And it’s over to Nick Cohen at the Observer for the usual outpouring of Islamophobic bile. We are subjected to yet another diatribe against “Islamism”, which apparently “wants an empire from the Philippines to Gibraltar – and which is tyrannical, homophobic, misogynist, racist and homicidal”. And just in case you are tempted to point out that there are plenty of “Islamists” who favour democratic reform and civil liberties, Cohen follows this up with a denunciation of the “Muslim Association of Britain and Yusuf al-Qaradawi who believe that Muslims who freely decide to change their religion or renounce religion should be executed”.

Observer, 7 August 2005