In his independent review of the Prevent programme last year, Sir William Shawcross warned that something had gone very wrong with Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy. Instead of focusing on Islamism, Prevent was wasting its time investigating complaints of ‘far-right’ extremism from left-wing teachers, e.g. 14-year-old boys ‘caught’ watching TikTok videos of Nigel Farage. He has pointed out that 75 per cent of MI5’s caseload is taken up with Islamist threats, but 11 per cent of referrals to Prevent are related to Islamist terrorism. The result, Shawcross said, is a ‘dangerous’ surge in anti-Semitism, as we can see from the pro-Palestinian marches that have disfigured our cities for the past year. These reached their apotheosis last Saturday, when 300,000 protestors paraded through London spewing bile about the state of Israel and celebrating the largest pogrom against the Jews since the Holocaust.
Teachers will be encouraged to refer boys who make sexist remarks to Prevent
If you think Yvette Cooper is going to rectify this, think again. In August, she announced a review of Britain’s counter-extremism programme, whereby the definition of extremism would be broadened to include ‘extreme misogyny’. Her priorities have evidently taken root in her department, because last week it was reported that high-level meetings had taken place between Home Office officials and counter-terrorism experts about how to tackle the alleged growth of ‘misogyny’ among teenage boys. The solution, they concluded, was to encourage teachers to refer boys who make sexist remarks to Prevent.
Ominously, we also learned the government is planning to slap Asbo-style orders on children found to be downloading ‘terrorist content’, which, if Cooper has her way, will include Carry On films and copies of Portnoy’s Complaint. Any spotty youth who’s given one of these orders will have to undergo mandatory psychiatric treatment, in a sinister echo of life behind the Iron Curtain.
When I heard about this, I immediately thought of Sexmission, the cult Polish comedy made in 1984 in which two young men take part in a hibernation experiment conducted by a mad scientist. They’re put to sleep in a communist-controlled state and are revived in 2044, by which time Poland has become a matriarchal society in which men are extinct and reproduction takes place via a form of parthenogenesis. Lust is verboten, and the two protagonists are told they’ll have to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. When they resist, they are forced to endure a ‘trial’ in which they’re told that men are responsible for all the evil in the world and their only choice is having their bits cut off or ‘liquidation’. It’s extremely funny, but the real target of the film’s satire is not feminist misandry but communist tyranny. The director, Juliusz Machulski, managed to avoid arrest by cleverly disguising his scathing attack on the Polish People’s Republic as a science fiction romp.
Now it looks less like a dystopian satire and more like prophecy – a version of Nineteen Eighty-Four in which Big Brother has been replaced by Big Sister. The message to teenage boys thinking of trading mildewed copies of Men Only behind the bike sheds is: Yvette Cooper is watching you.
Take a look at the information about ‘toxic masculinity’ being given to teachers in secondary schools, as approved by the Institute of Education, Britain’s most prestigious education college. ‘Do staff understand the concept of rape culture and the connection between lad banter, everyday sexism and sexual violence?’ reads some of its guidance.
Don’t be surprised if your son is referred to Prevent for claiming that women’s football isn’t as exciting as men’s. It’s a slippery slope between such ‘everyday sexism’ and ‘rape culture’. And if he points out that Islamic extremism is more likely to lead to sexual violence than watching Match of the Day, a ‘safe-guarding officer’ will throw in an accusation of Islamophobia when turning him in to the local stasi.
I hate to think how I would have fared as a teenager if Cooper’s new counter-terrorism strategy had been in place. A quick rummage through my satchel and I would have ended up in Belmarsh sharing a cell with an IRA bomber. I can picture Mr Knight, the deputy head of my comp: ‘This pen with the lady undressing when you turn it upside-down, Toby – you do realise this normalises sexual violence? I think a spell in chokey will do you the world of good.’
I remember being at Oxford with a lad called Edward whose idea of a lark was to dress up in a Wehrmacht uniform. It’s just as well Yvette wasn’t such a humourless scold back then or she might not have married him.
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