The shock loss of five supposedly safe Labour seats to Gaza independents in the 2024 general election sent shockwaves through the party and heightened demands for the government to formally adopt an official definition of Islamophobia.
A major Western government negotiating with the Taliban gives jihadist organisations around the world a massive psychological victory. What would they want in return? First, formal diplomatic recognition by the UK. Secondly – money and aid.
This is a basic principle that should be foundational to Conservative thinking on social justice as well as other issues, such as spending on overseas aid and foreign policy.
As Margaret Thatcher did, we must not merely conserve the best of the past but sometimes actually retrieve and renew it.
Its report focuses on hate speech – which is being weaponised by various groups, including Islamists, intent on censoring public disagreement with their own beliefs.
The real risk of all this is that it gets praised – but is then quietly filed away. What needs to happen is a change of Foreign Office culture.
Destroying coastal barriers to “create a new habitat area” would mean leaving our seaside towns and villages to be flooded. People must come first.
A handful of ordinary members may let the rest of us down, but I have seen no sign that our Party systemically encourages anti-Muslim hatred.
The Green Paper isn’t perfect, but the Communities Secretary is right to reject oaths of office and an excessively broad definition of ‘extremism’.
There is a specific problem in Pakistan, especially where the majority of the Christians and Hindus respectively live, about non-Muslims being viewed as inferior.
The way in which the 0.7 per cent target is defined is out of date. Lack of money is not necessarily the primary cause of underdevelopment.
Action must go beyond ISIS to prevent other, similarly-minded, jihadist groups prospering.
The statistics actually suggest that, nationally, students of a similar ability do better in these schools than in comprehensives.
In terms of the political realities on the ground, at the moment the best hope for the future of Iran is probably that a pragmatist of a similar ilk to Gorbachev gains power