Remember this conference, reported in the Times under the headline “Muslim peace rally attracts thousands”? Well, Melanie Phillips has got round to offering us her take on the proceedings: “The people participating in this hate-fest need to be exposed for the racist hate-mongers that they are.” And of course we’re all familiar with Mel’s firm stand against racist hate-mongering, aren’t we?

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 7 December 2005

Was Phillips actually at the conference, then? No, of course not. She relies for her information on Carol Gould, a US rightwinger temporarily resident in London who recently wrote warmly about meeting a BNP-sympathising taxi-driver and expressed anxiety that the Mayor wants better representation for minority ethnic communities in the capital’s taxi fleet (see here).

For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 7 December 2005