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Letters | 14 April 2012
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Threatened ChristiansSir: Douglas Davis’s article on the plight of Arab Christians (‘Out of the east’, 7 April) raised a very important issue. What a shame he cynically exploited their misery to perform a clumsy character assassination on Muslims generally. Conjuring sensational phrases like ‘judenrein’ to raise the spectre of 1930s German fascism, was not only utterly irrelevant; it reminded the reader of Mr Davis’s highly partial agenda. He doesn’t mention, for instance, that the Syrian Christian community’s plight is bound up with their perceived tactical support for the repressive Assad regime. It’s indisputably tragic, but it is not black and white.
Barometer | 14 April 2012
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Local heroesThe BBC spent £2 million on fares to allow London-based staff to commute to its new studios in Manchester. There are some well-known people who live in Salford: — Harold Riley, artist — Mike Sweeney, DJ — Andy Whyment, actor And some Salford-born people who moved away: — Alistair Cooke, broadcaster — Ben Kingsley, actor — Albert Finney, actor — Robert Powell, actor — Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer Old boy networkRobert Mugabe is reported to be on the point of death aged 88. Africa has produced long-lived leaders and ex-leaders in spite of low general life expectancy.
Portrait of the week | 14 April 2012
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HomeThe European Court of Human Rights ruled that Britain would not violate human rights by extraditing to the United States five terrorist suspects: Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdul Bary, Talha Ahsan and Khaled al-Fawwaz; the case of Haroon Aswat, who suffers from schizophrenia, was adjourned. A car bomb was found at Newry, Co. Down. The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated ten incidents of alleged racism involving 18 officers. Football clubs should pay for policing further away from stadiums, Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt said on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers. A fire in a goods yard in Canning Town cut off electricity for 88,000.
Human wrongs
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There is a danger in this week’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Abu Hamza and four other Islamic extremists can be extradited to face terror charges in America. The danger is that it makes the court look reasonable and in doing so weakens the case for removing Britain from its jurisdiction. The Prime Minister did nothing to allay this fear when he appeared flattered by the court’s ruling, admitting only to a little frustration at the speed of its decisions. But one apparently reasonable decision does not eliminate the court’s inadequacies, or the indefensible fact that Britain has to wait to hear from Strasbourg over matters of national security and sovereignty. Nor is this week’s decision final — Hamza and the others can appeal.
The week that was | 14 April 2012
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Here is a selection of articles and discussions from this week on Spectator.co.uk... Most read and discussed: Sebastian Payne on the rise of UKIP. Most shared: Rod Liddle on the beacon for Islam — Mehdi Hasan. And the best of the rest... Fraser Nelson is unhappy on another triumph for big government and believes Mitt Romney is responsible for the 'charity tax' debacle. James Forsyth reports that Grant Shapps has 'deep reservations' on the conservatory tax and says the Blair-Brown wars continue to rage on. Jonathan Jones look the return of Operation Motorman and welcomes an attempt to fix the broken energy market.