As David Cameron Calls for Turkey to Join the EU, Peter Hitchins on the Disturbing Picture of Growing Repression at the Heart of ‘Eurabia’
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Among the bayonet-like minarets of ancient Istanbul, an East wind is blowing. It will chill us all... says The Mail On Sunday columnist in the week David Cameron calls for Turkey to join the EU

Down a glum, dark back alley in Istanbul, I found a sinister sight. In a workshop two stern and bearded men were bent over sheets and patches of very black cloth, their sewing-machines whirring urgently.

I was plainly unwelcome and they objected to the very idea of being photographed. I quickly saw why. They were making dark robes and masks for women to wear. They looked to me as if they longed for the day when every woman in sight was clad in their workmanship.

They knew the women would wear them, because one day, not far off, they would have to. These robes would be, literally, a 'must-have' for the women of Turkey.

Those who think of Turkey as a relaxed holiday destination, or as a Westernised Nato member more or less 'on our side' need to revise their view.

And that very much includes our Prime Minister, David Cameron, who last week joined in the fashionable chorus urging Turkish membership of the European Union. Mr Cameron plainly hasn't been properly briefed.

Leave aside the fact that such a step would allow millions of Turks to live and work in Britain, and give us - as EU members - a common border with Syria and Iraq. Mr Cameron really ought to realise that the new Islamist Turkey he so ignorantly praises is much more interested in making friends with Iran than it is in joining the EU. And it is becoming less free and less democratic by the day.

I would say there is a strong chance that we will soon lose Turkey to the Islamic world, much as we lost Iran to the ayatollahs 30 years ago. And there is not much we can do about it - least of all the daft scheme to include this nation in the EU.

Panic-mongering? Well, perhaps. But I would rather monger a bit of panic now than ignore what I saw.

I will come in a moment to the bizarre alleged plot against the Turkish state, which has swept dozens of government opponents into prison in dawn raids.

But first let us take a stroll round the Istanbul district of Fatih. It is noon, and the rival calls to prayer of two mosques are wavering in the baking, humid air.

Not far away is a gigantic Palestinian flag draped over the side of a building. Nearly opposite, a group of pale, intense men in turbans loiter on a street corner whispering into their mobile phones. Where am I? The flag suggests Gaza. The whispering men bring to mind Peshawar or some other Taliban zone.

Or am I in Saudi Arabia? For round the corner comes a phalanx of veiled women, under the vigilant eyes of a bossy man in a prayer cap. There are several grades of these women. First there are the wholly shrouded, their downcast eyes glimpsed through a slot, imprisoned in shapelessness. Most disturbing for me - because I have been to Iran - are those in chadors exactly like those commanded by the ayatollahs in Tehran. There is something particularly harsh about the inverted triangle through which their pale and sombre faces peer.

With them come the women they call 'Tight-heads' - 'Sikmabash' in Turkish. These are a new feature of Istanbul since I was last here a few years ago, in evidence all over this enormous city.

They are mostly young and often attractive. But they have swathed their heads tightly in voluminous, brightly coloured scarves. Their lower limbs are covered by long dresses or trousers, and over this, in the oppressive heat, they wear thin raincoats. Such outfits are available in a successful chain of shops called Tekbir, which means 'God is great'.

Covering up the female sex is big business here now. The owner of an independent Islamic clothes shop complains to me that trade isn't as good as it used to be because he now faces so much competition. He notes that more and more of his clients are young women, rather than conservative rural grandmas. Continue reading and comment >>> Peter Hitchins in Istanbul | Sunday, August 01, 2010

My essays on Turkey joining the UK:

Turkey in the EU >>> Mark Alexander | Friday, September 30, 2005

More Reasons Why Turkey and the EU Should Not Join in Union! >>> Mark Alexander | Saturday, October 01, 2010

Peter Hitchens: Our Nice, Furry Archbishop... Lost in a Barbarous World
MAIL ONLINE: Do we have to wait until the hate-filled mobs storm into Canterbury Cathedral and drag him from the pulpit before the Archbishop of Canterbury grasps that Christianity is in danger in this country? Nice, furry, mild and useless, Dr Rowan Williams chose this Easter week not to protect his Church, but to rebuke several bishops who had rightly warned of the swelling rage against the Church.

No doubt he is right to point out that Christians elsewhere suffer more. I would like to hear more protests from 'human rights' campaigners against the nasty treatment of Christians in the Muslim world, not least under the rule of the Palestinian Authority which many leftist Christians idiotically admire.

But so what? In those rough neighbourhoods, under the grudging scowl of Muslim so-called 'tolerance', this has been the case for centuries. Here, things are and ought to be different. Dr Williams is the head of the Established Church in England. The laws of this country, the shape of its cities and countryside, its language, morals, literature, architecture, family structure and politics are all based upon Christianity.

Take it away and it will be like removing the mortar from a great building, leaving its bricks and stones loose and trembling in the storm to come. And yet there are many people who want to do this. In this Century of Selfishness, Christianity is an annoying obstacle, with its infuriating insistence on active unselfishness and its unalterable rules which say that there are some things you just cannot do, like for instance murder unborn babies and walk out on your marriage.

Last week, there was yet another case of someone being in trouble for being a Christian, in an officially Christian country. I collect these incidents: preachers arrested and fined; nurses disciplined for offering to pray for patients; registrars disciplined for declining to officiate at homosexual civil partnerships; adoption societies forced to close because they will not place children with same-sex couples. Just 30 years ago, they would have been unthinkable. Another few decades and Christianity will be against the law. >>> Peter Hitchens | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Frohe Weihnachten! Buon Natale! Felix Nativitas!
’We Three Kings’, an original painting by James C. Christensen. Collage: Google Images
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. – The Gospel According to John, 1, 14

Et la Parole a été faite chair, et elle a habité parmi nous, pleine de grâce et de verité; et nous avons contemplé sa gloire, une gloire du Fils unique venu du Père. – Evangile selon Jean, 1, 14

Und das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnte unter uns, und wir schauten seine Herrlichkeit, eine Herrlichkeit, wie sie der eingige [Sohn] von seinem Vater hat, voll Gnade und Wahrheit. – Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1, 14

E la Parola è stata fatta carne ed ha abitato per un tempo fra noi, plena di grazia e di verità; e noi abbiam contemplata la sua gloria, gloria come quella dell’Unigenito venuto da presso al Padre. – Evangelo secondo Giovanni, 1, 14

Et Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobus, et vidimus gloriam eius, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Padre, plenum gratiae et veritatis. – Evangelium secundum Ioannem, 1, 14

Louis-Claude d'Aquin: Noël X

The Queen's Christmas Message 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Queen's Speech: 2009 a 'difficult year for many': The nation owes a "profound" debt of gratitude to the Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan, the Queen said in her Christmas message as she spoke of her sadness at the heavy death toll. >>> Anita Singh | Friday, December 25, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: 2009? Some years are best forgotten, says Queen in Christmas address >>> Tom Coghlan | Friday, December 25, 2009

Passions over 'Prosperity Gospel': Was Jesus Wealthy?
Some pastors are making a bold claim: Jesus wasn't poor; he was rich. Photo: CNN
CNN: Each Christmas, Christians tell stories about the poor baby Jesus born in a lowly manger because there was no room in the inn.

But the Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, preaches a version of the Christmas story that says baby Jesus wasn't so poor after all.

Anderson says Jesus couldn't have been poor because he received lucrative gifts -- gold, frankincense and myrrh -- at birth. Jesus had to be wealthy because the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for his expensive undergarments. Even Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, lived and traveled in style, he says.

"Mary and Joseph took a Cadillac to get to Bethlehem because the finest transportation of their day was a donkey," says Anderson. "Poor people ate their donkey. Only the wealthy used it as transportation."

Many Christians see Jesus as the poor, itinerant preacher who had "no place to lay his head." But as Christians gather around the globe this year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, another group of Christians are insisting that Jesus' beginnings weren't so humble.

They say that Jesus was never poor -- and neither should his followers be. Their claim is embedded in the doctrine known as the prosperity gospel, which holds that God rewards the faithful with financial prosperity and spiritual gifts. >>> John Blake, CNN | Friday, December 25, 2009

How Long Before Small Boys Here Ask: A Church? What’s That, Grandad?
MAIL ONLINE: I had hoped to have a sort of Christmas truce this week, but the controversy just keeps on raging, drowning out the choirs and bells.

And one of the problems is Christmas itself. How much longer will it exist in the form we know today?

I fear it won’t be much longer. Many of its traditions are visibly dying. Teachers complain that children don’t know the carols any more, because their parents don’t know them either.

At a couple of packed services during Advent (a season many haven’t heard of), I’ve noticed that large numbers of adults stand with their lips not moving during the singing of these simple, easily mastered songs.

Perhaps they’re humming, or struck dumb with awe, but it looks to me as if they are just completely unfamiliar with words or music and don’t know what to do.

For the moment, they still think they should come to church, but for how much longer?

A few days ago I heard a story from the former East Germany, where Christianity was coldly tolerated but officially discouraged, and as far as possible denied to children.

This created a mixture of hostility and indifference that has not been overcome in the 20 years since the regime collapsed. The link between people and Christianity, many centuries old, has now been broken.

A small boy was walking with his grandparent past a church in a small town in Brandenburg. ‘What’s that strange building? What’s it for?’ he asked.

But East Germany wasn’t half as subtle as the politically correct revolutionaries who run this country. Our lot are far cleverer.

They hope to destroy the Christian religion through a thousand regulations. But first they have to rob it of its ancient standing by treating it as equal (if not slightly inferior) to Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, December 26, 2009 (Boxing Day)

Rushdie’s Knighthood: Christopher Hitchens on Rushdie and Tony Blair
Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

This Stupid, Stupid Government!
Cannabis: Not banning the drug is contributing to a growing mental health threat for the British population. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The great puzzle of our time is why some pleasures are official sins, while others are smirkingly condoned by authority.

Understand why and you will know what is wrong with our degenerate ruling class.

In theory, the idea is that we all have a stern national duty to take lots of care of ourselves so that we do not become a burden on the holy, wonderful NHS.

We guard ourselves from self-inflicted illness or injury for the sake of others.

Since my childhood I have been ceaselessly lectured about how to stay safe and healthy, with varying degrees of success.

The simple slogans of the TV campaigns still echo in my memory, and no doubt in millions of others.

'Don't ask a man to drink and drive', 'One for the road? None for the road!', 'Clunk Click every trip'.
Propaganda isn't enough on its own. Law and fear are needed too.

Listen to an Englishman whinge when his driving licence is taken away, and you will see that there is still such a thing as punishment in our society, and it works.

I can remember the measurable change in the national atmosphere when the police began serious breathalysing.

Similar determination made us all wear seat belts. If only they'd do the same about the arrogant, murderous cretins who use mobile phones while driving.

The authorities also quite clearly know that advertising and the behaviour of actors and presenters on TV and in films affect behaviour.

That is why they have banned tobacco commercials and why it now seems astonishing that Joan Bakewell used to smoke while presenting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up in the Sixties. They Rave about the Peril of Sunbeds... Then Let Us Fry Our Brains on Cannabis >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, April 25, 2009

Peter Hitchens: What Do We Expect If We Treat Our Own Nation with Such Contempt?
MAIL ON SUNDAY: The insulting anti-British demonstration in Luton is a sign that we are losing – and may already have lost – the most important battle for survival in our modern history.

Our political leaders like to pretend they are defending us against all kinds of perils – especially bogeymen such as Al Qaeda.

I have always thought this was humbug, partly designed to conceal their failure to protect us from the real perils of the EU and the destruction of our culture.

Now you can see, in those Luton faces, exactly what I mean.

For years these same leaders have been the active allies of a real enemy right here among us.

That enemy is the deliberate destruction of Britain, the smearing of its history, the mocking of decent patriotism, the undermining of loyalty.

Those who were rightly angered at the ill-mannered and contemptuous display in Luton – the scowling menfolk and their sullen, shrouded women – should aim their anger not at these misguided individuals but at the liberal Left which has brought us to this point. >>> Peter Hitchens | Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Peter Hitchens Tells It Like It Is
Why is it that nobody in our own elite actually likes or understands this country or its people or its traditions?

Why did we have to wait for Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, born and raised in Muslim Pakistan, to remind us that, as he put it, ‘the beliefs, values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith’?

Just as important, why did we have to wait for him to urge us to do something about restoring that faith before we either sink into a yelling chaos of knives, fists and boots, or swoon into the strong, implacable arms of Islam?

Most of our homegrown prelates are more interested in homosexuality or in spreading doubt about the gospel or urging the adoption of Sharia law. Why Does It Take Bishop Nazir-Ali to Tell Us How It Really Is? >>> | May 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Peter Hitchens Tells It Like It Is
Why is it that nobody in our own elite actually likes or understands this country or its people or its traditions?

Why did we have to wait for Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, born and raised in Muslim Pakistan, to remind us that, as he put it, ‘the beliefs, values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith’?

Just as important, why did we have to wait for him to urge us to do something about restoring that faith before we either sink into a yelling chaos of knives, fists and boots, or swoon into the strong, implacable arms of Islam?

Most of our homegrown prelates are more interested in homosexuality or in spreading doubt about the gospel or urging the adoption of Sharia law. Why Does It Take Bishop Nazir-Ali to Tell Us How It Really Is? >>> | May 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

What Next for Smug Blair?
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY – PETER HITCHENS’ BLOG: Why should politicians get rich at all? When President Harry Truman left the White House in January 1953, he had no income apart from his meagre army pension from the First World War. Yet he refused offers to take well-padded corporate posts, because he feared it would damage the dignity of the office.

The man who had authorised the use of the atom bomb walked out of the Oval Office to become plain Mr Truman and to live out a life of modest obscurity.

He survived for years by writing his memoirs and selling small bits of inherited property, until he was eventually granted a modest payment by the US Government.

The same rules used to apply here. When Clement Attlee died in 1967, he left just over £7,000 in his will, not very much even before the wild inflation that has since made our national money into joke currency.

Both these men, with all their faults, were indisputably greater than Anthony Blair.

History has tended to increase their reputations, as it will diminish Mr Blair's.

Yet the ridiculous Blair creature is to be paid sums rumoured to be as high as two million pounds a year by an enormous Wall Street Bank.

What for? Mr Blair was no great shakes as a lawyer, his only real job.

I suspect it was a relief to him to land a safe seat in Parliament, with its plump salary and enjoyable perks. What next for Blair ... Viscount Dodgy of Dossier? >>> By Peter Hitchens

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)