Grudgingly, belatedly and on the eve of a Commons debate over a Labour motion that would very likely have resulted in defeat had they opposed it, the Tory-led coalition government announced yesterday that Britain would temporarily resettle up to 500 refugees from Syria.

The government has still not signed up to the United Nations programme that has seen Germany take in 10,000 refugees, and the tiny number it has agreed to accept must be seen in the context of the millions who have fled the civil war in Syria. The select few who are to be admitted to the UK will be only “the most vulnerable”, namely children, the elderly, the disabled and victims of torture and sexual violence.

You might think that nobody with a shred of civilised feeling would object to giving refuge to these desperate people. And you’d be correct. Vocal opposition this token humanitarian gesture has mainly been restricted to the scum of the far right. Here, for example, we reproduce a series of tweets and retweets by former English Defence League co-leader Kevin Carroll angrily denouncing the government’s decision.

Continue reading →

A schools tour by the founder of the English Defence League has been scrapped.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon had hoped to reinvent himself by preaching tolerance after he quit the far-right group. He planned to launch his tour tomorrow but the head of the first school he was due to speak at has told the convicted fraudster not to turn up. Mums and dads at The Duchess’s Community High School in Alnwick, Northumberland went on social media to warn that Yaxley-Lennon is no role model.

He was once convicted of headbutting one of his own EDL supporters.

Now Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, has abandoned his tour. He says he will now post a video online daring any head teacher to allow him into their school. But the only confirmed date in his diary is on Thursday when he will attend court to be sentenced for a mortgage fraud he has already admitted.

Daily Star Sunday, 19 January 2014

Continue reading →

JIMAS joins the English Defence League at a demonstration in Ipswich last June

The Islamic charity Jami’at Ihya Minhaj al Sunnah (JIMAS) announced last week that on 27 January it would be holding a Holocaust Memorial Day event at Suffolk New College in Ipswich. The lineup of speakers included, of all people, former English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”).

You might wonder how any self-respecting Islamic organisation could possibly have invited an individual with Lennon’s record of inciting anti-Muslim hatred to speak at one of their events. Didn’t JIMAS realise that, for all Quilliam’s dishonest efforts to present him as an ex-extremist, Lennon still obstinately defends his actions as leader of the EDL?

Only a couple of days ago, after a school in Northumberland cancelled an invitation to Lennon to address their pupils, he was boasting that when he led the EDL “the vast majority of people were agreeing with what I was saying”, and he happily retweeted a message from a supporter applauding him for “standing up to these Islamic brainwashed fucking orrible Muslims”.

Continue reading →

The headteacher of the school at the centre of the media storm over the cancelled appearance of Tommy Robinson has said that the decision was related to protocol on school visitors. Duchess’s Community High School head Maurice Hall said:

“The planned visit was organised through the Quilliam Foundation, a well-respected anti-extremism think-tank and would have involved Tommy Robinson and Usama Hasan (co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation). This would have been a good opportunity for our students to hear about extremism and how it develops, as well as what can be done to counter the dangers of extremism.

“However, it appears that procedures for outside visitors to school may not have been followed on this occasion and so the visit was cancelled. We are now carrying out a full review of policies and procedures relating to visitors taking part in lessons, which will be concluded by the end of half-term.

“We hope to find other opportunities to help our students, who live in a relatively non-diverse community, to meet and learn from people from a range of cultures and faiths.”

Continue reading →

The violent ex-leader of the far right English Defence League is set to give talks on tolerance to schoolchildren. Tommy Robinson – a convicted thug, fraudster and football hooligan – is due to begin his tour within days. But the decision to let him into the classroom has sparked fury with the public.

One parent at a school on Robinson’s visit list said: “Given this man’s appalling record for thuggery and his history of inciting racial tension, it beggars belief that he is being ushered into classrooms. I am disgusted. What on Earth has he got to say that’s worth our children hearing? He should just crawl under a rock and keep quiet.”

Robinson, 30, quit the EDL in October, saying he was unable to control some extreme members. He said he had suffered death threats ever since.

He has now joined Islamic think-tank the Quilliam Foundation, which says it aims to tackle extremism. A spokesman said the talks would also be attended by other former members of the EDL. The spokesman added the visits were a continuation of Robinson’s “journey away” from the EDL.

One of the first places he will visit is the Duchess Community High School in Alnwick, Northumberland. Louis Spence, head of RE, defended allowing the dad of three to talk to sixth form and GCSE pupils.

He said: “By inviting visitors as diverse as Tommy Robinson, students are given the opportunity to rise to the challenges they will face as adults. There is a moral courage in thinking through difficult issues, standing up for what you believe in, whilst still showing respect and humanity.”

Continue reading →