.... But the campaign to bring to heel Birmingham's schools and humiliate the Muslim community in the process is a wider threat in a country where war-fuelled Islamophobia is already rampant. Dog-whistling to Ukip bigotry might seem a cute electoral trick.
However, it risks driving Muslims from participation in public life, pushing Muslim pupils out of the state sector and boosting the extremism the government claims to be battling. Gove's assault on Muslim schools in Birmingham isn't about British values: it's a poisonous campaign of discrimination and intimidation.
[A COMMENT] "It's just that they have nothing to do with extremism or terrorism" Apart from inviting an extremist terrorist-recruiter to speak at one of the schools, just off the top of my head... no, nothing to see here... 944 votes
[ANOTHER] "This is the defining example of a right wing Murdoch journalist getting the chance to carry out all his wildest dreams.." Like enforcing secularism in state schools and ensuring that children are not taught that being LGBT is wrong or that girls are inferior to boys?
"For the rest of us ..the world has gone mad." Quite. The day that liberals are demanding secular schools be allowed to teach conservative doctrine whilst conservatives point out this is insane is indeed an odd day - but here we are. 563 votes [Guardian Cif] Read more
