Category Archives: Analysis & comment

Exploding breast implants scare story is resurrected

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under the headline “Breast implants suicide bomb threat: Heathrow on high alert over ‘credible’ intelligence”, the Mirror reports on a supposed al-Qaeda terror plot.

The Mail for its part goes with the headline “Women suicide bombers hide explosives in their BREAST IMPLANTS as terror experts fear al-Qaida will target flights out of Heathrow”, while the Express has “Airports on high alert over women armed with bombs in their BREAST IMPLANTS”.

As Richard Bartholomew points out, this marks the latest incarnation of a story that first appeared back in 2009 and appears to have just as little substance now as it did then.

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‘Gammongate’ fraud exposed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The right-wing press spent several days last week whipping up indignation over the sacking of school dinner lady Alison Waldock, allegedly because she accidentally served pork to a 7-year-old Muslim pupil.

Having initially been broken by the Sun, the story was then taken up by the Express and the Mail. Never one to miss an opportunity for a spot of self-promotion and engage in a bit of immigrant-bashing, Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party spelled out the message that the press coverage was intended to convey: “The reason that Alison’s been sacked is that we’re so terrified in this country of causing offence to anybody, particularly the Muslim religion.”

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Harry’s Place launches crazed witch-hunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under the heading “Sabin Khan: the Islamist ally in the Home Office” the terrorism-supporting blog Harry’s Place has launched another anti-Muslim witch-hunt.

Their target, Sabin Khan, is a civil servant who they claim “has been busy promoting some rather dubious outfits in the Home Office”. The article appears under the pseudonym of Hafeez Gupta, who seems likely to be some disaffected Home Office employee with an axe to grind.

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Dawkins finds a defender

Posted on by Bob Pitt

James Bloodworth has posted a particularly stupid piece on his Spectator blog, entitled “It’s fine to be a ‘new’ atheist, so long as you don’t object to Islam”. He takes issue with Glenn Greenwald’s accusation that Richard Dawkins and other militant atheists are responsible for “fuelling the sustained anti-Muslim demonization campaign of the west”, and with Owen Jones’s statement that there is a “rising tide of anti-Muslim prejudice which dresses itself up as secularism”.

Bloodworth writes: “A closer examination of the polemics, however, reveals why Dawkins and co have so upset the left. They have fallen foul of an important unspoken code: while Christianity may be cursed to the skies, criticism of Islam must be bookended with ‘religion of peace’ disclaimers or refrained from entirely. The problem is not that the new atheists exult rationality at the expense of a deeper understanding of human affairs; it is that they are too consistent in their denunciations of religion.”

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‘Tighten up laws on far-right groups’, activists urge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Birmingham 2013Community leaders in Birmingham are urging the city’s ten MPs to put pressure on Government to tighten up the laws on static protests following an English Defence League (EDL) rally in the heart of the city.

The protest was held last Saturday in Centenary Square, while a counter demonstration from the United Against Fascism (UAF) group took place a few hundred yards away in Chamberlain Square. To further complicate matters, more than 2,000 young Christians, including many African Caribbeans, were taking part in a three-day international convention at nearby Symphony Hall.

The day passed with no serious injuries, although one police officer was treated in hospital after being hit by a brick. Around 20 arrests were made and officers from West Midlands Police are still scouring “exceptional quality” CCTV footage with the aim of bringing more offenders to justice for public order offences.

Community leaders had met with police before the event urging them to postpone the rally, fearing that young people attending the Christian conference would be physically or verbally abused. But they were told neither police of Birmingham City Council had the power to stop what is known as a “static protest” from going ahead.

Desmond Jaddoo, of Birmingham Empowerment Forum has now written to all ten MPs calling for a tightening up of the law. Those he has written to include Khalid Mahmood, Gisela Stuart, John Hemming, Jack Dromey, Richard Burden and Steve McCabe. Councillor Bob Jones, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has also written to Home Secretary Theresa May.

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The government’s silence over attacks on Muslims is worrying, and divisive

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nesrine Malik exposes the government’s double standards over terrorist attacks in the UK. She writes:

Last week, a nail bomb partially exploded at a mosque in the West Midlands – the fourth attack in two months on mosques in Britain during Friday prayers. A suspect in one of those attacks is also being questioned in connection with the killing of Mohammed Saleem, a Muslim pensioner in Birmingham, who was stabbed to death as he returned home from prayers. The police response to these attacks has been heartening, but the silence from government, and the establishment in general, has been deeply worrisome.

When Lee Rigby was murdered, politicians of every stripe scrambled to condemn and reassure. Cobra, the country’s top emergency response mechanism, was convened under the home secretary, Theresa May. David Cameron reassured Britons that “we will never buckle in the face of terrorism”. Compare this with near-silence that greeted the recent mosque attacks. Muslims have become accustomed, almost resigned, to media double standards – there is no example starker than the wildly different coverage of Rigby and Saleem’s killings. But the failure to mobilise, condemn and reassure on the part of the political class is potentially far more dangerous.

The significant (and some would say disproportionate) political and intelligence engagement in the wake of the Rigby murder wasn’t entirely for practical purposes. Strong rhetoric combined with a show of force is a necessary response on behalf of a government in order to calm and instil a sense of safety in its citizens. The same sense of duty and urgency when British Muslims come under fire has not been in evidence.

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Another Muslim-bashing story from the Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Teachers ‘denied schoolboy, 10, water on the hottest day of the year to avoid upsetting Muslim pupils during Ramadan'” – that’s the headline to a report in yesterday’s Daily Mail. The story, which is of course just the latest episode in the “Islamisation of the West” narrative promoted by the right-wing press, was also taken up by the Daily Express (“Teachers deny water to schoolboy, 10, on the hottest day of the year”).

Coverage was not restricted to right-wing newspapers. The story appeared in the Daily Mirror (“Mum claims son was REFUSED water at school in heatwave as it was ‘unfair’ on fasting Muslim classmates”) and also featured in the National Secular Society‘s daily media round-up (“Schoolboy forced to observe Ramadan fast – even though he isn’t a Muslim”).

It provoked the usual frothing at the mouth from the likes of Pamela Geller (“This speaks to the supremacism of Islam”) and Robert Spencer (“Easy to see which group is in charge in Britain”), along with the British National Party (“What kind of loony left teacher can actually think it is right to deny a child a drink of water on one of the hottest days of the year. She can only face the sack”).

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EDL supporter who called for mosque to be burned down whinges he has ‘lost everything’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Steven BallardA Facebook user who urged people to burn down Grimsby’s mosque – to put the town on the map “big time” – claims he has “lost everything”. Steven Ballard claimed he had lost his job, his girlfriend and his child because of the furore caused by his “menacing” comment. Ballard, 27, of Stainton Drive, Grimsby, admitted sending an offensive or menacing message on May 23.

Rebecca Dolby, prosecuting, told Grimsby magistrates that police searched an open group forum on Facebook linked to the Grimsby division of the English Defence League. Ballard posted a message at about 10pm following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. It read: “Burn the mosque down the end of Legsby Avenue. That will tell the clowns in charge in this country that we ain’t taking this s*** and it will start a nationwide action going. Grimsby will be on the map big time then.”

He later told police there were Muslim communities in every town and city – and made reference to the recent police activity in Saxilby. He claimed Muslims had “got it easy” and that, “if they go to prison, they will get it easy”. Ballard claimed he was not racist and that he was not aware of damage caused to the mosque. He claimed that, if a Muslim were killed, he would have it on his conscience but insisted: “We are walked over.”

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EDL leader incites anti-Muslim hatred by spreading yet another lying rumour

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Is there no end to the vile rumours that the English Defence leadership is prepared to spread in order to incite hatred against Muslims?

In recent months a succession of lying Islamophobic accusations have been publicised by the EDL via Facebook and Twitter. In May, EDL co-leaders Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll claimed that a 7-year-old girl had been gang-raped in school toilets by Muslims. Later that month, in the highly-charged atmosphere following the killing of Lee Rigby, the EDL whipped their followers up into a frenzy by claiming that Muslims in Oldham had publicly celebrated the murder. Last month the EDL found another rumour to circulate, with Lennon accusing Muslims of having launched a “violent attack on innocent English boys and girls” in Ashton-Under-Lyne. Needless to say, all of these claims turned out to be false.

Yesterday Lennon was at it again, accusing the Barnsley Chronicle of covering up the fact that a recent assault on a serving soldier was carried out by Muslims – an allegation for which he offered no evidence at all. The Chronicle tweeted back that the victim’s mother had made clear that this was not the case.

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