Muhammad on Broadway?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Several drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the European press have already scandalized the Muslim world. Now, a Swedish cartoonist is converting his controversial work into a musical.

Almost two years ago, 12 unflattering caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad appeared in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten. After a bit of PR work by some radical imams in Denmark, the Muslim world erupted in protest.

Never one to leave well enough alone, Swedish artist Lars Vilks decided to keep the scandal going, and last summer, he drew a cartoon depicting the prophet's head on the body of a dog, which was published in the tiny Swedish paper Nerikes Allehanda. The caper earned him numerous death threats and a $100,000 bounty on his head, courtesy of al-Qaida -- who promised a $50,000 bonus if the murder was accomplished by slitting his throat.

Undeterred, Vilks has now come up with a dubious new idea: Why not turn the entire scandal into a musical? He has already started work on the project -- with the working title "Dogs" -- and envisions a stage production in the mold of "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "Cats."

"Muhammad is also a superstar in the modern sense of the term," Vilks told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. Controversial Cartoon Inspires Musical (More)

Mark Alexander

UN General Assembly to Call for Moratorium on Death Penalty
BBC: A resolution calling for a worldwide suspension of the use of the death penalty has been introduced at the United Nations General Assembly.

Eighty-one of the 192 UN members are backing the resolution, which is expected to be voted on next week.

This resolution calls for countries which still have the death penalty to introduce a moratorium or a suspension, with a view to abolishing the practice.

Opponents of the moratorium are led by Singapore.

One-hundred-and-thirty countries have already banned the death penalty, and only 25 nations carried out executions last year. UN to vote on death penalty halt (more) By Laura Trevelyan

BBC:
Italy urges global execution ban By David Willey

Mark Alexander

Bernanke Says US Economy to Slow Down
Photo of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chief, courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke has warned that the US economy will slow noticeably before the end of the year.

He blamed the slowdown on the credit crisis, which has made it harder for banks and individuals to borrow money.

He said that there was likely to be more "financial restraint on economic growth as credit becomes more expensive and difficult to obtain".

In the longer term, he said that the greater premium attached to risk may lead to a healthier financial system. Bernanke says US economy to slow (more)

BBC:
Global credit crunch

FINANCIAL TIMES:
Bank of England holds rates at 5.75% By Chris Giles

FINANCIAL TIMES:
Pound hits fresh high after rate decision By Peter Garnham

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG:
US-Banken schockieren mit neuen Milliardenbelastungen: Neue Belastungen in Millardenhöhe angekündigt

LE FIGARO:
Wall Street fébrile De Perrine Créquy

Mark Alexander

”Lyrical Terrorist” First Woman Convicted Under New Terrorism Legislation
YAHOO NEWS (UK & IRELAND): A 23-year-old Heathrow Airport worker who called herself the "Lyrical Terrorist" has become the first woman to be convicted under new terrorism legislation.

Samina Malik burst into tears in the dock at the Old Bailey as a jury found her guilty of possessing records likely to be used for terrorism by a majority of 10 to one.

Malik wrote poems entitled How To Behead and The Living Martyrs and stocked a "library" of documents useful to terrorists, the Old Bailey heard.

Malik, who worked airside at WH Smith, was an unlikely but committed Islamic extremist, a jury was told.

The court heard she wrote on the back of a receipt from the shop: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom." Airport woman convicted over terror (more)

BBC:
The enigma that is the 'Lyrical Terrorist' By Ben Ando

Mark Alexander

More Falls in US Stocks
BBC: Stock markets in the US have fallen sharply as the cumulative effect of a weak dollar, soaring oil prices and the credit crisis again eroded confidence.

The benchmark Dow Jones index of leading shares tumbled 360.92 points, or 2.6%, on a day of fresh volatility.

Banking stocks were widely sold as fears over financial problems facing Wall Street showed no signs of abating.

Morgan Stanley said exposure to bad sub-prime related investments had reduced its profits by $2.5bn ($1.2bn).

Sub-prime liabilities on its balance sheet totalled $6bn at the end of last month while the decline in value of these assets had wiped $3.7bn off sales in the past two months.

"It is expected that market conditions will continue to evolve and that the fair value of these exposures will frequently change and could further deteriorate," Morgan Stanley warned in a statement after the stock market had closed. Economic worries knock US markets (more)

Mark Alexander

Iran’s Nuclear Programme “Irreversible”
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's president has declared that his country's nuclear programme is "irreversible" and said he "could not care less" about Western sanctions.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a stern message of defiance while addressing a rally in the city of Birjand.

But his latest claim about the progress of Iran's nuclear ambitions was deeply confused.

"Today, we have reached 3,000 centrifuges," said Mr Ahmadinejad, referring to the machines used to enrich uranium inside Iran's nuclear plant in Natanz.

If Iran is operating 3,000 centrifuges, a crucial milestone will have been passed. Ahmadinejad: Nuclear programme 'irreversible' (more) By David Blair

TIMESONLINE:
US fears Israeli strike against Iran over latest nuclear claim

Mark Alexander

Bush and Congress Bedazzled by Sarkozy; Sarkozy Aims to Be ‘Ally-in-Chief’
TIMESONLINE: President Sarkozy of France yesterday dazzled President Bush and Congress by proclaiming his love for America as he sought to rekindle a long alliance that turned soured over war in Iraq.

His address to both Houses of Congress was delivered in French. He began by breathing warm words of fidelity into the translation earpieces worn by almost all the US legislators.

To the first of many standing ovations he spoke of the shared values and history of the two nations, dating back to the War of Independence, and declared: “France is the friend of the United States of America.”

At a dinner held in his honour the previous evening, Mr Sarkozy had signalled his amorous intentions when he toasted President Bush, saying: “On behalf of all Frenchmen, I want to reconquer the heart of America.”

Mr Bush replied by making a rare foreign-language foray, welcoming his guest with the words “Bienvenue à la Maison Blanche.” The White House — as it is more usually known — has been enthralled by Mr Sarkozy, who appears ready to slip into the role of “ally-in-chief” so recently vacated by Tony Blair. Je t’aime, Nicolas Sarkozy tells America as he aims to be the ‘ally-in-chief’ (more)

BBC:
France divided as Sarkozy woos US By Hugh Schofield

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITNG:
Sarkozy und Bush demonstrieren Geschlossenheit: Haltung gegenüber iranischem Atomprogramm bekräftigt

LE FIGARO:
Sarkozy exalte l’amitié franco-américaine D’Alain Barluet

Mark Alexander

George & Nick
BBC: US President George W Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said they will work jointly to convince Iran to give up its nuclear programme.

After talks at Mount Vernon, near Washington, Mr Bush praised his French counterpart as "a partner in peace".

Mr Sarkozy earlier received a standing ovation during the first address in more than a decade by a French leader to a joint session of Congress.

He pledged to US lawmakers that France would support the US in Afghanistan. Bush and Sarkozy declare Iran aim (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Sarkozy in Congress

THE GUARDIAN:
Sarkozy seals status as Europe’s new pin-up for US

TIMESONLINE:
Sarkozy warns of ‘economic war’ as dollar falls to new low By Gary Duncan, Economics Editor

Mark Alexander

Halal Meat for Sale at ASDA!
BNP*: The ASDA supermarket chain is being criticised over its recent decision to sell Halal meat – that is meat from animals that have not been stunned before having their throats cut. For the first time animal rights activists have expressed outrage over a decision to put this meat on sale in a British supermarket. Up until now the animal welfare lobby have demonstrated blatant hypocrisy in campaigning against fox hunting, the export of calves etc – whilst turning a blind eye to the most prolific form of animal abuse practised in Britain today – that of Halal ritual slaughter. Animal rights group denounces ASDA halal decision (more)

*NB: Mark Alexander endorses NO political party; so a posted article from ANY political party’s website must not be construed as an endorsement of that particular party.

Mark Alexander

King of Morocco Pulls a Snit Over Visit of Spanish Royal Family
Photo of King Mohammed VI of Morocco courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Morocco's king has strongly condemned the visit by the Spanish monarch to the disputed Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the north Moroccan coast.

King Mohammed VI said it had hurt the feelings of the Moroccan people.

In a rare statement to cabinet, he said the unprecedented visit by King Juan Carlos was offensive and jeopardised future relations between the countries.

Morocco has long been demanding control over the two enclaves, which have been Spanish for some 400 years.

This is the first time the Spanish king has visited Ceuta and Melilla as head of state in his 32-year reign.

Morocco withdrew its ambassador from Madrid in protest. Morocco king condemns royal visit (more)

Mark Alexander

The Wonderful and Refreshing M Sarkozy: ”France Is the Friend of the United States of America”
Photos of Sarkozy (and Bush) thanks to the BBC
BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has received a standing ovation from US lawmakers during an address to a joint session of the US Congress.

It was the first time for more than a decade that a French president spoke to both houses.

The French leader, who is on his first official visit to Washington, will also hold talks with US President George W Bush at Mount Vernon, near Washington.

They are expected to discuss Iraq, Iran and other Middle Eastern issues.

In his address to Congress, Mr Sarkozy drew applause from lawmakers when he stressed: "France is the friend of the United States of America." Sarkozy applauded by US Congress (more)

BBC:
Sarkozy woos US audience

Mark Alexander

Dollar Weakens Still Further
The pound climbed to $2.10 for the first time since 1981 this morning, boosted by speculation that China was preparing to shift its foreign reserves out of dollars.

By 10.30am, one pound was worth $2.1053. The dollar, which has been weakening for several weeks, also hit a new all-time low against the euro of $1.4703.

Analysts said today's falls had been sparked by comments made by Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress. He told a Beijing conference on Tuesday that China would "favour stronger currencies over weaker ones, and readjust accordingly". Dollar hits 26-year low against pound (more)

Mark Alexander

Simon Heffer on Enoch Powell
Photo of Enoch Powell courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: I wanted to be shocked by the removal of Nigel Hastilow from his parliamentary candidacy for having said that Enoch Powell was right about immigration, but it was impossible.

One Tory MP, Bernard Jenkin, has already been removed from his position in the party simply for warning an Asian candidate that she might encounter racism.

Another, Patrick Mercer, was booted off the front bench for retailing the fact that some NCOs in our Armed Forces have racist attitudes towards black people.

We are inches away from anyone who admits to having read Noddy Goes To Toyland, or to having collected Robertson's jam golliwog badges as a child, being barred from the party. Just as we thought we had grown up on the issue of immigration, the Conservative Party proves the contrary is true. More of that later.

I am, in the first instance, genuinely outraged at the insult the Hastilow affair throws at the memory and reputation of Enoch Powell.

Powell was, quite simply, the most influential politician of the post-war period. He predicted the need for the monetarist policies now followed by Gordon Brown as long ago as 1958. He predicted the British people's irreconcilability to the EU as long ago as 1969. He predicted the destruction of the United Kingdom if devolution was allowed to happen as long ago as 1974.

Oh, and he foresaw correctly that there would be terrible tensions if immigration were allowed to carry on unchecked in that famous speech - called, by a phrase he never uttered, the "Rivers of Blood" speech - in April 1968. It is for reminding the public that what Powell predicted has come to pass that Mr Hastilow is now an ex-candidate.

The insult to Powell consists in this unsustainable idea that the Birmingham speech was "racist".

There is a long tradition in the party of not reading the speech. Heath, who sacked Powell as defence spokesman, certainly had not. Nor had the two close colleagues who urged him on, his chief whip, Willie Whitelaw, and the hysterical Quintin Hogg.

Oddly enough, Powell did not use the word "race" in the speech at all (this often surprises people who are convinced it is an order to the masses to vilify black people for the sole reason that they happen to be black).

He did talk about areas being changed beyond recognition and without any consultation. He did talk about inevitable tensions arising from mass immigration. He did say that immigration would work if the immigrants could be integrated into existing social mechanisms, but warned that the numbers coming were so large that integration would be impossible.

Quoting Virgil, he said that if this situation were not rectified there would be trouble: "As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood." When will Tories admit that Enoch was right? (more) By Simon Heffer

THE TELEGRAPH:
Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech: This is the full text of Enoch Powell's so-called 'Rivers of Blood' speech, which was delivered to a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham on April 20 1968


Mark Alexander

Peter Costello: Respect Our Values, Or Go Home
THEAGE.COM.AU: PETER Costello has lashed out at "mushy misguided multiculturalism," warning that Australian values are "not optional" — and that migrants who do not share them should be stripped of their citizenship.

In a hard-hitting speech to the Sydney Institute that immediately sparked anger from Muslims, the Treasurer said migrants should be forced to honour their pledge of allegiance to Australia or face the prospect of being kicked out.

In his strongest comments on the issue yet, he said anyone refusing to acknowledge the rule of law "stabs at the heart of the Australian compact".

"Those who are outside this compact threaten the rights and liberties of others," Mr Costello said. "They should be refused citizenship if they apply for it. Where they have it they should be stripped of it if they are dual citizens and have some other country that recognises them as citizens."

Mr Costello said the citizenship pledge should be "a big flashing warning sign" to Muslims wanting to live under sharia law.

"Before entering a mosque visitors are asked to take off their shoes," Mr Costello said. "This is a sign of respect. If you have a strong objection to walking in your socks don't enter the mosque. Before becoming an Australian you will be asked to subscribe to certain values. If you have strong objection to those values don't come to Australia."

His comments follow Prime Minister John Howard's claims this week that a fragment of the Islamic community is "utterly antagonistic to our kind of society". Last week Liberal backbencher Danna Vale said that Australia could become a Muslim nation within 50 years because "we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence". Our values or go home: Costello (more) By Josh Gordon and Jewel Topsfield, Canberra (February 24, 2006)

Mark Alexander

Turkey to Change Speech Law
BBC: The Turkish government says it will change a controversial law restricting freedom of expression.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said a new bill would be put before the Turkish parliament in the coming days.

The law, known as Article 301, bans perceived insults to Turkish identity or the country's institutions.

It has often been invoked by nationalists against those who argue the Ottoman empire committed genocide against Armenians.

Earlier on Tuesday the European Commission said restrictions on freedom of expression were blocking Turkey's progress towards EU membership. Turkey moves to change speech law (more)

Mark Alexander

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Visits Pope Benedict XVI
BBC: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican - the first audience by the head of the Roman Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch.

The Vatican described the private meeting as "warm" and said the two men discussed the presence and hard work of Christians in Saudi Arabia.

An estimated 1.5m Christians live in Saudi Arabia but are not allowed to worship publicly.

The Vatican said Abdullah requested the audience as part of a European tour.

The two sides have no diplomatic ties, although when Abdullah was crown prince he met the late Pope John Paul II.

Correspondents say the visit comes as relations between the Vatican and the Muslim world are improving, more than a year after the crisis caused by a papal speech appearing to associate Islam with violence.

The 84-year-old Saudi monarch is on the third leg of his European tour after visiting the UK and Switzerland. He will travel next to Germany and Turkey. Historic Saudi visit to Vatican (more)

BBC VIDEO:
Saudi audience at Vatican

Mark Alexander

’Sarkozy Begins Washington Visit’
BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has begun his first official visit to the United States since coming to power.

He is due to address a joint session of Congress and hold talks with US President George W Bush.

Mr Sarkozy will also present the Legion of Honour, France's highest award, to several US citizens.

The two presidents are expected to discuss the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions, about which officials say they are in close agreement.

Correspondents say the visit will help heal the divisions between the two countries that came to a head when France opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The French president, who was elected in May and visited the US on holiday in August, is seen as more pro-American than his predecessor Jacques Chirac. Sarkozy begins Washington visit (more)

US warms to new French flavour

BBC VIDEO:
Sarkozy arrives in Washington

Mark Alexander

UK Islamic School


Mark Alexander

Dispatches: Undercover Mosque


Part 2
Part 2
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Mark Alexander

Children for Terror
THE TELEGRAPH: Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror group is recruiting British children as young as 15 to wage a campaign of carnage against their own country, the new head of MI5 has said.

In his first public speech since taking over the security service in the summer, Jonathan Evans said Islamists were "radicalising, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism".

Mr Evans said the threat posed by al-Qa'eda had yet to reach its peak despite one successful bomb attack and several thwarted atrocities.
He also revealed in a speech in Manchester that al-Qa'eda was using the chaos in Iraq as cover for its overseas forays.
While Pakistan remained the base for the "core" leadership which controls its activities, "there is no doubt now that al-Qa'eda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq," he said.

Mr Evans added: "There is no doubt there is training activity and terrorist planning in East Africa - particularly in Somalia - which is focused on the UK. MI5: Al-Qa'eda recruiting UK children for terror (more) By Philip Johnston

MI5 Director General’s Speech in Full

Mark Alexander

Bericht des EU-Erweiterungskommissars: Die Türkei ist noch nicht reif für einen Beitritt der EU
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die Türkei ist noch nicht reif für die EU. Dies zumindest geht aus einem Bericht des EU-Erweiterungskommissars Olli Rehn hervor, der am Dienstag veröffentlicht wird. Aus Sicht des EU-Kommissars hat sich nicht nur der Reformprozess verlangsamt, auch wird die Einschränkung der Meinungsfreiheit kritisiert.

(ap) Der Reformprozess in der Türkei hat sich nach Einschätzung der EU-Kommission in den zurückliegenden zwölf Monaten verlangsamt. Für einen EU-Beitritt des Landes seien «erhebliche weitere Anstrengungen» erforderlich, heisst es im Entwurf eines Berichts, den EU-Erweiterungskommissar Olli Rehn am Dienstag in Brüssel vorstellen wird. In dem eingesehenen Entwurf wird die Türkei ferner dazu aufgerufen, ihre Beziehungen zum EU-Mitglied Zypern zu normalisieren. Türkei noch nicht EU-reif: Kritischer Bericht des EU-Erweiterungskommissars

Mark Alexander

Enoch Powell’s "Rivers of Blood" Speech
Enoch Powell is very much in the news again because Mr Nigel Hastilow, who was, until the weekend, a prospective Conservative candidate. He made, it seems, the grave mistake that Enoch Powell, back in 1968, got it right on mass immigration in his "rivers of blood" speech, made on April 20th that same year.

Regardless of one’s political leanings, we are witnessing the effects of mass immigration into the United Kingdom today. Enoch Powell’s speech is as pertinent now as it was then. Indeed, Mr Powell showed his foresight, vision and insights to be spot-on. Unfortunately, because of the doctrines of political correctness and multiculturalism, nobody engaged in politics is allowed to say these things, still less mention the name of Enoch Powell, probably one of the best and most intelligent politicians this country has ever seen.

Mentioning Enoch Powell and stating that he got it right way back then has cost Nigel Hastilow his candidacy!

Here follows Enoch Powell’s "Rivers of Blood" speech:

Powell claimed to have spoken to a constituent of his, a middle-aged working man, a few weeks earlier who had said to him in conversation: "If I had the money to go, I wouldn't stay in this country...I have three children, all of them been through grammar school and two of them married now, with family. I shan't be satisfied till I have seen them all settled overseas". The man finished by saying to Powell: "In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man". Powell went on:

"I can already hear the chorus of execration. How dare I say such a horrible thing? How dare I stir up trouble and inflame feelings by repeating such a conversation? The answer is that I do not have the right not to do so. Here is a decent, ordinary fellow-Englishman, who in broad daylight in my own town says to me, his Member of Parliament, that the country will not be worth living in for his children. I simply do not have the right to shrug my shoulders and think about something else. What he is saying, thousands and hundreds of thousands are saying and thinking – not throughout Great Britain, perhaps, but in the areas that are already undergoing the total transformation to which there is no parallel in a thousand years of English history".

"Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependants, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. So insane are we that we actually permit unmarried persons to immigrate for the purpose of founding a family with spouses and fiancées whom they have never seen".

"This does not mean that the immigrant and his descendants should be elevated into a privileged or special class or that the citizen should be denied his right to discriminate in the management of his own affairs between one fellow-citizen and another or that he should be subjected to an inquisition as to his reasons and motives for behaving in one lawful manner rather than another".

"For reasons which they could not comprehend, and in pursuance of a decision by default, on which they were never consulted, they found themselves made strangers in their own country. They found their wives unable to obtain hospital beds in childbirth, their children unable to obtain school places, their homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition, their plans and prospects for the future defeated; at work they found that employers hesitated to apply to the immigrant worker the standards of discipline and competence required of the native-born worker; they began to hear, as time went by, more and more voices which told them that they were now the unwanted. On top of this, they now learn that a one-way privilege is to be established by Act of Parliament; a law which cannot, and is not intended to, operate to protect them or redress their grievances, is to be enacted to give the stranger, the disgruntled and the agent provocateur the power to pillory them for their private actions".

"She is becoming afraid to go out. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes to the shops, she is followed by children, charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies. They cannot speak English, but one word they know. "Racialist", they chant. When the new Race Relations bill is passed, this woman is convinced she will go to prison. And is she so wrong? I begin to wonder".

"For these dangerous and divisive elements the legislation proposed in the Race Relations Bill is the very pabulum they need to flourish. Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organize to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow-citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood'. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal".

The title given to the speech arose from its allusion to Virgil's line from the Aeneid 6, 1.86, in which the Sibyl prophesies "wars, terrible wars, and the Tiber foaming with blood" (Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno). Powell was a classical scholar. [Source: Wikipedia]

Mark Alexander

Nigel Hastilow: Britain ‘Seen as a Soft Touch’
EXPRESSANDSTAR.COM: The full transcript of Nigel Hastilow’s column which appeared in Friday’s Express & Star. After the column was picked up by the national media Mr Hastilow was forced to resign as Prospective Conservative Candidate for Halesowen and Rowley Regis but has refused to apologise. Read the article and then tell us your views and don’t miss Monday’s Express & Star to find out why he resigned.

The woman on the doorstep speaks in sorrow, not anger. Her daughter has split up from her husband and is now a single parent with two young children.

They all live with granny because the daughter and her kids have been refused a council house.

And, according to granny, that’s because all the available accommodation has gone to immigrants.

The house is full. Granny looks a bit worn down by her new lodgers. The novelty of having the little ones to stay is clearly wearing off.

The family seems resigned to the fact that nobody will do anything to help. They have more or less given up complaining about the way we roll out the red carpet for foreigners while leaving the locals to fend for themselves.

When you ask most people in the Black Country what the single biggest problem facing the country is, most people say immigration. Many insist: "Enoch Powell was right".

Enoch, once MP for Wolverhampton South West, was sacked from the Conservative front bench and marginalised politically for his 1968 "rivers of blood" speech warning that uncontrolled immigration would change our country irrevocably. Britain ‘seen as a soft touch’ (more)

Mark Alexander

The Pretence, Stupidity, Naïveté, and Idiocy of Multicultural Thinking
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Following the national news can be bad for the blood pressure. According to a press leak, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - Labour’s favourite think tank and one which has the ear of power - is to publish a report saying Christmas should be downgraded to improve race relations.

In the interests of "evenhandedness", the report says, and "if we are going to continue as a nation to mark Christmas - it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life, even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other religious festivals too". Presumably that means marking them equally, because "we can no longer define ourselves as a Christian nation, nor an especially religious one".

This all sounds familiar, of course. We have become used to absurd stories of British Christmases being renamed Winterval, or children’s carols being stopped for fear of offending minorities - many of them true. We all know that the Christian Tony Blair and most top politicians send "season’s greetings" instead of Christmas cards. It is unabashed, yet guilt-ridden, decadent multiculturalism.

Sure enough, Ben Rogers and Rick Muir, the authors, do indeed call on the government to launch an "urgent and upfront campaign" to promote "a multicultural understanding of Britishness". They rehearse the old arguments: different communities should not be expected to integrate but should be allowed to maintain their own cultures and identities; immigrants should learn some English and something of British culture, "if - but only if - the settled population is willing to open up national institutions and practices to newcomers and give a more inclusive cast to national narratives and symbols".

Meanwhile, national ceremonies, civic oaths, parliament and the monarchy must be recast in a more multi-religious or secular form. Parents should be made to attend a public state ritual of citizenship for their new babies when registering their birth; "parents, their friends and family and the state [would] agree to work in partnership to support and bring up their child". Presumably this would include an undertaking not to celebrate Christmas "inappropriately or exclusively". Let’s stop pretending all faiths are equal (more) By Minnette Marrin

Mark Alexander

Italy Gets Tough with Hitherto Uncontolled Romanian Migrants Because of Violence
THE GUARDIAN: Three Romanians were in hospitals in Rome yesterday - one of them seriously injured - after being attacked by a masked, club-wielding gang on Friday night in the latest escalation of racial tension in Italy following the beating to death of a naval captain's wife.

The violence, condemned by local politicians, came as authorities in Milan carried out the first expulsions of Romanians under new legislation that came into effect on Friday allowing for the removal of EU citizens judged to be a threat to public security. Italian television showed four men being hustled aboard an airliner by police after nightfall.

Emotions were again running high yesterday at a funeral service in Rome for Giovanna Reggiani, the 47-year-old woman who was discovered fatally injured in a ditch on Tuesday after being savagely attacked. A young Romanian has been arrested and jailed. He has admitted snatching her bag, but denies beating and sexually assaulting her.

A thousand people packed into the church, in a well-heeled district of the capital, for an ecumenical service conducted by a Protestant pastor and the Italian navy's Roman Catholic chaplain. Large numbers gathered outside, many of them tearful, middle-aged women.

Ms Reggiani, though married to a Catholic, was a member of Italy's tiny Protestant community, the Waldensians. Her husband, the commander of the navy's minesweeping squadron, arrived at the church holding a single red rose. Those who sat nearby said that, throughout the service, he muttered over and again: 'It's not fair'. Violence as Italy expels migrants (more) By John Hooper in Rome

Mark Alexander

Cameron in Race Row as Conservative Candidate States Enoch Powell Got It Right
It's so strange that so many years after the death of Enoch Powell, one of the most brilliant politicians this country has ever known, it is still unacceptable in political circles to praise his sage words! People can deny it as much as they want to, but the fact is that Enoch Powell prophesied the difficulties we are now facing with great precision and accuracy. The man was a genius, and a man of great courage and vision! That's far more than can be said of the politicians that 'lead' us today!

THE GUARDIAN: David Cameron was drawn into a row over race last night after a candidate in a high-profile Parliamentary seat praised Enoch Powell for his notorious 'rivers of blood' speech, which warned that Britain was 'literally mad' to allow widespread immigration.

Days after Cameron was praised by the head of the Equality Commission for tackling the issue of immigration in a non-racial way, Labour called on the Tory leader to remove Nigel Hastilow as a prospective Conservative candidate for declaring that Powell was 'right'.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears told The Observer: 'It's not unreasonable to be concerned about the impact of immigration, but it is unacceptable to say Enoch Powell was right. David Cameron should reconsider his support for this candidate.'

Hastilow has been summoned to a meeting today with Caroline Spelman, the Tory chairman, to explain his column in the Wolverhampton Express and Star newspaper in which he complained about how immigration has changed Britain and placed great strains on housing and public services.

A Conservative party spokesman said: 'Candidates of all parties should take great care when discussing what can be a sensitive and even inflammatory issue. Politicians and those seeking to be politicians have a responsibility in this area that they must observe. Mr Hastilow has been required to see the party chairman tomorrow, where he will be told this in clear terms.'

The row broke out after Hastilow, who last year accused Muslims of using terror attacks to 'issue demands' for their own bank holidays and schools, wrote of special treatment offered to immigrants. He wrote that 'we [Britain] roll out the red carpet for foreigners while leaving the locals to fend for themselves'. Hastilow, a former editor of the Birmingham Post, added: 'When you ask most people in the Black Country what the single biggest problem facing the country is, most say immigration. Many insist: "Enoch Powell was right".

'Enoch, once MP for Wolverhampton South-West, was sacked from the Conservative front bench and marginalised politically for his 1968 "rivers of blood" speech, warning that uncontrolled immigration would change our country irrevocably. He was right. It has changed dramatically.' Cameron in race row as Tory claims that Enoch was right (more) By Nicholas Watt

Mark Alexander

Saudi Arabia: Source of the Jihad and the Money to Finance the Spread of Islam
With the price of a barrel of oil soaring on world markets, the Saudis are going to be awash with petrodollars to finance the Jihad being waged against us?

TIMESONLINE: It was an occasion for tears and celebration as the Knights of Martyrdom proclaimed on video: "Our brother Turki fell during the rays of dawn, covered in blood after he was hit by the bullets of the infidels, following in the path of his brother." The flowery language could not disguise the brutal truth that a Saudi family had lost two sons fighting for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The elder brother, Khaled, had been a deputy commander of a crack jihadist "special forces" unit. After his "glorious" death, Turki took his place.
"He was deeply affected by the martyrdom of his brother," the Knights said. "He became more ambitious and more passionate about defending the land of Islam and dying as a martyr, like his brother."

Turki’s fervent wish was granted earlier this year, but another Saudi national who travelled to Iraq had second thoughts. He was a graduate from a respectable family of teachers and professors who was recruited in a Saudi Arabian mosque and sent to Iraq with $1,000 in travel expenses and the telephone number of a smuggler who could get him across the Syrian border.

Britain has the unenviable role, at the US’s urging, of trying to sound out a compromise with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

In Iraq he was ordered to blow himself up in a tanker on a bridge in Ramadi, but he panicked before he could press the detonator. He was arrested by Iraqi police. In a second lorry, another foreign fighter followed orders and died.

King Abdullah was surprised during his two-day state visit to Britain last week by the barrage of criticism directed at the Saudi kingdom. Officials were in "considerable shock", one former British diplomat said.

Back home the king is regarded as a modest reformer who has cracked down on home-grown terrorism and loosened a few relatively minor restrictions on his subjects’ personal freedom.

With oil prices surging, Saudi Arabia is growing in prosperity and embracing some modern trappings. Bibles and crucifixes are still banned, but internet access is spreading and there are plans for "Mile High Tower", the world’s tallest skyscraper, in Jeddah. As a key ally of the West, the king had every reason to expect a warm welcome.

Yet wealthy Saudis remain the chief financiers of worldwide terror networks. "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia," said Stuart Levey, the US Treasury official in charge of tracking terror financing. Saudi Arabia is hub of world terror: The desert kingdom supplies the cash and the killers By Nick Fielding and Sarah Baxter, Washington

Mark Alexander

Jemima Khan on Saudi Arabia , on Being a Woman There, and on UK-Saudi Relations
Congratulations, Jemima, on writing this excellent article. Just one thing, though: You share your view of Islam with Pollyanna! Oh, and one more thing: You state: ""...the rules there [Saudi Arabia] have got nothing to do with Islam." Really, Jemima? Go tell that to the Wahhabis!

THE TELEGRAPH: King Abdullah arrived at Heathrow last Wednesday morning for the first State Visit to the UK for 20 years – five planes, 13 family members, an entourage of several hundred. No women.

I've been to Saudi Arabia a few times. It's not much fun being a woman there. I suspect it's worse being a Saudi woman. And worse still being her migrant maid.

It's a mad place and the rules there have got nothing to do with Islam.

I've had my feet beaten, not once but twice – first by a stick-wielding crone at Mecca for not wearing socks, then by a pool attendant when I (swathed entirely in compulsory trick-or-treat black) took my son to the hotel pool for a paddle.

I've heard old ladies complain that they are so harassed at night by the frustrated male youth of Jeddah that they have to take their scarves off and reveal their raddled faces just to scare them off. The irony of having to show your face to protect your modesty was entirely lost on them.

I've also woken up mid-flight on the plane home from Jeddah to London and discovered that the passengers who embarked in full hijab have all been replaced by Bond Street babes.

In Saudi Arabia, a woman can't travel abroad, leave the house or even be examined by a doctor without the express permission of her husband. She cannot be seen with any man except a close family member, the only exception being her chauffeur – and that's a necessity because legally she's not permitted to drive. She cannot marry a non-Muslim (or even a non-Sunni Muslim). And she cannot wear anything other than a long black cloak and headscarf in public. Although women account for 70 per cent of all graduates, they make up just 5 per cent of the workforce. If they contravene the strict laws, they risk public floggings or execution. Britain’s love affair with the Saudi Kingdom (more)

Mark Alexander

Iraq War "Badly Planned," Says British Army
THE TELEGRAPH: A leaked internal Army report has delivered an unprecedented attack on the planning and execution of the war in Iraq.

The document, which openly condemns British and US foreign policy, says that "leaders should not start an operation without thinking through the options and implications of their plans". Iraq war was badly planned, says Army (more) By Sean Rayment

Mark Alexander

Libyans Join OBL’s Jihad Against Enemies Of Islam
BBC: A Libyan Islamist group has joined al-Qaeda, according to an audio message on the internet attributed to the radical network's second-in-command.

Ayman al-Zawahri purportedly said the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya was becoming part of al-Qaeda.

Earlier this year Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat also claimed to have joined the network.

The recorded message called on Islamists to topple North African as well as Palestinian leaders.

"O nation of jihad, support your sons so that we defeat our enemies and rid our homeland of their slaves," said the recorded voice attributed to al-Zawahri, referring to the leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.


In the message, the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, is described as "an enemy of Islam" and criticised for giving up weapons of mass destruction in 2003, in exchange for an end to Libya's international isolation. Libyan Islamists 'join al-Qaeda' (more)

Mark Alexander

Beheadings Galore in Saudi Arabia!
BBC: The Saudi authorities have executed three more prisoners convicted in separate murder cases, bringing to eight the number beheaded in two days.

One of those beheaded by sword was a Saudi national convicted of beating to death his grandmother.

The other two - one a Saudi, the other from Yemen - were reported to have shot their victims.

The kingdom has executed more than 100 people this year - one of the highest figures on record.

Thursday's executions took place in Salel province near the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the interior ministry said.

On Wednesday, five Saudi men were beheaded in the city of Medina after being convicted of raping and killing a young boy. Saudis behead three more convicts (more)

"Holy Smoke"
THE TELEGRAPH: Did you notice this passage in Cherie Blair’s speech about women and religious discrimination? "It is not laid down in the Koran," she announced, "that women can be beaten by their husbands or that their evidence should be devalued, as it is in some Islamic courts."

I’m sorry, but that is exactly the sort slippery misinterpretation of the Koran produced by Western liberals who are embarrassed by what the Islamic scriptures actually say.

The Koran 4:34 tells men to chastise their wives after first warning them and sending them to sleep in separate beds. And "chastise" is one of the milder translations of the verse. Many editions use the words "scourge" or "beat". The historian Robert Spencer provides a useful list:

Pickthall: "and scourge them"
Yusuf Ali: "(And last) beat them (lightly)"
Al-Hilali/Khan: "(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)"
Shakir: "and beat them"
Sher Ali: "and chastise them"
Khalifa: "then you may (as a last alternative) beat them"
Arberry: "and beat them"
Rodwell: "and scourge them"
Sale: "and chastise them"
Daryabadi: "and beat them"
Asad: "then beat them"

It’s only recently that PC translations have appeared that render the word as "go away from them" or some other innocuous formula that Muslim apologists can wheel out on the Today programme. And they are just wishful thinking.

As for Mrs Blair’s claim that the Koran does not devalue the evidence of women, I’d like to see her try to stand up that claim in court. Koran 2:282 says quite unambiguously that if two men are not available to give testimony on financial matters, then the court should hear from one man and TWO women, "in case one of them errs". The Koran according to Cherie Blair (more) By Damian Thomson

THE VATICAN:
Muslim Migrants

Hat Tip: Tertullian

Royal Welcome for Saudi King
Watch BBC Video

Cherie Not So Cheerful about the Niqab
THE TELEGRAPH: Cherie Blair has questioned whether the full-face veil restricted Muslim women from being "people in their own right".

The wife of the former Prime Minister said full veils, such as the niqab or burqa, could prevent a woman from expressing her personality.

Mrs Blair told Radio Four's Today programme: "I think we can get very hung up about women's clothes. The question is whether we honour people's religious beliefs or not. I am happy to honour people's religious beliefs, provided they are freely undertaken.

"Women covering their heads, women dressing modestly, I have no problem with at all. I think, however, that if you get to a stage where a woman is not able to express her personality because you can't see her face, then you do start to have to ask whether this is something that is actually acknowledging the woman's right to be a person in her own right." Cherie Blair: my doubts about the Muslim veil (more) By Laura Clout

US: Anti-Gay Baptist Church Fined $10.9m for Hate Speech
THE TELEGRAPH: A church whose members celebrate the deaths of soldiers as proof that the war in Iraq is a punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality has been ordered to pay $10.9m (£5.2m) in damages to a grieving father.

Albert Snyder sued the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Marine Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

Church members routinely picket funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan with signs reading "God hates you" and "Thank God for dead soldiers".

The defence said it planned to appeal, and Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church leader, said the members would continue to picket military funerals.

Earlier this year she said: "Our goal is to help the nation connect the dots. You turn this nation over to the fags and our soldiers come home in body bags."
Anti-gay US church ordered to pay $10.9m (more) By Sally Peck and agencies

’Gay Advance’ Could Put UAE Sheikh in Swiss Jail
THE GUARDIAN: The brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, one of the richest men in the world, is to stand trial in Switzerland for an alleged assault on an Italian-American businessman in the bar of an exclusive Geneva hotel.

Swiss prosecutor Daniel Zappelli has confirmed that 37-year-old Sheikh Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan will be tried on charges of assaulting Silvano Orsi with a belt in the La Reserve hotel four years ago.

Mr Orsi, 39, claims that he was repeatedly attacked after refusing homosexual advances from the sheikh and has since been unable to work because of his injuries. The sheikh, in evidence to a pre-trial closed hearing last year, claimed that he merely had a 30-second scuffle after he was accused of being gay.

The case will be heard before a three-man tribunal that can impose a sentence of up to two years in prison. UAE sheikh to stand trial for 'sexually motivated' assault (more) By David Pallister

Saudi King Jeered
TIMESONLINE: King Abdullah II of Saudi Arabia was greeted by jeers and placards as he began his state visit to Britain this afternoon as dozens of demonstrators turned out to protest at his country's human rights record.

About 50 human rights protestors and anti-arms trade activists mingled with the crowds lining The Mall as the monarch accompanied the Queen in a carriage on their way to Buckingham Palace.

King Abdullah’s visit has been shrouded in controversy over oppressive policies against women and gays in the Middle Eastern kingdom and the war on terror.

Protesters, including Peter Tatchell, the gay rights activist, chanted "King Abdullah, torturer, murderer" and held banners marked "Put human rights before BAe profits" and "You can’t do this in Riyadh" as the procession went past. Saudi King jeered as controversial visit begins (more) By Jack Malvern

What, Exactly, Are the Saudis Doing for Us?
THE TELEGRAPH: For the past 48 hours, our television studios have been filled with well-fed, sleekit men in pinstripes telling us how critical Saudi Arabia is to British interests. "British interests" is, of course, a much nicer phrase than "my place on the board of a Saudi-funded company", which is often what they really mean, but never mind. They have set the terms of the debate. As far as commentators are concerned, this is now a morality versus Realpolitik issue. On the one hand stand the namby-pamby liberals, with their concerns about feminism and capital punishment; on the other the hard-faced hommes d’affaires with their talk of defence contracts and counter-terrorism.

Yet to posit the debate in these terms is to beg the question. Let’s stop for a moment and analyse the contention, made by every recent British Prime Minister, that the Saudis are "our key allies in the region". What precisely are these "allies" doing for us? Blog: Daniel Hannan (more)

In Pictures: The Saudi King's Visit to the UK
Look at Pictures of the Saudi Visit

"Glenn Beck’s Warning to Muslims"
With thanks to the The Anti-Jihadist for alerting me to this video:

On Prince Bandar

Computer Troubles
I should like to inform my readers that I have been experiencing severe computer problems since the end of last week. In fact, my hard drive is broken on my computer. It has since gone in for repair.

As a result, I have to use my old computer instead. But as my old computer has an old operating system (not updateable), I do not have complete functionality on all Web sites, especially Blogger. Posting is therefore extremely difficult.

I should like to apologise for this, and ask you all to bear with me until I get my usual computer back, and hopefully in good working order.

Regards

Mark Alexander

Laura Bush and the Islamic Veil
With many thanks to Always On Watch for alerting me to this video:

Dr Cable on Saudi Arabia
"By any standards, and in the assessment of our own Foreign Office, the human rights record of this Government is absolutely appalling …They point to the systematic discrimination against women, people of other religions, the exercise of systematic corporal punishment, through amputation, the public beheadings." – Dr Vince Cable [Source: The Times]

Cable Speaks Up
LISTEN TO BBC AUDIO:
Cable shuns Saudi king visit

"Glittering State Banquet" for Saudi King! Fact Is: The British People Don’t Want Him Here!
BBC: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is due to arrive in the UK on Monday for the first state visit by a Saudi monarch for 20 years.

He will be the guest of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and is due to meet British political leaders on Wednesday, culminating in a glittering state banquet. Saudi visit to seal ties with UK (more) By Frank Gardner

BBC:
Cable to boycott Saudi king visit

BBC:
What shared values, Mr Howells?

THE TELEGRAPH:
Saudi king's arrival in UK triggers July 7 row By Robert Winnett

TIMESONLINE:
Saudi visit marred by David Miliband snub

TIMESONLINE:
Comment: Saudi visit surrounded by controversy

TIMESONLINE:
Saudi King accuses Britain of failing to take terror threat seriously

"We Must Bomb Iran," Says Podhoretz
A senior foreign policy adviser to the Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani has urged that Iran be bombed using cruise missiles and "bunker busters" to set back Teheran’s nuclear programme by at least five years.

The tough message at a time of crisis between the United States and Iraq was delivered by Norman Podhoretz, one of the founders of neoconservatism, who has also imparted his stark advice personally to a receptive President George W. Bush.

"None of the alternatives to military action - negotiations, sanctions, provoking an internal insurrection - can possibly work," said Mr Podhoretz. We must bomb Iran, says US Republican guru (more) By Toby Harnden