Step In to Tackle Yobs, Says New Home Secretary Theresa May
THE TELEGRAPH: Members of the public should intervene to stop anti-social behaviour on Britain’s streets, the new Home Secretary has said.
In her first interview since her surprise appointment, Theresa May says she wants to create an atmosphere in which people feel able to stop gangs of youths blighting neighbourhoods. She suggests that more police would be on the beat – able to “help” citizens if confrontations threaten to become violent.
The Home Secretary tells The Daily Telegraph that her success in the post should be judged on whether “people feel safer in their own homes” and public faith in the police is restored.
Mrs May says a priority for the Government would be introducing laws to protect people tackling burglars and “good Samaritans” taking on troublemakers. She will also scrap dozens of Labour measures, such as ID cards, which threaten civil liberties.
“We need to generate an environment in which people are able to have the confidence to intervene,” she says. “The more we are able to generate that confidence, the more people will feel confident about intervening with kids on the street corner. I would like to have a situation where people felt able to intervene.” Mrs May, who was previously the shadow work and pensions secretary, also:
*Refuses to rule out a cut in the number of police officers under plans to reduce the Home Office budget.
*Pledges to end the “health and safety culture” in the police and return officers to the beat.
*Says she does not believe that there should be an absolute limit on the population but adds that plans are under way to introduce an annual cap for immigration from outside the European Union.
*Announces plans to take samples of the DNA of every prisoner in an attempt to make it easier to catch reoffenders.
Says the Government will push ahead with directly-elected “police chiefs” despite opposition from some chief constables. >>> Robert Winnett, and Andrew Porter | Friday, May 14, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
Johnson 'Will Back' Wootton Bassett Islamic March Ban
BBC: The home secretary has said he will back any request from police or local government to ban a radical Islamic group marching through Wootton Bassett.
Alan Johnson said he felt "revulsion" at the thought of Islam4UK's proposed march through the Wiltshire town. Wootton Bassett has become famous for its repatriation ceremonies for fallen British service personnel.
Islam4UK says it wants to parade empty coffins through the town to draw attention to Afghan war casualties.
Mr Johnson said: "The idea that anyone would stage this kind of demonstration in Wootton Bassett fills me with revulsion.
"I find it particularly offensive that the town, which has acted in such a moving and dignified way in paying tribute to our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, should be targeted in this manner."
He added: "If the Wiltshire Police and local authority feel that a procession of this kind has the potential to cause public disorder and seek my consent to a banning order, then I would have no hesitation in supporting that request." >>> | Monday, January 04, 2010
Monday, May 11, 2009
Opinion – Boris Johnson: Michael Savage Poses No Risk to British Security So Why Won't MPs Say So?
THE TELEGRAPH: It is shocking that not a single MP has stood up to defend free speech, says Boris Johnson.
About 10 years ago my brother-in-law was giving me a lift through the early morning Washington traffic when he suddenly gave a whoop of joy. "It's Howie!" yelled Ivo, turning up the radio. "We gotta listen to Howie!" And it was with mounting disbelief that I listened to the next 20 minutes of the Howard Stern show, a shameless and cynical attempt to scandalise the ear.
That morning Howard was appealing to his listeners to ring in with the most tear-jerking hard-luck story. In return he was offering a nude massage at the hands of an attractive nude masseuse. In a display of Oprah Winfreyesque exhibitionism, the audience was competing for that massage. We heard of divorces, and bereavements, and embarrassing disfigurements. But the winner (I advise sensitive readers to faint now) was a man who rang in to say that he had just been diagnosed with cancer, and might lose his gonads, but had not yet had the courage to tell his girlfriend.
Howard Stern pounced. "What's her number?" he said. With lightning efficiency his producers patched the caller through to his girlfriend, and soon she was being told – live on air – that there was good news and bad news.
The bad news was that her boyfriend had cancer, and the good news was that he was the winner of a nude massage. The poor woman gasped and sobbed. I sat there in exactly the state desired by the producers of the Howard Stern show – appalled, disgusted, but also thrilled by the horror of what was apparently (and I stress apparently) taking place on the radio.
We just don't have shows like this in Britain, I said to Ivo. That's right, he said, and he told me about the shock jocks. He explained the tactics of men such as Stern and Rush Limbaugh, how they shamelessly chased after ratings by causing outrage, how they goosed the secret prejudices of their listeners. Some people tuned in because they actually agreed with what was being said. Most people just enjoyed the theatre, the vehemence, the provocation.
These shock jocks were national institutions, with millions of weekly listeners. They were a new and important part of the American constitution, and that is my first objection to the utterly demented decision by Jacqui Smith's Home Office to announce that Michael Savage, America's third most popular radio show host, is banned from entering this country. It just makes us look so infantile, so pathetic. >>> By Boris Johnson | Monday, May 11, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Fanatic Freed to Stir Up Hate; Yet the Home Secretary Finds It Necessary to Ban Michael Savage from Entering the Country!
DAILY EXPRESS: A RACE hate preacher who praised the July 7 London suicide bombers has been freed from jail – after serving barely 12 months of a four-and-a-half year sentence.
FREED: Abu Izzadeen left jail after serving barely 12 months of a four-and-a-half year sentence. Photo courtesy of the Daily Express
Abu Izzadeen, 33, was back on the streets yesterday after being jailed for inciting UK Muslims to kill British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The firebrand cleric praised suicide bombers, tried to justify the beheading of British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq, and told followers: “The Americans and British only understand one language. It’s the language of blood.”
Last night Tory MP Patrick Mercer condemned Britain’s soft-bellied justice and warned: “This man will be back on the streets shortly, preaching hate, subverting young minds and trying to inspire people to violence and suicide.”
Izzadeen – born Trevor Brooks in Jamaica – has nine children and will rake in around £800 a month in benefits.
He posed outside his east London home yesterday but declined to answer questions, saying only: “I am in a rush, I have got an appointment.”
His sentence was cut by the Court of Appeal. Judges took a year off at a hearing last week, as well as reducing the sentences of four other Islamic extremists. Fanatic Freed to Stir Up Hate >>> By John Twomey | Thursday, May 7, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Simon Heffer: The Home Secretary Is a Walking Disaster
THE TELEGRAPH: The preposterous Jacqui Smith is a disgrace to the office of Home Secretary.
The indescribable Jacqui Smith. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
I know that people like me are supposed to write newspaper columns because we have a certain command of the English tongue. However, there are times when even the most experienced of us is forced to struggle. How, after all, can one describe Jacqui Smith, our Home Secretary? The adjectives come thick and fast, but all seem insufficient to describe this ambulant catastrophe. Preposterous, corrupt, dim, incompetent, sleazy, incapable: none of them is quite the job.
Miss Smith began by looking corrupt, when it was revealed that she was occupying a room at her sister's house and charging for it as her main residence. She then looked sleazy, dim and preposterous when it emerged that her husband, incarcerated at what was allegedly her second residence, was watching porn films and charging them to the taxpayer. Incompetence and incapability can now be added to the charge sheet following her role in the raiding of the office of Damian Green, a Conservative MP and the party's immigration spokesman: and perhaps one other adjective too – disgraceful. >>> By Simon Heffer | Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
What Will Jackboot Jacqui Do Now?
Photo of Ibrahim Moussawi courtesy of the Mail Online
MAIL Online: Jacqui Smith was tonight warned against exercising 'double standards' as an Islamic extremist prepared to travel to the UK.
Ibrahim Moussawi, a known hardliner with links to Hezbollah, has been invited to speak at a London university.
But the Home Secretary is under pressure to refuse an entry visa to Moussawi, who has allegedly described Jews as 'a lesion on the forehead of history'.
Earlier this month, she banned the far-Right Dutch MP Geert Wilders from coming to Britain to show his film about Islam as it would threaten 'community harmony'.
But the Conservatives warned that to ban those who threaten community harmony, while letting in those who glorify terrorism or are part of terrorist groups, would send out the 'wrong message'.
There must be 'no double standards on extremists', warned Tory security spokesman Baroness Neville-Jones.
Moussawi, who has already made at least two trips to the UK, has been invited to speak on political Islam at the School of Oriental and African Studies next month.
Editor for the newspaper of Lebanon-based terrorist organisation Hezbollah, he is a former political editor of the Iranian-backed group's TV station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S, as its output is seen as anti-Semitic.
Keep the Hate-Mongers OUT! NOT WANTED in the United Kingdom!
Extreme American 'Christians' of the Westboro Baptist Church, the ‘God Hates Fags’ variety, have been banned from the United Kingdom. These vile, disgusting, intolerant, intolerable people are not wanted this side of the Pond. They can peddle their hate where they are – in their own little, narrow, self-serving world: on the dark side of darkness! Photo courtesy of The Times – Mark
TIMES ONLINE: The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.
Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.
It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.
The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays. Anti-gay Preachers Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper Banned from Britain >>> David Byers | Thursday, February 19, 2009
THE SUN: TWO American hate preachers were banned tonight from entering Britain by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Extremist Christian leaders Fred Phelps and daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to jet into the UK to protest against a play being put on by a gay youth group on Friday.
The fanatics are both members of the US Westboro Baptist Church - a sick sect which calls for homosexuals to be killed and CELEBRATES soldiers' deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Picket
Phelps, 79, and his daughter Shirley, 51, had targeted a performance of The Laramie Project, about the death of an American man killed for being gay.
They had boasted they would picket the play, due to be held at a school arts centre in Basingstoke, Hants.
But the pair will now be stopped by immigration officials on arrival and placed straight on a flight back to the US.
Home Office sources said other church members could also be flagged and stopped if they tried to enter Britain. >>> By Tom Wells | Wednesday, February 18, 2009
PINK NEWS: Labour's Gay Group Asks for Ban on God Hates Fags Church Members
LGBT Labour has written to the Home Office asking that members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church be refused entry into the UK.
The church, a tiny sect with around 60 members, often picket funerals in the US.
They claim God is punishing the world because homosexuality is tolerated.
The group said on their website GodHatesFags.com that they would be protesting at a performance of a gay-themed play in Basingstoke on Friday.
In a letter to Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, LGBT Labour co-chair Simon Wright referred to the Home Office decision to ban a Dutch MP who is critical of Islam from entering the UK because he would harm community relations.
"As the government refused entry to the UK to Geert Wilders last week, it is hoped that the same laws can also be used to prevent this family from entering the UK to spread their hated of homosexuality," said Mr Wright.
At least one Labour and one Tory MP have written to the Home Secretary about the issue. It is highly unlikely that WBC members will try to picket in the UK.
The publicity-hungry group have previously threatened protests in Canada, Australia and Sweden but never turned up. [Source: Pink News] Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk | Thursday, February 19, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Terrible Week for Jacqui Smith
THE TELEGRAPH: Controvery [sic] and wrong decisions have plagued the Home Secretary.
It is a measure of the tribulation attached to the job of home secretary that so few of its holders have subsequently gone on to become prime minister. Jim Callaghan managed it, by appointment rather than election, and it took Winston Churchill the best part of 30 years and the threat of Nazi invasion to complete his ascent of the greasy pole. Prediction is an ugly business, but it can probably be safely said that the present incumbent of the post, Jacqui Smith, will not be troubling the scorers either.
Miss Smith has had a terrible week. First, she is widely and rightly condemned for engaging in an expenses-garnering operation that breaks no law, but certainly breaks its spirit. Then she manages to make quite the wrong decision about the admittance to Britain of the Dutch anti-Islamist Geert Wilders. It has rightly been pointed out that many other people with unsavoury points of view have been allowed into this country to peddle their ideas; not least Islamists who are profoundly anti-Christian. We are, or should be, a land that believes in freedom of speech. No one was expecting Miss Smith to ask Mr Wilders to have cocktails with her; but she should have allowed him in to say his piece, and to have the rest of us judge him on his own merits. Her action is a self-inflicted and entirely unnecessary blow to our tradition of liberty. Read on and comment >>> Telegraph View | Friday, February 13, 2009
MAIL Online: A bitter diplomatic row erupted today after Britain banned a controversial Right-wing Dutch politician from the UK.
Geert Wilders had been invited by the Ukip peer Lord Pearson to show his anti-Islam film 'Fitna' and hold a Q&A session in Parliament tomorrow.
The 17-minute documentary features verses from the Koran - which it brands a 'fascist book' - alongside images of the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks.
It equates Islam's holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove its 'hate-preaching' verses.
After being alerted to the private screening, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith barred Mr Wilders on the grounds that his visit was a threat to 'community harmony and therefore public security'.
But the move brought a furious response from the Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen - a political opponent of Mr Wilders - who complained directly to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a 'curt' telephone call.
'The fact that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country is highly regrettable,' he said.
However, Britain is refusing to give way, even though Mr Wilders is a democratically-elected politician and the leader of a legitimate political party.
A defiant Mr Wilders, who claims to have visited the House of Lords in December, called the decision 'cowardly' and vowed last night to go ahead with his visit.
'Let them try to detain me,' he said. 'I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs. We are talking here about a European Union country, one of the oldest democracies in the Western world.'
While Mr Verhagen said the Dutch government would press Britain to reverse the ban, Lord Pearson said he was 'very surprised' to hear the news.
Under UK and EU immigration rules, a person can be refused entry to Britain, 'if his exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.'
The Home Office refused to comment on the individual case of Mr Wilders.
But a spokesman said: 'The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.
'We endorse the original condemnation of the film 'Fitna' by the Dutch Government, and feel that it serves no constructive purpose. >>> By Michael Lea | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Wilders to Travel to Great Britain Despite Ban
The leader of the populist Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, says he will travel to Great Britain on Thursday in spite of a decision by the British government to refuse him entry. The British authorities say he is not welcome because his visit could pose a threat to public order. Mr Wilders had been invited by a member of the House of Lords to show his film Fitna. Members of the British Muslim community have protested against plans to show the film.
The British refusal to deny entry to a Dutch MP has been condemned by politicians from across the Dutch political spectrum. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has contacted his British counterpart David Milibrand and protested against the decision. [Source: RNW] Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AFP: Far-right Dutch MP Ignores Britain on Entry Refusal
THE HAGUE — A far-right Dutch politician facing trial after likening Islam to Nazism vowed Wednesday to press ahead with a planned trip to London despite Britain's refusal to grant him entry.
"I am going tomorrow. We will see what will happen," Geert Wilders, best known for his anti-Islam short film "Fitna", told AFP.
He said his plane was scheduled to land at Heathrow airport on Thursday at 1305 GMT.
Wilders, 45, is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), which has nine seats in parliament.
British authorities informed Wilders on Tuesday that his presence in the United Kingdom would pose a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society".
"Your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film 'Fitna' and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security," said a letter addressed to Wilders and made available to AFP. >>> | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
If anyone had doubted the extent to which Britain has capitulated to Islamic terror, the banning of Geert Wilders a few hours ago should surely open their eyes. Wilders, the Dutch member of parliament who had made an uncompromising stand against the Koranic sources of Islamist extremism and violence, was due to give a screening of Fitna, his film on this subject, at the House of Lords on Thursday. This meeting had been postponed after Lord Ahmed had previously threatened the House of Lords authorities that he would bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if Wilders was allowed to speak. To their credit, the Lords authorities had stood firm and said extra police would be drafted in to meet this threat and the Wilders meeting should go ahead.
But now the government has announced that it is banning Wilders from the country. A letter from the Home Secretary’s office to Wilders, delivered via the British embassy in the Hague, said:
...the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.
So let’s get this straight. The British government allows people to march through British streets screaming support for Hamas, it allows Hizb ut Tahrir to recruit on campus for the jihad against Britain and the west, it takes no action against a Muslim peer who threatens mass intimidation of Parliament, but it bans from the country a member of parliament of a European democracy who wishes to address the British Parliament on the threat to life and liberty in the west from religious fascism.
It is he, not them, who is considered a ‘serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society’. Why? Because the result of this stand for life and liberty against those who would destroy them might be an attack by violent thugs. The response is not to face down such a threat of violence but to capitulate to it instead. >>> Melanie Phillips | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith Claims Britain Faces Zimbabwe Immigration Influx
THE TELEGRAPH: The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is likely to lead to an influx of immigration into the UK, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has warned Cabinet colleagues.
She is said to fear that Zimbabweans desperate to flee the cholera outbreak and Robert Mugabe's regime, are buying false passports in neighbouring countries, where visas are not required for travel to Britain, before heading here.
Foreign Office sources are playing down her claim as "alarmist," leading to the potential for a serious rift within Whitehall.
Officials expressed concerns that the Home Office could use Miss Smith's warnings about the potential arrival of thousands of refugees as an excuse to tighten border controls.
This could make it harder for legitimate asylum seekers escaping Mr Mugabe's brutal police state to reach this country.
The BBC reported that the Zimbabwe was creating "real tension in Whitehall," as the Home Office is said to be calling for the introduction of visas for all countries in the region, a move opposed by the Foreign Office.
Miss Smith has told Cabinet colleagues that people fleeing Zimbabwe are buying false passports in countries such as South Africa and Botswana and using them to travel to the UK. >>> By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | December 12, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain Must Not Abandon the Zimbabwean People to Robert Mugabe
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered long enough. They have had little choice but to stand by helplessly as a corrupt, anti-democratic and incompetent regime has brought their country to its knees.
Robert Mugabe, thirty years ago the darling of the African liberation struggle, is now exposed as a desperate tyrant intent on preserving power at all costs.
When Ian Smith’s government was forced from office it seemed Zimbabwe’s future was bright – and initially it was. The bread basket of southern Africa, its strong economy was underpinned by manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors which were the envy of many more developed nations.
Gradually, greed and political interference of the basest kind wore away those advantages and the past decade has seen Zimbabwe accelerating towards the abyss.
The cholera outbreak which has so far claimed nearly 600 lives – and possibly many more – is just the starkest symptom of that collapse. >>> Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development | December 11, 2008
How many times have we heard this refrain from this government? Regardless of the number of times, sweet little is being done about the problem! Till now, this government has had nothing but milk teeth and has done nothing but pussy-foot around, preferring, it seems, not to want to upset our hardline Muslim detractors.
THE TELEGRAPH: Foreign-born "preachers of hate" will have to publicly renounce their views or be barred from the UK, under new plans to be unveiled by the Government.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is to announce a package of measures aimed at making it harder for extremists to enter the country.
The new rules will also affect anyone suspected of advocating illegal action to stir up tensions, including anti-abortionists, far-right groups and animal rights activists.
It is expected that foreign-born extremists will be forced to retract controversial statements, and will have to refute specific allegations made against them.
Currently, the burden of proof lies with the authorities, who must show that alleged extremists still hold the views ascribed to them.
Those accused of advocating illegal action may also have to make a public statement of their support for democracy if they want to stay in Britain.
The new rules are also set to hand new powers to the Home Office to name people blocked from entering Britain and share their details with other countries. Currently individuals involved are guaranteed anonymity unless they choose to go public and fight their ban.
On Monday, Miss Smith said the Government planned to "name and shame" some extremists banned from entering the UK.
"Where it is in our interest we will name these people," the Home Secretary told MPs in the House of Commons.
"Coming to the UK is a privilege, and I don't want to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life." >>> By Matthew Moore and Jon Swaine | October 28, 2008
Centuries of British Freedoms Being 'Broken' by Security State, Says Sir Ken Macdonald
THE TELEGRAPH: Centuries of British civil liberties risk being broken by the relentless pressure from the ‘security state’, the country’s top prosecutor has warned.
Outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald warned that the expansion of technology by the state into everyday life could create a world future generations “can’t bear”.
In his wide-ranging speech, Sir Ken appeared to condemn a series of key Government policies, attacking terrorism proposals - including 42 day detention - identity card plans and the “paraphernalia of paranoia”.
Instead, he said, the Government should insist that “our rights are priceless” and that: “The best way to face down those threats is to strengthen our institutions rather than to degrade them.”
The intervention will be seen as a significant setback to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith who last week saw her plans to lock up terror suspects for 42 days before being charged thrown out by the House of Lords.
It is also a blow to Miss Smith’s plans for a super-database to record the details of millions of people’s online presence, including emails, SMS messages and Facebook profiles as well as the controversial identity card programme.
Sir Ken chose to issue his tough warning about the perils of the “Big Brother” state in his final speech as DPP, days before he leaves his post at the end of this month.
He warned that MPs should “take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we can’t bear”. >>> By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor | October 20, 2008
MAIL Online: George Orwell's 1984 was supposed to be a warning about the dangers of totalitarianism, not a blueprint for government.
No one seems to have told New Labour. Barely a day goes by without another assault on our civil liberties, another extension of state snooping, another exciting ruse for meting out punishment for the most trivial offence.
This week’s outrage is the news that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is creating a whole new vigilante class of quasi-policemen, drawn from the ranks of Town Hall jobsworths, security guards and car park attendants.
They’ll be allowed to wear uniforms, patrol the streets with dogs, confiscate property and hand out fixed-penalty notices for everything from littering to under-age drinking.
It’s emerged that there are 1,400 of these Accredited Persons out there already, and their numbers will soon swell into the thousands.
They have the power to stop cars, take photos of people, demand names and addresses and issue fines. For now, they wear badges sewn onto their tunics by their employers.
But the Home Office wants to see a uniform standardised across the country. How about peaked caps, jodhpurs, jackboots and black shirts with swastikas on the sleeves? Jackboot Jacqui’s a Nazi Piece of Work >>> By Richard Littlejohn | August 29, 2008
