Jihadi Brides 

The Case of Shamima Begum

There has been considerable coverage in all the main stream media in recent days concerning the stated wish of Shamima Begum to be allowed to return to the U.K. from her camp in Syria.

This ex Bethnal Green Academy schoolgirl fled to Syria at age fifteen with two fellow pupils to join ISIL and become part of the Caliphate committed to waging total war to spread its version of Islam throughout the world.

There has been much media comment about whether or not she should be allowed to return home and what kind of risk she might pose if allowed to do so. 

However, the aspect of all this media interest and moral soul searching over the rights and wrongs of her particular case which most concerns me has been largely absent from the discussion. There has been an almost total lack of journalistic comprehension or comment regarding the true motivation for her original decision to flee home, family and country to seek a new life as a Jihadi bride.

The unwillingness of all the main stream media to address the true causes of Islamic fundamentalism represents on their part a lamentable failure of courage, integrity and intelligence. It is crystal clear to anyone with a functioning mind and a reading age above seven that the major causes of Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam. 

The almost total refusal by both journalists and politicians to acknowledge and confront this issue has led them to concentrate upon everything, but the one thing which truly matters.

By refusing to seriously discuss and challenge the clear commands and exhortations of Islamic scripture and teaching, they consistently miss the opportunity to engage with the true causes of radicalisation, thus allowing by default, young minds to be corrupted and influenced by religious texts of such medieval barbarism that any individual infected with their message will have no chance of a fruitful, or worthwhile life.

Given the potentially deadly consequences of confronting the religiously motivated teachings and actions of Muslim fundamentalism it is hardly surprising that many in public life tread very cautiously when discussing these issues and steer well clear of saying anything publicly which may be interpreted as racist, or Islamophobic.

However, we will not as a society, even begin to seriously confront the problem of the true causes of Islamic inspired thoughts and actions, unless and until we abandon our moral and cultural relativism. We must somehow summon up the courage, honesty and integrity to start questioning the truth and validity of Islamic doctrines and squarely face up to our responsibility to assert and defend the superiority of western civilised values. 

Brexit and the Perfidy of Parliament

If we have learned anything from the entire Brexit fiasco it has been the confirmation that a very significant number of our elected parliamentarians are at best breathtakingly incompetent and at worst traitorous, self serving mediocrities, who neither deserve respect, nor their publicly funded salaries and generous expenses.

Right from the very beginning, the scale and nature of their collective failure to negotiate a favourable Brexit deal with the EU has been an object lesson of perfidious ineptitude. With almost every decision taken and strategy employed they have demonstrated a monumental level of misjudgement and an abysmal lack of courage and confidence, which has become both a national embarrassment and a betrayal of the democratic vote of the British electorate. In the case of many individual MP's this betrayal has been so blatant that it deserves no less than electoral annihilation should they ever  again have the temerity to stand for election.  

The errors made during the Brexit process have been both numerous and regrettably, almost entirely predictable. Just for clarity I list a few of the more obvious mistakes below:

1. Knowing the result of the referendum the Conservative party should have elected a committed Brexiteer as Prime Minister following the resignation of David Cameron.

2. Comprehensive and serious preparations for a no deal Brexit should have been commenced immediately the referendum result was known. 

3.  With a working majority in the Commons, Theresa May should not have called a general election. 

4.  Civil servants, such as Ollie Robbins, should have taken no part in direct negotiations with the EU.

5.  Theresa May should have been much more inclusive and collegiate in her dealings with her cabinet colleagues and should have ensured that all members of her cabinet were fully committed to the UK leaving the EU and all its laws, rules, institutions and conventions.

6. Theresa May should not have proposed (the so called Chequers deal) and then agreed that deal with the EU without first ensuring that what she was agreeing had a very good chance of delivering Brexit and of being fully supported by the European Research Group and capable of achieving a majority in Parliament.

7. The offer of a 39 billion pound divorce settlement to the EU should have been made contingent upon them agreeing to an equitable and acceptable future trade deal which fully incorporated all the legalities necessary to ensure that the UK would be operating completely outside the restrictions of the single market and the customs union.   

8. Parliamentarians should have adopted a far more courageous and positive attitude towards the entire Brexit process, both respecting the referendum result, and demonstrating their commitment to democracy by fully supporting the vote of the electorate, and when in conversation with anyone from the main stream media, made it absolutely clear that, as elected public servants they fully supported the will of the electorate and would do all in their power to deliver the people's clearly stated wish to leave the EU.

9. The UK government should not have allowed the EU to dictate both the agenda and scope of the initial negotiations and should have insisted that no talks would occur until and unless the EU agreed to run the negotiations on the future trade arrangements in tandem with those on the withdrawal agreement. Such a strategy would have prevented much of the confusion concerning our future trading relationship and prevented the EU from structuring the withdrawal agreement entirely in its own interests.

10. Having ceded responsibility to the British electorate over the decision as to whether or not the UK should leave the EU, or remain members of the EU, all MP's should have accepted and fully supported the result and not subsequently worked to undermine democracy by trying to subvert, or overturn the majority decision to leave.

There can be little doubt that the total lack of unity among MP's, together with their Machiavellian machinations to thwart the result of the referendum has seriously damaged the reputation of Parliament, causing widespread public anger and dismay at the contemptible antics of their elected representatives. Such damage will not be easily repaired and due to the arrogant actions of many MP's, trust in politicians has been seriously eroded and the very foundations of our democracy, irrevocably undermined.

Now that MP's have traitorously voted to ensure that no deal is taken off the table they've effectively countermanded the instruction they received from the electorate and reneged on their own manifesto commitments to leave the E.U.  A more reprehensible and callous disregard for democracy is difficult to imagine and will have far reaching constitutional implications for the future relationship between Parliament and the people.