We begin a new year with headlines telling us that other countries think Britain is a menace to the world. While we might be inclined to say, with typical English restraint, "hang on a sec, old chap, that's going a bit far", we might just pause, reflect, and realise that the statement is fairly accurate.
Umar Farouk Abdulmuttallab is just the latest in a series of Muslims radicalised in Britain, as Paul Goodman reminded us the other day. According to The Daily Telegraph, policy makers in the United States are concerned that "one of the biggest threats to US security came from Britain". They criticised the "ghettoisation" of British Muslims, in contrast with the "assimilation" of Muslims in America. Writing in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, Usama Hasan noted that "students' Islamic societies on British campuses are dominated by fundamentalist ideas and overly politicised interpretations of Islam".
The tragedy is, no one can say we haven't been told before. We have - repeatedly. Indeed, over the past few years, we have had numerous well-researched, well-documented warnings. If you didn't read Melanie Phillips' Londonistan, you could have read Michael Gove's Celsius 7/7, Caroline Cox and John Marks' The West, Islam and Islamism or Ed Husain's The Islamist. And if you didn't get round to reading them, you could have skimmed through numerous reports by think-tanks such as Policy Exchange, Civitas, The Centre for Social Cohesion (which has reported widely about radicalisation on university campuses and via the Internet, the availability of jihadi texts in British libraries, and the activities and beliefs of Hizb-ut-Tahrir) or The Quilliam Foundation (which has drawn attention to radicalisation in Britain's prisons). No one can say they were not warned.
And yet ... and yet ... it is over eight years since 9/11, almost five years since 7/7, and still people do not seem to get it. Still London ranks alongside Afghanistan and Pakistan as a hub for radical Islamist terrorists.
I hope that 2010 will be different. I hope that we will wake up - before we get another unpleasant wake-up call. I hope that we will not only become alert and aware to the terrorist threat all around us, whether it is being plotted in Pakistan or London, Nigeria or Luton, Somalia or Bradford, Morocco, Milton Keynes, Egypt, Exeter, East Ham or Indonesia, but also that we will become better informed about the ideology underpinning the violence. As Paul Goodman wrote recently, Islamism - the political ideology, as distinct from Islam, the religion - needs to be treated in the same way as fascism and communism. We were alert to the dangers of Marxism during the Cold War, and we remain rightly appalled by fascism, whether expressed by Adolf Hitler or by Nick Griffin. We must treat those who preach hate in the name of Islam, and who turn students into potential bombers, with the same distaste. But we must do our homework better, and prepare to counter their hate-filled ideology.
One last thought. In addition to knowing our enemies better, and their ideology, we should get to know ourselves and our country better. That means standing up for our values of freedom and tolerance against the twin threats of bigotry and political correctness. And it means rediscovering our spiritual heritage. Jonathan Aitken makes some thought-provoking observations in a recent article in The Daily Mail, and I would encourage people to read it as we reflect on a New Year. And as we clear away the remains of our Christmas celebrations, we would do well to take heed of Ed Husain's message in The Sun. Read the entire article, but note especially these words as we enter 2010:
when British people get jittery and shy away from Christmas and want to use meaningless language such as "Winterval", we compromise what is best about Britain - a multi-faith country and culture informed by a Christian ethos and history.
I am proud Britain never became a godless, communist land. We fought two world wars to protect the history, culture and people, not to see what makes it British eroded because of spineless politicians too scared to say "Christmas" in public.
Millions of Muslims and others feel welcome here because of our similar beliefs in Jesus, God, and the afterlife. Even if people do not share those religious beliefs, they can still be part of the Christmas spirit.
Christmas is about remembering God, family and our fellow citizens. This is something for us to celebrate, not hide away.
Let us begin the New Year with the Christmas spirit.
