Given all the facts, it is now impossible to deny that Britain has a problem with fundamentalist Islam. This is not an indictment of the venerable faith of Islam, or of the millions of law-abiding, patriotic Muslims who live in this country. But it is a challenge that we ignore at our peril. A challenge that should be met with a positive restatement of British values.
On the one hand, there is the example of the Birmingham schools that became dominated by ultra-conservative Islam, a scandal that this newspaper has fearlessly exposed.
As Ofsted's report stated, governors and teachers failed to prepare their pupils for life in a multicultural, multi-faith society – leaving them isolated from their British peers. Raffles and tombolas were banned from one primary school on the grounds of being "un-Islamic"; Christmas activities were discouraged, yet subsidised trips to Mecca occurred.
The phrase "white prostitutes" was allegedly used in assembly, and classes were segregated by gender: boys at the front, girls at the back. [The Telegraph] Read more
