Letters | 2 January 2010

In the wrong hands

Sir: It simply will not do for Ed Balls to dismiss the loathsome pamphlet written by Farah Ahmed, head teacher of the Hizb ut Tahrir-linked school he supports and funds, on the grounds that it is ‘not evidence of extremist views actually being taught in the classroom’ (Letters, 12 December).

In fact, what should ‘actually be taught in the classroom’ was precisely the subject Mrs Ahmed was writing about. And the school’s curriculum, which I also mentioned in my article, displays striking parallels between what Hizb teaches its recruits and Mrs Ahmed teaches her pupils.

The real question for Mr Balls is whether he thinks Mrs Ahmed, and her extremist friends, are suitable recipients of taxpayers’ money — and fit to be in charge of impressionable children. If supporters of the BNP, Hizb’s white equivalent, were running schools at public expense, I somehow feel we would be able to cut their funding without needing to prove that the pupils sing the ‘Horst Wessel Song’ in class.

Andrew Gilligan
Daily Telegraph, London SW1



Lobbyists fight poverty too

Sir: It is an easy jibe for Ed Howker (19/26 December) to imply that charitable funds devoted to campaigning, advocacy and education are somehow divorced from the suffering of real people. Christian Aid does indeed strive to make a significant difference to thousands of people, using the donations that the public are generous enough to make. But changing the systems that keep people poor — such as unfair terms of trade and odious debt — is done on a governmental level and also has the potential to relieve human suffering significantly.

For instance, years of Christian Aid campaigning for debt relief — helping insure substantial debt forgiveness programmes — has real world effects.