I confess to chuckling a little.

One of the things about Islam is that it makes no real bones about what its stance is on a lot of issues. Womens rights, Gays, Apostasy are a few of the things that Lefties seem unable, or unwilling, to accept what the fundamental principles of Islam are.

And to be fair to Islam, those are all out there in the open. Nice and clear cut. And yet still we get this idea that somehow 'dialogue' is important. That we need to explore them.

There is almost zero common ground between what are supposedly accepted norms of Left-wing thought and what Islam stands for/promotes. And yet, with very few exceptions, Lefties still continue to promote this idea that diversity is 'our' strength (love the 'our bit. I cannot anybody ever asking me the question to be answered at a ballot box).

The Left should be at the forefront of any and every attempt to oppose growing Islamic influence on Western civilisation. And yet they fall over themselves to not only appease it but then help them promote it. I get that in our FPTP system then there are some electoral advantages to perhaps being willing to turn a blind eye for short term gain but other than that? A clash that simply cannot be avoided for much longer.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

Poor 'whataboutery'. The penalty in Islam for homosexuality is death. The penalty for Apostasy in Islam is death. Now with regards to the later there are a few moderates who make a case that if people quietly decide to reject their Islamic faith, and do not attempt to persuade others to do similar, then maybe they can be spared the death penalty but those people are few and far between. Is that fine with you? Is it right to expect those people who reject the Islamic religion they were born into to have to keep silent if they decide it is not for them?

These Muslims are protesting because they want the Teacher who showed those cartoons, as part of a lesson, investigated as a potential criminal. Getting him sacked is not sufficient. They want the full weight of the law to be imposed on him. Effectively blasphemy laws introduced and our entire education syllabus changed? Now I actually have some sympathy for their stance on that but I am a Right wing lunatic. What's your excuse?

And this 'diversity' makes us stronger? Anybody who proclaims themselves on the Left should be vehemently opposed to any version of Islam. It is at complete odds with almost every basic tenet of Western Civilisation.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

The incident at the school just proves to me that all religious teaching should be banned from state education as it is in many democratic countries.

Religion should be left outside of the school gates.

One more point

Energy independence.

Virtually every single incident of Islamic extremism, internationally, has roots in support from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Royal Family came to power on the backing of the tribes of that region who essentially had never moved much beyond the Middle Ages in terms of culture and their interpretation of Islam. And by way of protecting their status, after first machinegunning down as many leaders of these tribes as it could, they adopted a policy of effectively turning 'Wabbism' outwards. Once the oil money kicked in then they had the petro-dollars along with a West willing to turn a blind eye because it wanted the oil to keep flowing.

But a UK, and by default a Western World, that no longer relied on Middle Eastern Oil and therefore the financial influence of the wealth generated, would simply no longer tolerate crap like we have seen in Batley.

Nuclear power, Wind, fracking, you name it. I am all for it. Would even happily pay extra tax if it was ring-fenced for the research. Should be a priority of any nation-state to be able to keep its own electric lights burning.

We achieve that and within a decade, everything gets resolved. The funding gets turned off, the political pressure to pander to these extremists dies away and essentially they either fit in or, if their religion truly means that much to them, leave the UK.

Always follow the money.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

True, and they think Jesus died for their rims.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Stop teaching religion because Muslims can't behave them selves? Where is your back bone!!