Thursday, August 10, 2006

Terrifying news

I'm watching the latest news about the foiled attempt to blow up airliners over the Atlantic. The sheer scale of the plot is terrifying.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that some of the terror suspects were living in High Wycombe, a sleepy commuter town in the county of Buckinghamshire. Miriam and I were there only last weekend, taking our baby out for her first trip to the countryside. It's the last place you'd expect terrorists to be operating from. That's what is so scary about living in Britain. On the face of it, Britain is such a peaceful laid back place, yet there are evidently a lot of people dotted around the country who want to murder thousands of their fellow citizens.

Monday, August 07, 2006

The radicalisation of British Muslims

I try not to take surveys too seriously as they are notoriously unreliable. But when different surveys all come up with the same results, it does make me start asking questions.

The latest survey reveals that nearly a quarter of British Muslims believe the July 7 terror attacks were justified because of Britain's support for the war on terror. Nearly half said the 9/11 attacks on New York were a conspiracy between the US and Israel. And a third of those questioned said they would rather live under Sharia law in the UK than British law.

As expected, the "experts" have come up with the usual litany of excuses about British Muslims being "angry" about various injustices. Britain's highest ranking Asian police officer has just called for a judicial inquiry into the radicalisation of British Muslims, arguing that tighter anti-terror laws have indirectly discriminated against Muslims. As nearly all the recent terror attacks in the UK have been perpetrated by British Muslims, it should come as no surprise that a disproportionate number of Muslims are being targeted by the Police. Who exactly should the Police be targeting? Old Grannies?

Instead of all the endless inquiries, isn't it time that we stopped making excuses and demanded that Britain's Muslim leaders start cracking down on the extremists in their community? Many of us are angry at all sorts of percieved injustices. But just because we perceive injustice, does that give us the right to kill innocent men women and children?