Letters to the editor: How to curb Muslim radicalism

 
Sardine time: Thameslink CEO wants to give more passengers the chance to stand on his trains (Picture: Glenn Copus)
6 October 2014
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Martin Bright is quite right: it is not the Government’s place to dictate what constitutes Islam. Our Government should, however, act to stop states like Saudi Arabia from doing the same to British Muslims, through their prolific funding of hardline Islamist literature and certain UK-based proselytising dawah charities.

A myriad factors interact in complex ways to cause a young person to become radicalised. To help curb this, we must stop hate preachers like Anjem Choudhury from enjoying a platform — in Choudhury’s case, ideally a complete ban on any media appearances and for him to be held to account for comments such as that Muslims should not feel sorry for “kafir” Alan Henning. We need safe places in which concerns about foreign policy can be meaningfully engaged with, for instance in town-hall debates, media exchanges and Twitter Q&As.

We must also address the alienation young British Muslims experience. They are constantly told to integrate yet come up against discrimination, from the lawyer denied work because she wears a hijab, to the banker asked to shave off his beard. There is a high rate of Muslims leaving schools without qualifications; when they do get work it is often low paid; and they are more likely to report being passed over for promotion or treated unfairly because of their faith. At each step they find their identity under scrutiny and their loyalty questioned. They must always be treated as equal citizens.
Akeela Ahmed, Muslim family specialist, Christian Muslim Forum

The warnings of US journalist Phyllis Bennis that “we cannot bomb Islamist extremists into submission... Every bomb recruits more supporters” have already transpired, as the director of the FBI told US Congress that the first wave of bombing has indeed increased support for Islamic State.

Our leaders don’t like to mention it but the perpetrators of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, 9/11, 7/7 and the Boston Marathon bombings all cited Western interference in the Middle East as justification for their actions.

Despite Cameron’s Blair-circa 2003-style claim that IS poses “a clear and present danger to the UK”, I am not aware of any verifiable evidence that shows this. What we can say is the destruction that will be caused by UK air strikes on Iraq will likely increase the terror threat to Londoners.
Ian Sinclair, author, The March That Shook Blair: An Oral History

Great care must be taken to ensure civilian casualties in air strikes are avoided as far as possible. It is in our interests however to engage and defeat Islamic State, not turn a blind eye as some argue, because of the threat it presents both to Western citizens in the Middle East and to our domestic security. We have been very bad in allowing the canker that fuels jihadism to grow. There may be a backlash in the form of new incidents of domestic terrorism; we have to face up to that risk, as we try and drain the poison.
Maj-Gen Julian Thompson (retired)

Stand up for the commuter

At a time when wages lag way behind rises in living costs, rail fares in particular, Govia Thameslink Railway CEO Charles Horton adds insult to injury by expecting passengers on his over-crowded, over-priced services to be grateful to stand more comfortably. It is hard to credit how Government continues to collude with the rail companies surely passengers should have known about Horton’s plans before the new mega-franchise was awarded, not months afterwards? Time for some kind of redress against rail companies who operate increasingly in their own corporate interest.
Neil Davies

Thameslink’s new trains will be more comfortable to stand in as they have wide stand-back areas near doors and are “fixed formation” with open gangways so you can see from one end to the other. Suggestion for future services: scrap the timetable and slow the overall journey by having every train stop at every station, so there is no need to check train times, just jump on the first service. This will be simpler to operate, simpler to recover from disruption and will free up seats.
Robin Morel

Every little tax cut helps, thanks

I get the impression that tax barrister Jolyon Maugham is not overawed by the Conservatives’ conference promise to raise the personal allowance on the grounds of unfair effects across the income scale (Letters, October 2). Does the point escape him that any tax cut, however small, will be welcomed by everybody on low wages who pays tax — leaving aside the fact that for those on minimum wage, £5 as a percentage of their spare cash each week is a hell of a lot more than £7 for those earning two or three times as much. I’ll take the £5, Jolyon: every little helps.
Doug Graham, Ilford

Tax cuts are all well and good but when brought in with other measures and set alongside the rising cost of living, more must be done. David Cameron talked about ending the exclusivity of zero-hour contracts but offered nothing to address the punitive taxation of second jobs. The Tories have given with one hand and taken with the other (for example with the freeze on in-work benefits); with Labour failing to other a coherent alternative, I think the choice for lower income working and vulnerable people at the next election is pretty unappealing.
Darrell Goodliffe

Cameron's speech: bullet points for proles. Platitudes. Promises that can’t be kept. Sick-making moments. Yuck. But compared to the alternative... the sixth-form debater? The fratricide? The man who approves of what President Hollande has done to France? Spare us from being led by such a sanctimonious prig.
Patrick Willis

The cycling shoe’s on the other foot

This is for all the letter-writers whose letters include the phrase: “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve almost been hit by a cyclist riding on the pavement”.

Last Friday, cycling to work, I hit a pedestrian. I turned into a road doing about 5mph, he was crossing the road, I was passing behind him, he stopped in the middle of the road. I bumped into his bag. I apologised. He apologised. We went on our ways.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve almost hit a pedestrian walking into the road.
Adrienne Wyper

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