrian

And despite all the mounting evidence to the contrary, the self-styled 'liberal intelligentsia' STILL insist Enoch Powell got it wrong. I think not! His rivers of blood are flowing only too freely and we all knoew only too well from what malign and damnable inspiration- even if the blockheads who currently run this country refuse to allow themselves or us to admit it! Every last university institution in this country ought to have its uncomprehending and doltish defence of terror in the name of 'free speech' utterly extirpated.

daniel maris

Kirsty Richards asks

"What do you know about the McCann case that you say the media has covered up? Enlighten us......."

The media for whatever reasons has failed to analyse and communicate to the UK public the 13,000 pages of evidence released by the Portugese police (about one third of the complete case). Pretty amazing when one considers how much coverage this case got originally.

I can't go into what that evidence shows anymore than I can explain why the McCanns have as yet not called for the Portugese investigation to be re-opened or asked for a proper investigation by the UK Police into what happened to their child. And why they and their friends failed to respond to the Police's request to take part in a reconstruction of the events of that night.

The McCanns are currently seeking to suppress Amaral's book in Portugal so that the book can never be published in this country in English.

Ask Fraser if he's scared of the letter from Carter Ruck. This article gives you the answer really doesn't it?

Mark Tinney

It would sharpen up the enthusiam of the security staff if one out of ten of them, chosen at random, were made to fly on the flight whose passengers they had just passed as o.k. I think El Al have a system like this.

kiwi

The Washington Post, in its December 27 story on the attempted bombing in Detroit, managed to complete its coverage without once mentioning the suspect's religious affiliation. Maybe they're cowed there too.

JohnAnt

Interestingly, UCL has altered its Departmental statement from 'We are deeply *saddened* by the recent news concerning Mr Abdulmutallab', to read 'We are deeply *shocked* by the recent...' etc
So obviously someone has explained to our Boys and Girls in Gower Street that there are some things you just don't say, however unshakeably right-on and pro-islamist your opinions may be. And however threateningly close nearby the teeming demonstrators at SOAS may jostle.

Rob H

You poor Brits don't even know what free speech is, no wonder you're going down the toilet. Free speech is a fundamental human right, it does not come from government. See US Constitution, written by English people in America over 200 years ago. Try and catch up.

Verity

Mark Tinney (apologies if I got your name wrong, but this antediluvian web system does not allow one to refer back) ... Oh, now what was I going to say? This is a fascist little system they've got here.

Oh, yes, brilliant idea! Random picks for security individuals to fly on flights!

Whoaah! This is a highly intelligent idea that won't go forward. But a truly illuminating notional idea.

logdon

Frazer,

Try this. Nice and succinct. To the point. And potentially by your reckoning libelous.

Then the reader comment. No equivocation there. Looks like at long last Islam in Britain is rumbled.

Is this is the harbinger of our Prague Spring, the awakening most of us dream of?

You could say, but that's the Telegraph. In that case try the Mail. Or, gasp, even CiF where the likes of Inayat Bunglawala and Seamus Milne are shot down in flames on a regular basis.

If the Tories want to head off a BNP encirclement here's a good place to start.

Detroit terror attack: A murderous ideology tolerated for too long
Telegraph View: Jihadist Islamism is comparable to Nazism in many respects. The British public realises this; so do the intelligence services.

Published: 6:33AM GMT 29 Dec 2009

Comments 135 | Comment on this article

Friday's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner by a British-educated Islamist was foiled by the bravery of its passengers and crew. We cannot assume that we will be lucky next time. And the indications are that there will be a next time. According to police sources, 25 British-born Muslims are currently in Yemen being trained in the art of bombing planes. But most of these terrorists did not acquire their crazed beliefs in the Islamic world: they were indoctrinated in Britain. Indeed, thousands of young British Muslims support the use of violence to further the Islamist cause – and this despite millions of pounds poured by the Government into projects designed to prevent Islamic extremism.

As they say, read it all. Especially the reader input. No need for polls, here it is in black and white.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6903728/Detroit-terror-attack-A-murderous-ideology-tolerated-for-too-long.html

logdon

Pushing and pushing until it breaks?

Here's an item just in from the Islam in Europe site.

EU: Muslim Brotherhood behind new Muslims Rights group

Unsurprisingly, the new European Muslim Human Rights group announced on the IslamOnline site, is the brainchild of the FIOE (Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe), the umbrella group for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. The FIOE say they invited many experts in law and Muslim activists, but only 26 showed up. European media didn't pay much attention either.

From the FIOE site:

Muslims of Europe Organize the Inauguration Conference of the European Authority for the Defense of Muslim Rights in Brussels

On the initiative of the F ederation of Islamic Organizations in Europe the Inauguration Conference for the European Authority for the Defense of Muslims Rights was held in Brussels on December 19th 2009. Many experts in law and many Muslim activists were invited to join this event from all European regions. This initiative comes in response to the rising wave of Islamophobia, which has become a challenge to the Islamic presence in Europe and a dangerous threat to the rights of Muslims in the region. This step was expedited by the murder of Dr.Marwa El Sherbiny, on the grounds of her being a Muslim, which was made clear by the villain in court, and the recent referendum results in Switzerland. What is despicable in both cases is that the European standpoint did not blanch at wasting a human life or subjecting a civil right to the voting process, which indicates a dangerous decline in the level of Muslim rights in Europe and beyond.

In a telephone con versation with the Federation of Islamic Organizations, Dr.Fouad Elawy the Head of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in France mentioned that the aim of this initiative is to take the responsibility of defending the rights of Muslims from the level of public organizations to the level of a specialized organization run by lawyers capable of protecting these rights, and to warn European communities of the danger of ignoring the rights of minorities.

It is expected that the conference will attract European and international media presence, due to the importance of the topic, and its relation to the Islamic status in Europe, and the interest taken by Europe and the world in the hardships facing the Muslims of Europe with regards to their rights.

For other FIOE initiatives see:
* Muslims to sign 'historic code of conduct'
* Federation of Islamic Organisation in Europe - Assembly of Imams

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Posted By Esther to Islam in Europe at 12/29/2009 08:03:00 AM

Little

Free press here in the US?
Try to publish an article on the Mid East, one that may be contrary to the Big Lobby's view...you may have to go to do so to the London Review of Books....
And yes hey we have Fox new and Rush Limbaugh here.
You want a swap?

Martin Studowski

I'm surprised Mr. Nelson didn't mention the CIA's warning to Pres. Obama that Britain is the number one threat to the west and the United States because of the huge number of radical Islamic cells based there. It was a warning that recieved VERY little attention in the US media. The US media, comprised of eltite trust fund brats who have a rather sour view of the US but a childlike awe for Europe, does not like to disparage where they spend their vacations--a theme park known as Euroland. One would be hard pressed to find any negative reporting on Europe in the US media, even if its the obvious. The New York Times reads as a virtual travel brochure for Britain. Almost all of the terrorist attacks or planned attacks against the US, including 9/11, have been staged and planned in western Europe, Britain in particular. You have to ask why we can no longer carry toiletries in our carry-on luggage, or why we have to take off our shoes to pass through security, or why we now have to sit as if in a coma on flights without being able to place anything on our laps in flight---it's because of terrorists holding British passports or living in Britain. The only thing you will hear in the US media about Europe's role in terrorism are glowing tributes to how they are successfully thwarting terrorist attacks against the US. But the obvious question for me is: Why does Europe have so many terrorists to thwart? Personally, I agree with the CIA. I have thought that for a long time. I'm sickened by the mawkish reporting of Europe by the US media. We refuse to admit where the real threat is coming from--and it's more western Europe than the Middle East. What makes Europe such a hotbed of terrorist activity is a mixture of rabid anti-American marxism along with a disenfranchised immigrant population who are increasingly pushed to the fringes of society. The result? A radicalized minority population directing their angst toward the US. Thanks Europe! What great allies you make!

Bill Corr

Ken Livingston used public money to subsidise a very slickly-run website called 'Islamophobia Watch' which - predictably - exists to make a fuss about anyone who says anything even mildly critical about you-know-who.

Can a clever journalist find out who is bankrolling 'Islamophia Watch' now?

Lady Amelia

some Schipol security issues;

boarding passes are scanned and not just looked at as was stated above.

Security at Schipol for transfer passengers on the 28th Dec was no different to that on the 21st except that a pat down was done when the boarding pass was scanned. it was still pretty lax to be honest and the airport very relaxted. not sure what american flights were like. Mind you I was flying to a muslim country so maybe they correctly deduced there was zero chance of a bomber on board.

the reports that the bomber was ushered onto the flight without a passport MUST be puclicised and investigated.

El Al do send the check in and security staff on the flight with the passengers they've checked in.

And they have profiling. And they don't have terrorist bombs on flights. Odd that.