“When Islam appears on the agenda, the goalposts are moved: the normal rational thought processes are not applied. Suddenly those Left-liberal shibboleths are not very important: they can be forgotten. Append the description ‘Muslim’ to anyone and all bets are off; he or she can get away with pretty much anything, be it the execution of homosexuals or the idea that Jews and Freemasons are running the government. This springs from the misconception, widespread on the Left, that being anti-Islam is in some way ‘racist’. It is not. It has nothing to do with race.”

Another anti-Muslim rant by Rod Liddle in the Spectator, 17 September 2005

“Nothing to do with race”? Well, apart from the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are non-white, of course. But then, Liddle claims that his hardline anti-immigration stance has nothing to do with race either.

He identifies racism narrowly with prejudice against people on the basis of their skin colour. This of course ignores the fact that racist propaganda these days more often takes the form of diatribes against the supposed undermining of “British” values by “alien” cultures. From which standpoint Liddle is clearly categorisable as a racist.