In the wake of the terrorists attacks on Paris last week it was obvious that at least some politicians would incite that cliché that, no matter how many shouts of “Allahu Akbar” were heard among the gunshots on Friday, this violence was in no way Islamic.
And so it has proved. Only on Tuesday Theresa May, the home secretary, duly stood up in the Commons and intoned: “The attacks have nothing to do with Islam.”
Anonymous issuing a threatening video to the enemies of free society is now an accepted part of every major terrorist attack, and the events in Paris on Friday have proved no different in this regard.
The loose band of hackers and activists wasted little time in posting the following video to YouTube, both in French and English, which many have advertised as a declaration of “war” on Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.
In a move that will please the religious right as well as egalitarians, it seems Home Affairs Committee chair Keith Vaz is open to blasphemy laws being brought back onto the books, so long as they protect the butthurt of all religious cranks “equally”.
Speaking after the subject of blasphemy was discussed by the Muslim Council of Britain last week, Vaz flip-flopped from one side of the debate to the other, first seemingly supporting the laws before backtracking.
In the wake of Labour’s humiliating summer it is tempting to think that the Tories have returned as the natural party of government, and are set to dominate politics for at least the next decade.
Few have profited from this perception more than the chancellor George Osborne, credited as one of the chief architects of the surprise Conservative general election victory, as well as the party’s success against New Labour more generally.
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Jazza and Jimmy are back with an episode bringing you this week’s news, politics and debate, covering a major terrorist attack in a European capital, the British premier’s contradictory position on austerity, and Starbucks’ Christmas cups.