To keep our country liberal and tolerant we must be less liberal with those who would destroy us
The ignorant misconception that all Muslims are to blame for Islamist slaughter must be defeated
Terror clamp
THE Finsbury Park atrocity is every bit as evil as those of ISIS and hands them another “victory”: a religious war is what they want.
We do not yet know the killer’s precise motivation. If he intended to spread terror through the Muslim community he has, sadly, succeeded.
The ignorant misconception that all Muslims are to blame for Islamist slaughter must be defeated.
This bigotry is fuelled by the sense of a Government unable to prevent attacks and doing too little to silence extremist propaganda.
It must of course ensure GCHQ, MI5 and the police have whatever they need.
It must bring back tough control orders for suspects, stop jihadis returning from war zones, expand the Prevent deradicalisation programme and force social media to axe indoctrinating material.
But it can also stop pandering to a vocal hardcore who DO back terror.
What do politicians imagine the public thinks when, so soon after our recent horrors, police let protesters march in London under the Hezbollah flag?
Why were these anti-Semitic goons not prevented on Sunday from shouting their toxic nonsense about the Grenfell Tower victims being “murdered by Zionist supporters of the Tory Party”?
That hate leads to violence. We let Abu Hamza and Anjem Choudary spread such poison too long and people died as a result. Why aren’t we learning?
To keep our country liberal and tolerant we must be less liberal with those who would destroy us.
Labour’s test
JOHN McDonnell doesn’t mind a bit of violence . . . from a safe distance, of course.
So it was when he egged on the IRA 30 years ago — “wallowing in infantile revolutionary glee... ready to fight to the last drop of someone else’s blood”, according to Provo killer Sean O’Callaghan.
The shadow chancellor was similarly excited by masked rioters smashing up London buildings in 2010.
“They’re the best of our movement,” he cooed.
Tomorrow a left-wing “Day of Rage” is due to hit the capital.
We could be wrong about it. Maybe it will be a day of hope, aiming to “bring down the Government and shut down London” with the power of love alone. Don’t bet on it.
Keep an eye on McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn as their most rabid fans march through the city, further testing a police force with more than enough on its plate.
Borders sanity
WHAT if Britain needs more than 100,000 migrants a year to keep the economy going?
Imposing a random limit is daft. What matters, as Michael Gove says, is having the power to regulate the flow.
Britain does need immigration cut to a more sustainable level.
It should be whatever works for us, not some figure plucked from the air.