They’re At it Again

Blast by Pakistan Danish embassy

No, not the dodgy headline writing by our national broadcaster (how can an embassy cause a blast? Where is Pakistan Denmark?) but those who think that the appropriate response to a few pen marks on paper is to try and kill the artist’s countrymen.

It has reminded me that I have been rather remiss in not adding the appropriate graphic to my sidebar.

No good at drawing cartoons? Try accountancy instead

Have a read of this while I get on with some the devil’s work …

A 44 year-old man from Sittingbourne, Kent, has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for urging Moslems to launch terror attacks on accountants.

The Old Bailey heard that Malcolm Hodges, 44, had failed an exam set by the ACCA ten years ago, and had been arguing about it with the Association ever since. The grudge festered over time, and Hodges widened his one-man campaign by writing a series of letters to the royal family, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, outlining the “grave injustice” behind his low marking.

Hodges’ mission changed from farcical to dangerous in November 2006, when he began writing to UK mosques, claiming to be a follower of Osama Bin Laden.

“Brothers, you are right to kill the infidels but you are making a mistake to try and attack planes and other targets,” he wrote. Instead Islamists would be better off declaring a “jihad” against the four accountancy bodies.

“Striking at these targets will be striking at the infidels where it hurts most”, the letter argued.

Earning a living and upsetting Islamofascists? I think my job satisfaction level just received a small boost.

Rubbish terrorists

I didn’t get round to posting my immediate thoughts on the car-bombs, and in any case others have now done so admirably. Sadly I expect that this won’t be the last opportunity for me to do so, despite the fact that so far, thankfully, this latest lot’s terrorist skills have proven to be somewhat pants. May their lack of success continue.

Just one thought, though: We have had the predictable refrain of “it’s because we’re in Iraq/Afghanistan”. Whilst those campaigns have no doubt wound up the Islamists, we are in danger of forgetting which way round the timeline runs. The worst Islamist atrocity happened on 11^th September 2001 – before we went into Afghanistan and well before Iraq. Let’s be quite clear – they hate us. If it wasn’t Afghanistan/Iraq it would be something else – after all, these nutters are still cheesed off that they were kicked out of Spain in the 12^th Century.

 

The Rushdie Knighthood Decision Must Be Corrected

The reaction to Salman Rushdie’s knighthood means that the pressure is on the Government to act. In the last few days, there have been calls to break off diplomatic relations with us from some Muslim countries. Muslim hardliners have warned that this could justify a suicide bombing. Iran is not happy. Clearly there is only one thing for HMQ to do, but it will mean admitting that a mistake has been made…

Issue a correction to the birthday honours and upgrade Rushdie’s honour to the Order of the Garter.

Of course, if the government were to follow the hand-wringing displayed over the Danish cartoons - with then foreign secretary Jack Straw saying that the right to free speech did not include an “obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory” (actually, Jack, no-one was arguing that it gave an obligation, though it does give the right to insult, etc.) then I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something given in response for the slight against (radical) Islam, somewhere and at some time in the future.