The elephants in the room at the Tory party conference

Lord Ahmed's chauffeur

Why oh why was Baroness Warsi elevated to the peerage? Having never ever won anything in politics, the Baroness appears to have been catapulted into the aristocracy solely for the purpose of being sent to Khartoum as a Muslim to accompany Lord Ahmed while retrieving the teddy-bear lady.

JamesC

Vote Tory, Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.

ndm

Hypocrisy watch:

-- It is Jews who have to be protected at every single Jewish communal function, including synagogue services, against Islamic, neo-Nazi and other fanatics; it is anti-Jewish bigotry which has reached unprecedented levels since 9/11. Rather less decency and civility there, alas.

-- In its jargonised form of ‘Islamophobia’ it is being used increasingly to shut down debate, a move which is gaining alarming traction at the UN and should be fought tooth and nail by all who care about defending western rights and freedoms.

Tanya

ndm, the statistics have clearly shown attacks on Jews skyrocketing.

As to Peter Oborne, I know from speaking to others that criticism of him seems to be virtually banned across all areas of The Spectator website, so what can I say...

Jack R

Yes, except for a 'maybe not' on a referendum on Lisbon, which suggests a low priority for British national sovereignty, what are the Tories' foreign policies, as distinct from Labour's?

And the Tories join the other main political parties in being unable to recognise their own dhimmitude.

Shaun Harbord

"it is surely a matter of note and a testimony to the innate decency and civility of British public life that there are thankfully relatively few attacks on Muslims." Marvellous - the (alleged) small number of attacks on Muslims is turned into a virtue. Only the most perverse logic and minimal moral sense could reach such a conclusion.

JamesC

Thankyou melanie, well written with moral logic. Could shaun read again the sentence he refers to. The whole sentence this time. Or is it the case of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

AAE

Intellectual and moral clarity based in reality. Thank you Melanie.

Frank P

With the dollar under conspiratorial attack; Sterling just as dodgy; the plot to install Blair as the President of the EUSSR now well under way; Commies installed in both Number 10 and The Oval Office, it seems that things are coming pass more or less as we have augured for the past decade, Melanie, but even more rapidly than even we imagined. Moreover, the Tories are now part of the problem, not the answer, sadly. The only possible hope is that the crash of cymbals and trumpets that will accompany a strike by Israel on Iran's nuke factories will precipitate an awakening in the West of the fury and spunk that got us through 1939 - 45. I wonder whether it is still extant, albeit dormant. We shall see.

I certainly think that the Trojan Horse POTUS is destined for the knacker's yard; he has promised too much to too may interests, both vested and ideological. I doubt his barding will be sufficient to withstand the cold steel of those whose voracious demands he is failing to satisfy. He'll be lucky to see out his first term. There will be blood! Where have all the grown-ups gone? Not a grain of gravitas anywhere to be seen.

gary ashton

jewish people are unsafe in the uk, america, europe, aisa most of the middle east and now isreal. yep history repeats itself and it appears no one learns anything.

journeyman

@Shaun Harbord

Quote:"Marvellous-the (alleged)small number of attacks on Muslims is turned into a virtue.Only the most perverse logic and minimal moral sense could reach such a conclusion.

I know this is difficult for you to comprehend,but there really are some things so blatantly disproportionate,that should one take the personal moral responsibilty of being fully informed of current events deliberately ignored by the main stream media,a light will begin shining through the fog and darkness of ignorance.

Example:Testimony to the innate decency and civility of indigenous Europeans:

In Findland there is 70 times more chance of being violently mugged by a Somalian asylum refugee "enricher"than by a Finn.
In Holland,violent crime statistics among the 13 to 24 age group is 32 times higher among Morocccan "enrichers" than the indigenous population.
As we speak there is increasing ethnic cleansing of indigenous populations from European cities,in the form of white-flight due to increasing levels of intimindation and violence by Muslim racist fascists,(yooves),and this process of territorial imperialism is taking place in Sweden,Denmark,France,Britain,
Germany Holland and Belgium with the insidious and incremental establishment of "No Go"areas for non-Muslims,with the full co-operation of our left-wing,elitist socialist,goverments and academic intelligencia.Their over riding ideology being above all other concerns "anti-racism"as the ultimate "cause celebre"of western civilization.
The presumption must be,that only when the scourge of humanity--white people--are sufficiently subdjude,will they have atoned sufficiently for the sins of the Nazis.
Just how untainted,saintly and pure must we be,before we deserve the grace of your Lordships approval.Ignoramus.

just Louise

As a card-carrying Conservative Party member I totally agree with you, Melanie.
I hope the Conservatives will bring back the traditional history curriculum, which would give all children a sense of British identity in the way the received narrative of American history breeds patriotism in children in the USA regardless of ethnicity or birthplace.
I'm not holding my breath.
I'd defect to UKIP in a heartbeat if it wasn't a wasted vote that would possibly ensure a fourth term for NuLabour - that shameless lot whose policies have ruined Britain.

Rob

Journeyman I think you just about nailed it....the frightening thing is that terms such as islamaphobic or racist are being used to stifle truthful and honest discussion of these issues

ray

Very disappointed that the Tories are not going to call off the war against Christians started by labour ! Just who DO you vote for eh ?

Lucy M

Peter Oborne helping to close down debate on Islamic aggression.

Now why would someone who spends so much time saying it’s legitimate to sell arms to a Wahhabist hotbed such as Saudi Arabia want to do that?

John Mackepo

Journeyman thanks for bringing up this but I find out myself the same, the muslim youths are just like their parents the parents come to the west for better life but they teach their kids not to integrate maybe they think the western christian culture is not good, I noticed the immigrants coming from this parts of the world if they are not fighting amongst each other they are harassing and fighting with other people, I live in Britain and I know this it is good to know it is happening in Finland, and Holland I never saw people behave this way before, it got worse the last 12 years too, I wonder if this is global jihad towards the west or this people are brain washed to be violence because their believe and teaching in their communities? I am thinking, wondering Why? Why people behave like this towards countries who give them save homes, schools, health care, and education?

Obvious innit

The people who believe in God tend to be the people who start wars. Take George and Tony, for example.

Is it any wonder the British public are highly suspicious of them?

Charles Wilkinson

Having recently, like very many other people, totally given up on Little Green Footballs, it is to Melanie Phillips I now turn for truth and moral clarity.

Michael

Excellent article, as ever.

Statistical Insight

@ Obvious innit
You reckon that there's a correlation between George and Tony's religious beliefs and their decision to go to war, do you? (Is George also a Catholic then?). For my part, I heard that they're also dead keen on Earl Grey tea and both have ceramic fillings in their upper right molars....If that didn't send them to war, I'm blowed if I know what did!

Michael Woodman

Charles Wilkinson: Melanie is excellent but you should also visit Jihadwatch.org if you're looking for moral clarity.

Neil Turner

Right as usual Melanie

I have voted Tory for 30 years but am really concerned.
There is little clear blue water between the Cameroons and NewLab on the EU, political correctness, and the global warming scam

I'm not sure if any political party will do anything to restore the Christian tradition and values that built this country

Augustus

Many politicians feel sorry for Muslims and pity them. They seem to believe their job is not to defend democracy, but to help make the transition to Sharia law as smooth as possible. But Islam is more than just another religion, it is also a totalitarian ideology.
So while we still have the privilege of living in a democracy, lets use that privilege and go on the offensive and start fighting back to safeguard ourselves from an Islamized Europe. The most inveterate cultural relativists are socialist politicians. They regard the Islamic culture of the Middle Ages as equal to our Western culture of freedom, democracy and human rights. They are the ones responsible for mass immigration into Europe and the multiculturist swamp in many of its cities. Now they have lost their way completely. Their sense of reality has vanished and common sense thrown out of the window. The result is a political foggy grey area, a foggy swampy marsh with no beginning or end, and with only one moral standard applying: Whether or not it is approved by Muslims. Everything Muslims disapprove of, they disapprove of too.

Mackay

Warsi is a weak link.

John Maynard

Blimey! The coffee house has morphed into one of the Labour leaning loony-toons rant pages of the Daily Mail !

One question Melanie: are you still (passionately) insisting that Darling's VAT cut was essential to save the capitalist economy and our whole way of life ?

Harthacanute

"As Tim Montgomerie suggested on ConservativeHome, ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ is a term that should sound an alarm bell. It is currently applied not just to true acts of bigotry against Muslims but also to legitimate and indeed vital criticism and analysis of Islamist violence, intimidation and cultural imperialism."

Not that I am saying that it is right to abuse terms such as 'islamophobia' - but how is such an abuse any difference to what Melanie Phillips does almost every single day, when she condemns perfectly legitimate criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism?

I suggest that it may behove the lady to stop and take a good long look at herself before she paints herself as even more of a hypocrite.

Bunnykins

Tanya - and you worry about Peter Osborn. I've been worried about Taki since I first started reading the Spectator in 1986. Despite letters and phone calls to the various editors over the years to get his Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe worshiping antisemitic diatribes curtailed has been a losing battle. Alas, it seems that the Spectator is truly conservative.

Susan Hill

Cameron's statement that 'climate change' is very real, very dangerous, something urgent must be done blah blah just lost him my vote. He appears to have swallowed the whole scam hook line and Zac Goldsmith. Shame on him for not looking more closely at the coherent rational arguments of sceptical scientists and even more shame if he ever dares to use the word 'denier' with all its implications and overtones, in this context.
I will not vote in the next election. For anyone.

Hairynoddy

"Many politicians feel sorry for Muslims and pity them."

I don't think they pity them, I think they fear them. Look at the respect given to muslims compared to the lack of respect shown to Sikhs, Hindus and Christians - remember Shambo the sacred calf of the Hindus slaughtered because it had TB.
I don't think any religious artifact so important to muslims would have been treated so cack handedly.

Our current crop of politicians are in parliament to feather their nests, not to look out for the country's best interests. They aren't going to criticise muslims or islamic culture because they don't want to put their lives or careers at risk. A couple of years ago there were a few politicians prepared to say "if you don't like it here, leave", but not anymore it seems.

We need a new crop of politicians who are prepared to stick their necks out, people of courage and moral conviction. Cameron is simply not up to it. I suggest that if you know any ex-military types, try and convince them to run for election as an independent next year.

Richie Craze

"But her own party actually backed the government’s criminalisation of Christian and other religious bodies which oppose same-sex adoption -- which has forced the Catholic church to shut down its adoption agencies altogether because it is now illegal for it to put its Christian principles into practice in this regard"

Hmm. I'll try posting again as my earlier attempt appears to have been moderated into oblivion.

Good for the Tories for opposing discrimination based wholly on religious dogma. It is also fortunate for the children, whose sexual innocence is vastly more likely to remain intact in a non-Catholic institution.

Melanie Phillips writes as if this is a bad thing!