Imagine if a Muslim MP declared that he had asked his female visitors to cover-up if they were ‘inappropriately’ dressed. We would be deluged with outraged articles of Muslims trying to “Islamicise” Britain no doubt.

Either way, whether Muslim women with veils are requested they drop them, or women with mini-skirts are asked to cover up, we are faced with really silly debates over these issues.

In order to cut through some of the emotional outrage being hurdled about, there are a few points to be made.

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Enemies of civilisation
Among whom, Melanie Phillips

Islamic schools, not Muslim schools
Equalizing separate education in Scotland

Politics is a beautiful and comic thing. Unfortunately, it’s ruined by the people that think it’s something worth giving a crap about, whether they’re ambitious and able enough to get involved properly, or whether they have to settle for doing dumb things like writing a blog about it instead. Read More

How not to attack Cameron

General elections in Bosnia

One word absolutely not on the lips of political hacks, not even Tory political hacks, is… Abortion. Not this week, not any week. It’s impolite conversation inside the beltway.

But a post here last year (picked apart here) attracted over 250 comments. Just publishing the word is pure Google-juice. Everyone in the real world has an opinion, so why does nobody in political Britain want to discuss abortion in public? It can’t be that 186,274 (2001 data; pdf) annual terminations don’t warrant justification or inquiry. Read More

The Marxist fallacy
Work and prosperity since 1973

Terror in the classroom
Narcissism, 7/7 and America’s school shootings

After this year’s party conference season, David Cameron must think he’s got the next election in the bag. Blair’s emotional farewell was very nice if you like that sort of thing (Goodnight, and I love you all!), but it inevitably left both of the frontrunners to succeed him looking even more dour and forbidding than they do normally. Both Brown and John Reid are looking old these days – their only consolation is that Ming Campbell looks even older. And enter Cameron, who’s 39 and looks 19, promising to let sunshine win the day. Who could resist? Read More