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Mark Alexander

Christian West pays very high price for Muslim immigrants

YAHOO NEWS: Nearly three-quarters of British firms are banning Christmas decorations in the workplace for fear of being sued, research has shown. A new survey found most bosses are scared to put up festive tinsel and Christmas trees because they might offend non-Christian workers. Law firm Peninsula said the workplace was becoming caught up in the "wave" of political correctness.

"Christmas trees and decorations may well be a thing of the past in many workplaces this Christmas as political correctness culture has spread to the workplace," managing director Peter Done said. Xmas Ban! Firms Scared Of Tinsel

Firms 'ban festive decorations'

BBC backtracks on festive baubles

Jack Straw speaks on behalf of the Angel Gabriel!

Christmas: crucified by do-gooders by Jeff Randall

Sentamu attacks 'move to throw away crib' by Jonathan Petre and George Jones

Mark Alexander

Now don't you upset those Saudi royals lest they throw a tantrum!

THE TIMES: Britain’s broader commercial relationship with Saudi Arabia as well as co-operation in the War on Terror are being threatened by the escalating row over a long-running fraud investigation, according to senior Saudi sources.

The House of Saud’s embarrassment and frustration over the inquiry is said to threaten not only a £10 billion contract to buy Eurofighter combat aircraft from BAE Systems, but other lucrative deals with British defence and industrial companies.

A prominent Saudi businessman told The Times yesterday that it was a huge mistake for Britain to alienate the Royal Family, which controls all government contracts in a country flush with the proceeds of record oil prices.

“Saudi Arabia does not make commercial or defence decisions based on what shareholders or voters think,” he said. “It is run like a family business. If you upset members of the family, they will simply choose another supplier.” Saudi fury at slush fund claim threatens thousands of UK jobs by Richard Beeston

Mark Alexander

France and Germany want deadline for Turkey

BBC: The EU's Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, has urged Germany and France not to step up the pressure on Turkey over its membership bid.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested an 18-month deadline for Turkey to open its ports to traffic from Cyprus to keep its bid alive.

She and French President Jacques Chirac are expected to discuss it on Tuesday.

But Mr Rehn protested, telling Reuters news agency that "strict deadlines do not produce results". EU attacks Turkey deadline plan

Mark Alexander

Egyptian sexologist, Heba Kotb, on sex, foreplay and the "disease of homosexuality"

Arab viewers get frank advice on sex from Egyptian sexologist who happens to be conservative Muslim woman

YNET NEWS: Heba Kotb is a conservative Muslim, wears an Islamic head scarf, and goes on television once a week to talk - frankly and in great detail - about sex.

On her show, "Big Talk," Kotb answers questions from Muslims all over the Middle East about the most intimate bedroom issues with an openness that is shocking and revolutionary in a society where discussing the subject is taboo.

"How do I talk about these issues? Very seriously," the Egyptian sexologist says. "I put on a mask-like face and make sure I speak in the right tone of voice."

She also does it by talking about sex in an Islamic light, arguing that the faith is in favor of pleasure for both men and women, with one important caveat - that it be only in the context of marriage. Sex talks on Muslim TV?

Mark Alexander

Mark Vernon, an author and ex-vicar, reflects on agnosticism

BBC: With religion increasingly polarised, is there any benefit in not knowing if there is a higher power? Mark Vernon - an ex-vicar - explains why agnosticism is his creed.

We are in a period of intense debate about religion. It seems there are believers, secularists and atheists - in their manifold varieties - arguing over their various concerns. Veils. Intelligent design v evolution. Ordaining gays and women. Contraception and Aids.

But there is one voice that is squeezed out, partly because it can equivocate, partly because it tires of the tit-for-tat that the debate is so often reduced to. That is the agnostic. God. Who knows?

Mark Alexander

Kofi Annan on his time at the helm of the UN

Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: Iraq's national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than under Saddam Hussein.

Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie also accused the UN of shying away from its responsibility towards the Iraqi people.

The UN secretary general, who leaves office after 10 years on 31 December, told the BBC that the situation in Iraq was now "much worse" than a civil war. Anger at UN chief's Iraq comments

WATCH A BBC SPECIAL: Kofi Annan reflects on time at UN

Mark Alexander

Turkey's train to Europe slows right down

"Turkey is not a European state, and to admit its accession into the Union would change the character of Europe" - Bavarian Governor Edmund Stoiber

With controversy over Cyprus raging, Turkey's membership in the E.U. fades further into the future

TIME EUROPE EDITION: Early last week, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had reason to be optimistic. During a meeting in Ankara, Pope Benedict XVI said he was in favor of Turkey joining the European Union. This reversed an opinion he had delivered previously as a Cardinal, saying the move would be "a grave error against history." But the good news was short-lived. Just days after the Pope's remarks, Olli Rehn, the E.U.'s Commissioner for Enlargement, recommended that the E.U. suspend a portion of Turkey's membership talks just 13 months after they began. The reason: Turkey's continued unwillingness to open its ports to ships from the Greek-controlled half of the disputed island of Cyprus. Slow Train to Europe by Andrew Purvis

Mark Alexander

Pope's "withdrawal from the debate is a considerable loss for the forces of reason and Western preservation"

MELANIE PHILLIPS: How is it possible that he changed so much, asked a young Islamist girl called Merve Celikkol, who concluded to the New York Times reporters on the ground that the Pope is ‘a hypocrite’. The answer to the charming Merve’s question is clear. He has changed because he has been forced to pacify the Islamic beast, and because support for Turkish entry is clearly in the Pope’s calculation the least he can offer. Papal bull

Mark Alexander

The flip side of Islamic fundamentalism

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: When Polish student Michael Gromek, 19, went to America on a student exchange, he found himself trapped in a host family of Christian fundamentalists. What followed was a six-month hell of dawn church visits and sex education talks as his new family tried to banish the devil from his soul. Here's his story.

"When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, 'Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.' At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane. My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists

Mark Alexander

"There is a stealthy rise of Sharia courts in Britain"

THE TIMES: There is, in a world of uncertainties, at least one comforting and incontrovertible truth. There’s one law for all. isn’t there? Well, no there isn’t. In this country some minority and religious groups have their own courts dispensing justice in commercial cases, neighbour disputes and divorce.

This week there has been a furious debate about whether these courts complement the national law or threaten it. The debate has been stoked by the revelation that in southeast London there is an unofficial Somali court that deals with criminal matters. One UK legal system? Think again by Clive Coleman

Mark Alexander

“We want Turkey to be part of the EU”, Pope tells Erdogan!

THE TIMES: In just three days on his first visit to a Muslim country, Pope Benedict XVI has transformed himself from a hate figure in Turkey into a model of tolerance and politeness spoken of with warmth and affection.

He returned to Rome yesterday, winning more praise for a parting shot that he had “left part of his heart in Istanbul”. Turks warm to model of tolerance and finally learn to love the Pope by Richard Owen and Suna Erdem

Mark Alexander

Der Papst und die Begeisterung der türkischen Presse

Foto dank der NZZ

Benedikt XVI. beendet Türkei-Reise
NZZ: Überschwänglich hat die türkische Presse über den Besuch des Papstes in der Blauen Moschee berichtet, wo Benedikt gemeinsam mit dem Mufti von Istanbul «wie ein Muslim» gebetet habe. Er habe «grosse Sympathien geerntet», schrieb etwa «Hürriyet». Der Papst hat seine Türkei-Reise am Freitag mit einer Messe beendet. Türkische Presse begeistert über Moschee-Besuch des Papstes

Mark Alexander

Our Saudi 'friends' get very tough! Fraud investigation to be halted within 10 days, or contract will be lost to French

THE TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia has given Britain 10 days to halt a fraud investigation into the country's arms trade - or lose a £10 billion Eurofighter contract.

The contract supports up to 50,000 British jobs and there are now fears that the deal may go to France.

The Saudi government is on the verge of cancelling the contract - an extension of one brokered by Margaret Thatcher 20 year ago - because of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations of a slush fund for members of the Saudi royal family, according to authoritative sources.

Tony Blair has been told that the deal faces the axe in 10 days unless he intervenes to bring the two-year investigation to a close.

The Saudis are said to be "outraged" by the probe into the activities of companies linked to BAE Systems. The investigation concerns alleged illegal payments made to members of the Saudi royal family and their agents. Halt inquiry or we cancel Eurofighters

Balancing the law against 50,000 jobs

Probe 'threat' to British firms

Saudis pressure stops investigation. Profit wins the day.

Mark Alexander

Britain in a Fix: The White Flight Reality

THE TELEGRAPH: Seeing something you have written as semi-fiction transformed into fact before your eyes is an odd feeling. In my new book, Time To Emigrate?, written as a letter, I explain to an imaginary, liberal-minded daughter-in-law that she is wrong to deny the existence of white flight from inner-city areas, and to ignore the dangers of ethnic mini-states forming around us.

Days later, at a conference on race organised by the Commission for Racial Equality, which he chairs, a real-life Trevor Phillips spoke of a crisis as white minorities bolt from ethnic areas, and warned of the emergence of separate and isolated communities. Phillips has made similar noises before, but never so boldly. White flight is a fact of British life

Mark Alexander