ISLAMIST maniacs were very busy in Britain in 2017.
Anjem Choudary would probably consider it a very successful year, all things considered.
There was the terrorist attack upon innocent civilians at London Bridge and in Borough Market, for example.
A van was driven deliberately into pedestrians.
Then three savages got out and began stabbing people.
The death toll that day in June was eight, with 48 people injured.
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It would have been much worse were it not for the bravery of Roy Larner.
He was the bloke who shouted, “F*** you, I’m Millwall!” and fought the murderers, almost being killed himself.
Earlier that year, there had been a combined car attack and stabbing attack on Westminster Bridge, in which five people were killed.
What these two attacks had in common was a particular group of Islamist maniacs.
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A group called Al-Muhajiroun.
The ringleader of the London Bridge attack was Khuram Shazad Butt, who authorities described as a “heavyweight” member of Al-Muhajiroun.
Khalid Massood, responsible for the Westminster attack, was also linked to the same group.
And it was a member of Al-Muhajiroun who murdered fusilier Lee Rigby back in 2013.
In fact most Islamic attacks in this country have been carried out by brain-dead thugs associated with, or members of, Al-Muhajiroun.
Or one of the group’s many predecessors.
So, some good news.
The mastermind behind the organisation has been found guilty.
His name is Anjem Choudary.
You may recognise the name because he gets quite a lot of publicity.
He seems to like it. He’s likely to get life imprisonment.
Too short, in my book.
And certainly far too late.
It was Anjem who organised demos where his followers chanted, “British soldiers go to hell”, for example.
He was forever popping up on TV explaining how he loathed this country.
How the black flag of Islam would one day be flying from Downing Street.
He set up a whole bunch of obnoxious Islamist organisations.
One day it was Muslims Against Crusades.
Then that got banned by the courts and he changed it to Islam4UK.
Then Al Ghurabaa.
Given time he’d have called it Ican’tbelieveit’snotJihad.uk.
The thing is, we knew from the beginning of the century that this sniggering halfwit was deliberately and continually mentoring young men to commit murder against the rest of us.
Rot in prison
And all the while he was claiming loads of benefits and laughing at us.
He was actually sent to prison in 2016 for five and a half years.
But he was released in 2018 and asked politely if he would stop urging his followers to murder people.
But that’s what he went right back to doing.
Because it’s the only thing the madman knows how to do.
He praised the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
He blamed British foreign policy for the death of Lee Rigby.
He has always been an outspoken supporter of murder and violence and responsible for recruiting people for IS.
And yet he was allowed to continue living at liberty for so long, while taxpayers supported his lifestyle.
A life sentence means he’ll probably be out in a decade.
He should, of course, rot in prison.
But when you look at Anjem Choudary, you see the mistakes we have made in dealing with Islamic terrorism.
We have been too lenient, too understanding, for far too long.
Kam can Trump Donald…but do we want that?
AN afternoon is a very long time in American politics.
On Sunday lunchtime, Joe Biden was going to run for the presidency again.
And Donald Trump was going to sweep home to what would have been, I suspect, a fairly comfortable victory.
Three hours later, Biden’s off the ticket and his Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely candidate.
Suddenly things don’t look anywhere near so rosy for Trump.
My suspicion is that Harris will win.
And that would be bad for the USA and even worse for us.
The only mental difference between Biden and Harris is that Joe talked gibberish and didn’t know what he was saying.
While Harris talks even worse gibberish and is entirely aware of the fact.
Beeb on brink
I NOTICE that another half a million households have opted out of paying their TV licence.
This will lead to the BBC losing an estimated £80million.
I notice that I hardly ever watch the BBC now.
Occasionally the news and maybe Newsnight.
Other than that, pretty much nowt. So I’m paying £169.50 per year for very infrequent viewing.
That cost doesn’t really stack up, so maybe I should join the procession away from Auntie.
And I wonder how many more people, when they look at their viewing habits, will decide the same?
Feline mad at Zoe pay
THERE are some stories you read in your morning newspapers and you think, “Yeah, doesn’t surprise me much”.
China invades Taiwan – sure, expected it, frankly, sorry Taiwan.
Comet about to hit the earth? Ah well, whatever.
But the news that the BBC pays Zoe Ball £954,999 per year.
I’m like, seriously, in what possible world? WTFF?
It upset me so much, I had to go out and harass a cat in the garden.
That’s nearly six times the salary of the bleedin’ Prime Minister!
I think I’ve worked out how she gets that much, though.
She probably signed a contract which said she gets one pound for every listener she loses from Radio 2.
That would just about fit.
I wonder if she gets lunch tokens and a pension too?
Gawd above.
Lineker is still easily the best paid presenter at the Beeb, incidentally.
I mind that less because although when it comes to politics he’s an utter div, he’s a first-rate football presenter.
But Zoe? I mean, got to go, I can see that cat again . . .
Rough horse play
DID you see the video of our Olympic equestrian champ Charlotte Dujardin whipping the hell out of her horse?
Nasty woman.
There was real vindictiveness at work there.
She has since withdrawn from the competition in Paris.
And she has issued an apology, saying she regretted her misjudgment.
Dunno if she’s said sorry to the poor horse, though.
I did wonder about her name, mind.
Sounds a bit French to me.
Maybe the horse got off lightly, then.
Four faults in the dressage and it would probably end up on her plate with some frites and a green salad.
Pet grieves
JUST read an article that says pets can sense when we’re dying.
Or even when we’re just a bit under the weather.
And they can do all this from remote distances.
I’m not quite sure how that works.
My pet dog, Jessie, just ignores me if I’m feeling rough.
She couldn’t give a monkey’s.
I could have both legs chopped off and she’d only turn a hair if her food was late.
“Where’s my scran, you limbless idiot?”
She is so attuned to her feeding times that she pads through to the kitchen when she hears the closing music to The Chase.
Mete Mayor gaff
CONGRATULATIONS to Mete Coban.
He’s just been appointed Deputy Mayor of London for the Environment.
And you couldn’t pick a better person for the job.
Because Mete has clocked up 40,000 air miles in the last two years.
That’s the equivalent, environmentally, of strangling 400 polar bears to death, or something.
Way to go, Mete – get those drivers off the London roads.
And then head for the biz class lounge at Heathrow, as usual.
Way to go Keir and co
THIS is getting freaky.
Labour has been in power for three weeks and so far hasn’t done a single thing I don’t approve of.
OK, OK, Sir Keir appointed a Women’s Minister who doesn’t actually know for sure what a woman is, but we’ll let that pass for a moment.
Anyway, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been robust on all that transgender nonsense.
And he seems determined to reform the NHS.
Sir Keir has faced down a leftie revolt over child benefits.
And Alan Milburn has been saying very sensible things about reducing the welfare burden.
It’s a shocking thing to say.
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And I know we still have David Lammy in a position of power.
But it’s beginning to look like a rather competent government.