Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

BNP 'irredeemably evil' says Carey

Lord Carey of Clifton in tomorrow's News of the World: 'What a pity that none of the other panelists challenged Griffin's deceitful attempt to align his despicable policies with Christianity. This squalid racist must not be allowed to hijack one of the world's great religions.

'All of us who believe in tolerance and decency must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in rejection of Griffin's notion that "Christianity" has any place in his bigotry. I tend to agree that the BBC was mistaken to give the BNP such prominence. To use Margaret Thatcher's phrase, it was the "oxygen of publicity" that propelled the insignificant and undeserving party into the Big Time. The BBC's Director General errs in arguing that in a democracy all views should be heard. The views of the BNP are not simply false, they are dangerous, indeed irredeemably evil.'

Lessons in Faith Part One: Holocaust Education

One of the most profound impacts of my school days was made by the Holocaust education we were given. In retrospect, it was probably exceptional that we were taught this in the 1970s, at our cosy Midlands backwater grammar-turned-comprehensive with almost no ethnic minorities and a school population consisting largely of farmers' sons and their future wives. I wish I knew which teacher was responsible, to thank them. For several weeks, we were shown grainy black-and-white newsreel footage of the camps and scenes of their liberation. We were told why and how this had happened. As a vicar's daughter, familiar with the Good Friday liturgy and the language of the Gospels, the shock was profound, its effects long-lasting. The anger, shame and sense of communal responsibility has never left me. Today the Holocaust Educational Trust from which the picture above is borrowed tries to reach out to all children, teaching 'never again'. But exactly how effective is Holocaust education in schools today? Lauren Davidson, a 20-year-old student of theology at Cambridge and winner of the university’s ‘Perceval Maitland Laurence’ classics essay competition, writes the first of three guest blogs for Articles of Faith, with the overall theme of addressing particular issues of faith in our global village today. Watch out for parts two and three, tomorrow and Friday.

Jews, gays, greens attack SSPX

This video from Gloria TV shows the recent SSPX ordinations, controversial because it was illicit ordinations that got them excommunicated in the first place by Rome, a penalty now lifted amid controversy over the Holocaust-denying views of one of the bishops, England's Richard Williamson. But as Chris Gillibrand reports at Cathcon, these issues are not going to go away. As Reuters reported, the ordinations went ahead, even though the Holy See criticised them as illegitimate.

Racism in football: 'Out, out, out!'

During an international friendly match in Italy in 2006, more than 60 visiting Croatian fans formed this human swastika. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other racism in football cannot be dismissed as an eastern European or anything-but-British problem. As we report today in The Times, the MP John Mann who chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Anti-Semitism has also been placed in charge of a Football Association task force. And this group, that reports at the start of the next season in August, is expected to recommend a system of tribunals to assess off-pitch problems, including racist abuse by fans or, at junior level, parents. Clubs found guilty could face bans, or even losing points, ultimately costing them relegation, a place in Europe or even the Championship itself back at home.

Kindertransport survivor Fred Barschak on Bishop Richard Williamson

Update:

The German bishops have condemned the traditionalist SSPX as 'outside tradition'. Cathcon has the details.

Unlike his parents, aunts, uncles, in fact his entire family, Fred Barschak survived the Holocaust. He was one of 10,000 Jewish children who came here on the Kindertransport. Most never saw their parents again. Below he writes movingly, and exclusively for Articles of Faith, on why the lifting of Richard Williamson's excommunication has been such a terrible error by the Holy See and why it will take so long to repair the damage. He told me that the affair has brought back memories of one senior cleric during the war who, when begged for help by Jews being deported to the death camps, told them he could not because all was happening as it had to. The Archbishop prefaced his refusal with: 'My children...'  Barschak, who celebrated his 78th birthday yesterday, read law at Oxford, joined the Yad Vashem Committee in 1986, staged an exhibition The 50th Anniversary of the Anschluss in 1988, convened a major lecture by the late Lord Bullock entitled Hitler and the Holocaust in 1993 and organised the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz commemoration in 1995. Incidentally, Fred's son Aaron achieved notoriety a few years ago as the self-styled comedy terrorist who gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party.

Bishop Williamson and David Irving party together

Update: Williamson could speak at Tridentine rite church in North London soon. Read more here.

This picture shows Bishop Richard Williamson at a party last October hosted by revisionist British historian David Irving. More details here. David Irving and Richard Williamson have been in regular email contact since the controversy blew up after the Pope lifted the excommunications. Another picture from the party and some details of the correspondence between these two men below. As we report, Williamson was due to be met at Heathrow at 7.15 tomorrow morning, when his flight from Buenos Aires gets in, by Michele Renouf and a team of lawyers. Read her interesting Wiki entry. Renouf was a speaker at the notorious Holocaust denial conference in Iran in 2006. It was Renouf who found the lawyers to get Frederick Toben out of prison after he was arrested at Heathrow at the request of the German authorities. I've been asked to make clear that this picture and the one below are copyright Focal Point Publications and cannot be reproduced without permission. Read Cathcon for the latest updates and more background on this extraordinary saga. Meanwhile, I've been 'savaged' by a Facebook friend.

Williamson threatens reporter as he flies into Britain

The contemptible Holocaust-denier Bishop Richard Williamson, who believes there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz but despite this had his excommunication lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, has as we report left Buenos Aires and arrived in England. He threatened to punch the Reuters reporter who saw him. He raised his fist then shoved him. His minders also manhandled the journalist. And in case he tries to deny that too, it was caught on TV, as this clip above shows. See my story on it here.

AP's Jeanette Neumann reports: 'A local television station showed Richard Williamson raising his fist toward a reporter, then shoving him into a pole with his shoulder as he hurried through Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza international airport to catch a flight for London.'

Argentina had given him ten days to leave so he decided to jump before he was pushed. More on this breaking story soon.

Anti-Semitism: 'New, virulent and lethal.'

'Silence is not an option. The time has come not only to sound the alarm, but to act. For as history taught us only too well, while it may begin with Jews, it does not end with Jews.' As we report, these are the words of Irwin Cotler, a former Attorney General for Canada and counsel to Nelson Mandela, Natan Sharansky and many others. These words are not to be taken lightly. I've been granted an exclusive preview of the paper he is presenting at a conference in London this week that begins this evening.

We all know anti-Semitism's bad. Conferences have taken place time and time again to counter it, and it just continues. So what makes this event different? As the Jewish Chronicle reports, this is the first one ever that brings together senior Parliamentarian's from around the world, nearly 100 from 40 countries, people who will listen, and who have the power to go back to their own countries and make a difference. It's hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth  Office and an international parliamentary committee set up to fight this oldest of hatreds. How pernicious an evil it is can be understood in the context of just a few recent events. There was the fact that so many Catholics failed to grasp why it was such an insult to world Jewry when a Holocaust-denying bishop had his excommunication lifted. And there was the Government adviser on extremism who sent an email claiming that 'Jews' were behind a number of websites undermining Islam.

'What we are witnessing today – and which has been developing incrementally, sometimes imperceptibly, and even indulgently, for some thirty-five years now – is a new sophisticated, globalizing, virulent and even lethal Antisemitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 30s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War,' he says.

'The new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical Antisemitism but is distinguishable from it. It found early juridical, and even institutional, expression in the United Nations’ ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution but has gone dramatically beyond it. This new Antisemitism almost needs a new vocabulary to define it; however, it can best be identified using a rights-based juridical perspective.'

English version of Swedish tv film on SSPX now online

Watch it all here.

Read Richard Owen on the latest from Rome on holocaust denying Richard Williamson's apology to the Pope. Will he ever apologise to the Jewish people? Does he even think he has done anything wrong in that respect?

Meanwhile, Damian Thomson's Holy Smoke blog has more on Archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn's criticism of the Vatican.

There is also a good analysis of the whole affair in The Australian.

Christopher Pearson writes:

'But to see anti-Semitism as Lefebvre's defining characteristic is as misguided as dismissing the SSPX as a hate group. His primary motivation, and that of his followers, is a distrust of theological modernism and of modernity generally, particularly as embodied in Vatican II's infatuation with the values and cultural imperatives of the '60s. Although Lefebvre's adherents cleave to the classical Latin liturgy and often use it as a flag to rally around, they are by no means the only traditionally minded Catholics who prefer the old rite and it was not the crucial reason for their rift with Rome.'

Pope 'foolish or misguided' says The Times

This is the text of a strongly-worded letter from the International Council of Christians and Jews to Pope Benedict XVI. As we report, MPs on both sides of the House of Commons have today condemned his decision to lift the excommunication on a Holocaust-denying bishop. A second priest has now denied the Holocaust. The Times leader on this today says: 'The signal sent from Rome is appalling. It reinforces the suspicion of some Jews that Christianity still harbours latent anti-Semitism. It diminishes the Vatican's influence in the Middle East at a time of conflict. It makes the Pope appear foolish or misguided. It is a gesture that should be retracted immediately unless, and until, Bishop Williamson renounces his obscenities.' Cardinal Schonborn has also attacked the Vatican.

Israel Chief Rabbinate cuts ties with Vatican

See our story today. The row over the SSPX excommunications is heating up. The latest is, as the Jerusalem Post reports, that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has cut ties with the Vatican. Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St Pius X, has silenced Richard Williamson, the formerly excommunicated Holocaust denying bishop who is, as of half way through the Sabbath last week, now fully-restored to communion with the Roman Catholic church. The Vatican prelate who heads inter-religious dialogue has been remarkably silent throughout this debate - one source tells me he was kept in the dark about what was going on - but has now condemned Williamson's statement to Swedish tv that "there were no gas chambers" as unacceptable. Kaspar said: 'They are unacceptable words, stupid words. To deny the Holocaust is stupid and it is a position that has nothing to do with the Catholic Church.' The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have also distanced themselves from Williamson, as The Times reportered yesterday.

For more background and links to earlier articles, read my previous posts. Or simply go to this excellent summary in The National of the present state of play, of why the Pope's planned visit to Israel in May might now be imperilled and of just how complex the whole thing is.

Stand up to Hatred: Holocaust Memorial Day

As we report today, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales have denounced the newly incommunicated Holocaust denying bishop Richard Williamson. Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a message for Holocaust Memorial Day along with the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks and Dr Tony Bayfield of the Reform moveme They are discussing their recent trip to Auschwitz, which I attended also. You can also see my own report and video of that event. Below is a guest post from our regular contributor Irene Lancaster addressing these and related issues, some of which we reported on yesterday in The Times.

Irene Lancaster writes:

Church of England clergy host Holocaust denial Bishop

The Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo di Segni has today told La Stampa that ending the schism with Society of St Pius X, as the Pope is expected to do in the next few days, will cause a 'deep wound' in Jewish Catholic relations. Other Jewish leaders have today pleaded with the Pope not to do it. One of the society's bishops believes there were no gas chambers and that other aspects of the Holocaust are a myth.  Meanwhile, another chilling detail to emerged today is that, is that in spite of evidence of Bishop Richard Williamson's views being around for years, the Society of St Pius X has in Sweden been meeting, celebrating Mass and confirming new members, not in Catholic churches, but in churches of the Church of England's diocese in Europe.

Here you can watch the full Swedish TV investigation into the Society of St Pius X, presented by Ali Fegan. German prosecutors are preparing a case against Bishop Richard Williamson, who was speaking to Fegan at Zaitzkofen, a small village in Bavaria where the society has a seminary. Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the society, has condemned all this unsought publicity as 'vile'.

(A chief of police in Bavaria has incidentally recently survived a stabbing by a neo-Nazi. The officer has been fighting fascism for years and in July his force dug up a body that had been buried in a Nazi flag.)

Williamson could face anything from a fine to five years in prison for Holocaust denial.

Sources in Rome say Pope Benedict XVI is still proceeding with his plan to lift the excommunications on Williamson and the three other bishops ordained by the movement's founder Marcel Lefebvre.

Besides lifting the lid on Williamson's Holocaust denial, the Swedish TV programme showed how the SSPX in Sweden, which has been robustly opposed by leaders of the local Roman Catholic Church, has for years found safe haven in Anglican churches instead. The Diocese in Europe, one of the dioceses of the Church of England and led by Bishop of Gibralter Geoffrey Rowell, has church sharing agreements with a number of groups, and SSPX has been one of them. If you go 49 minutes into the programme, you will see the Stockholm chaplain Nick Howe, priest-in-charge at St Peter and St Sigfrid's, attempting to justify this.

Buckingham Bishop Alan Wilson is among those now meditating on the characteristics of traditional Anglicans, as Gregory de Langres notes.

Traditionalist bishop: 'There were no gas chambers'

Bishop Richard Williamson is a hardline ultra-conservative bishop of the Society of St Pius X. He is excommunicated from the RC church, along with his three brother SSPX bishops but as we report, and also according to reports coming out of Rome, the excommunications could be lifted soon by the Pope. It could even be lifted by Sunday, according to the usually reliable Rorate Caeli. And that while he faces possible prosecution for Holocaust denial in Germany after an interview with a reporter from Swedish TV in which he claimed that six million Jews did not die in the Holocaust, merely a few thousand, and that the gas chambers did not exist. CathCon has the translation of the Der Spiegel report and more on the likely lifting of those excommunications. Could the clock really be turned back this far on Nostra Aetate and the teachings of Vatican II?

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In an earlier story in the Catholic Herald,  Bishop Williamson was exposed as endorsing the forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Williamson is a former Anglican who went to Winchester and Cambridge. He is thought to have been influenced in his conversion to Catholicism by the late Malcolm Muggeridge and he was received into the Catholic church by the Irish missionary priest, Father John Flanagan.

In his previous utterances which have caused repeated deep offence to the Jewish community as well as many Catholics and other Christians who have heeded the message of Christian repentance towards the Jewish community as spelled out in the documents of Vatican II and elsewhere, the Society has refused to distance itself from him. He was actually ordained by its founder, Marcel Lefebvre, and has been an important voice in the society.

There are repeated reports that Pope Benedict XVI wishes to bring the society back into the Catholic fold. After the upset in the Jewish community caused by the Good Friday prayer in the revivified Latin Mass, that would be another nail in the cross of Jewish-Catholic relations, unless some way is found of doing it without this man.

Now it looks as though Williamson might have gone too far, even for his traditionalist brethren, and that he might at last face some sort of disciplinary action from the society, most if not none of whose members do not share his views. This would then make it possible for the Pope to realise his dream of bringing the society back into the fold, without Williamson.

If he brings them back in with Williamson on board, then truly it will be a disaster. Vatican II might as well never have happened and it won't just  be the Jewish community that would be justifiably disgusted. For many thousands of lay Catholics the world over, this could be the final proof that what the atheist bus campaign suggested was true: 'There probably is no God.' At least not the God that Williamson and his like believe in. Who could blame them, then, if they put traditionalist Catholic guilt aside, and get on and enjoy their lives.

More links on this and related stories at CathCon.

Gaza: faith leaders speak out against religious hatred

The Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres and the Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler have both signed a groundbreaking new statement with other faith leaders against religious hatred, prompted by the surge in anti-Semitic attacks in the wake of Israel's action against Gaza. A senior member of the staff of the Archbishop of Canterbury is also among London's faith leaders who have signed a ground-breaking letter against religious hate attacks. Canon Guy Wilkinson is a signatory on behalf of the London Faith Forum, but his is nevertheless a significant name to have up there. The letter has been prompted by the massive increase in anti-Semitism sparked by the Gaza conflict. One example of how sinister this has become is the mosque in London that is receiving provocative, Islamophobic telephone calls from people claiming to be Jewish, but who the Muslim leaders suspect are members of far-right movements posing as Jews.

The other signatories include Christians, Jews, Muslims and others. Read on for the full text of the letter, released exclusively to The Times and being published in tomorrow's Jewish Chronicle. All the party leaders on the London Assembly have also signed. See the impressive list of the key faith signatories, along with more details of some of those attacks, such as in Manchester, and pray that this conflict and this return to medieval-style religious hatreds should cease, and soon.

The 'new' anti-Semitism

In a lecture for Sky Arts broadcast last month, the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks spoke of the new anti-Semitism that is resurgent in these isles and across Western Europe. Inevitably, the stuation in Gaza has led to incidents of anti-Semitism in Britain, and there will certainly be still more. Meanwhile, as Richard Owen reports from Rome, the 'Gaza is a concentration camp' remark by a senior cardinal has caused a massive diplomatic row which is threatening the Pope's visit to Israel. But another high-level Catholic delegation later this month is still going ahead.

Israeli Ambassador condemns carol service

Update: now a Vicar has banned O Little Town of Bethlehem because he believes it does not reflect the true state of what is happening there. See our news story today.

As we report a diplomatic row is hanging over Christian-Jewish relations in Britain. Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor has weighed into the row over the St James's carol service, condemning it as furthering the 'canard of anti-Semitism'. The service was organised by Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods and their reaction to Ambassador Prosor's comments is below. The Ambassador said: 'For 2000 years, the Jewish people suffered persecution because of the accusation of responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ. The carol service deliberately attempted to make a linkage between this notion of deicide and Israel’s relations with the Palestinians. It thus perpetuated an anti-Semitic canard that has no place in modern Britain.'

The full text of his comments follows below.

'Lightning rod for anti-Semites'

As we report, the row over the 'alternative lessons and carols' at St James' Picadilly last Wednesday is escalating as the implications begin to sink in of a part of the established Church of England allowing itself to be used for such abhorrent anti-Zionist propaganda. In one of the most important posts she has done for a while, Irene Lancaster draws together today some of the threads of why this was both significant and a shameful disgrace to Sir Christopher Wren's beautiful church and the wider Christian community, most of which must surely share her dismay. Jonathan Hoffman, vice-chairman of the Zionist Federation, and who demonstrated outside the event, told me: 'These things are a lightning rod for anti-Semites. This was an event which offended 99.9 per cent of Jews and about 95 per cent of Christians, an event which should never have taken place. To take carols and doctor them in order to vilify Israel is really unacceptable.' He claimed the event was being touted outside St James' as a normal carol service. 'We were able to disabuse people and dissuaded about 10 people from going in.'

Auschwitz - a letter of love

Kristallnacht: we must remember

In an article this weekend, the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, we reported how the Wiener Library has with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust translated and released for the first time ten of the 300 witness statements collected in the aftermath of the pogrom known as the 'Night of the Broken Glass'. Have a look also at novelist Adam LeBor's moving evocation in The Times of what happened that weekend throughout Germany and German-occupied lands. All ten transcripts can be read and some can be listened to at the Holocaust Memorial Day site.

'Obscene and threatening calls'

Why has Jonathan Ross merely been suspended and not been sacked?

Charles Moore in this week's Spectator sets out the case with his customary elegance. After pointing out that Ross is paid £6 million a year and Russell Brand more than £200,000 out of the public purse to make obscene telephone calls to Andrew Sachs, a 78-year-old grandfather, he addresses the excuse that this was intended to be 'edgy' entertainment:

'It is impossible to be "edgy" if you are paid £6 million (or even £200,000) out of compulsory television licence-fee money and are backed by the biggest broadcasting organisation in the world,'he writes.

Say No to 'St' Pius XII

As we report, in a letter in today's Times a group of influential Jewish and Roman Catholic scholars are calling for plans to canonise the wartime Pope, Pius XII, to be put on hold. I've reproduced the text of the letter below. The letter has been organised by the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths in Cambridge.

(Update: maybe partly as a response to this letter, the Pope has indicated to Rabbi David Rosen that he might halt the canonisation process.)

Sentamu hammers Brown's Labour Government

Am slowly getting back on top of this difficult job. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, spoke last night at a dinner given by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research at Braziers' Hall in the City of London. Here is a brief extract. The full text of his barnstorming attack on Gordon Brown's Government is below. Worth a read, if you have a moment or two to spare. For a brief summary, our news story is also online. I've posted this in full because the Archbishop, whose parachute jump at the weekend was sadly rained off, is becoming known for his 'gesture politics'. This speech proves that his words are equally worthy of note, perhaps more so. I'm meant to be seeing Gordon Brown at a Downing Street faith do next Thursday so let's hope he doesn't read this blog!

ABY: 'I come lately from the city of York where, in 1190, at Clifford Tower, in York Castle, a mob who called themselves Christians set the tower alight, filled with Jews who had sheltered there for safety – many died in the inferno, some took their own lives and those who escaped the fire were massacred.  I belong to a religious tradition which, at times, has organised Crusades and Inquisitions, treating Jews as less than human.  For me, as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, I am sorry and deeply ashamed.  And especially over the Holocaust: where God was violated and blasphemed.  Lord have mercy!' Read it all below.

Pius XII 'assisted Zionist cause'

Was Pope Pius XII an anti-Semite or not? He has variously been branded Hitler's Pope and the Nazi Pope, and Benedict XVI has slowed down the beatification process and requested a review of the 3,500-page dossier. The relevant Vatican post-1922 archives have not yet been made available to scholars. Will they ever be? What has the Roman Catholic Church to fear? But while our own dear Cardinal Newman moves closer and closer to canonisation and, possibly, becoming a Doctor of the Church at the same time, it seems unlikely now that Pius XII will be beatified in the near future.

Prince Philip's experience of 'anti-Semitic frenzy'

Mohamed Al Fayed accused the Duke of Edinburgh of being a Nazi this week. Our Times diarist put a little more perspective on this. But to lay this terrible demon of a libel finally to rest, a friend has sent me a document written by Prince Philip himself. It is the text of a speech he delivered at Yad Vashem in Israel in October 1994. In it he refers to how his mother, Princess Alice, pictured here, secretly helped a Jewish family in Athens. I've reproduced it below. He also describes how, aged 12, he had first-hand experience of the 'anti-Semitic frenzy' gripping NSP members. He witnessed the bullying of a Jewish boy at his boarding school in Germany and stepped in to help him. His lifelong contribution to interfaith work has been acknowledged by the ICCJ, with the award of an Interfaith Gold Medallion.

Anti-Jewish site on Google

A friend has sent me this:

'Dear Friends, We all have to sign a petition to force Google to remove from their websites list the website .... This site is devoted to anti-Semitism, hate of Jews and so, with false articles and research..It is one of the first website appearing when searching Jew on Google! To force Google to remove this website, we need to gather at least 500,000 signatures. We already got over 300,000 signatures. We need 200,000 more!'

To sign this petition, go here.

Atonement from Leeds at Jewish New Year

Happy New Year to all Jewish readers of this blog, to all readers indeed. It begins on a good note, with the news that Leeds University have rescheduled their cancelled talk with Dr Matthias Kuntzel for 10 October. His subject will be: 'Hitler's legacy: Islamic Anti-Semitism in the Middle East.' At long, long last, perhaps we are beginning to see an end to the long history of politically-correct diffidence over subjects such at this. You can read Dr Kuntzel's version of what happened at Leeds on his own website. Read also Andrew Norfolk's investigation into how more than half of Britain's mosques have been taken over by an extremist Islamic sect. Card from Ilene Winn-Lederer.

Boycott 'threat to liberal democracy'

In the US, the White House has expressed understandably deep concern about Gaza. It has accused Hamas of committing 'acts of terror' against the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, in Britain, our own University and College Union brings shame upon this country with the indefensible academic boycott currently under consideration. At the same time, it has refused Government requests to combat extremism on campus by monitoring potential terrorists. This YouTube clip shows Benjamin Netenyahu, putting it better than I ever could.

Proud not to be 'part of the union'.

  How many readers of this blog are old enough, like me, to remember the Strawbs song, 'You can't get me I'm part of the Union'? This was released in 1973, just as I was starting to gear up for 'O' levels. By the time I was sitting mocks and other exams, through a series of cold winters, there were periods when we went for months with no heating in our draughty Staffordshire vicarage because there was no coal. We had little hot food or drink because there was no coke for the Rayburn. Stinking rubbish piled up, uncollected.

Government clampdown on antisemitism

The Government has announced that a task force set up last year will lead to a clamp down on hate crimes, in particular antisemitism in Britain. Prosecutions for antisemitic hate crimes will be stepped up. University campuses in particular are to be targeted by police as places where antisemitism has been thriving. The moves are spelled out in a new cross-government strategy.

Leeds university 'censors' pro-Jewish professor

A disturbing story today by my colleague Sean O'Neill, who reports that Leeds University has censored an academic who lectures around the world on the inherent antisemitism of many Islamic groups. A large turnout was expected at the series of lectures by Matthew Kuntzel, organised by the university's German department. I've always been rather ashamed that I left Leeds university before completing my own language degree there. Fed up among other things of having so few tutorials, I went instead to do an intensive vocational HND at the London College of Printing. Never once did I imagine that Leeds would give me grounds to be proud of having rejected it as a seat of academic learning. But today I can report that I am really, really pleased that I do not have after my name those letters denoting a joint honours degree in French and English from Leeds. While I was there, at the end of the 1970s, the Yorkshire Ripper was stalking the streets. At times, it was quite frightening. Now it appears, incredibly, that an even more serious evil could be on the loose in our world again. This I find even more terrifying than the Ripper. (Picture from this Canada Post article by Kuntzel.) Just how out of touch the university is can be witnessed by the fact that even Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain is warning Muslims that criticism of Israel must not slide over into antisemitism, as we report. His remarks, in the Jewish Chronicle, will be repeated at a JCC event on Monday night. Significantly, Inayat will invite his co-JCC panellist David Cesarani to discuss this with him on his Islam Channel show immediately beforehand.