UK: 2008 Rundown
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Looking at Britain in 2008 certain themes of course stand out more than others, and perhaps none more than the introduction of sharia law, the possibility of which had first been to public attention by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The fall and rise of the Labour Party, the rise of the Conservatives, the dashed SNP hopes for Scottish independence characterize much of politics this year.
A Fatwah for Fitna
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have the right to use the premises of the parliament for their own activities. They can reserve conference rooms to give press conferences, invite speakers or show documentaries. So far the Parliament has never forbidden anyone from doing so. Until last week Gerard Batten, a British MEP, invited the Dutch politician Geert Wilders to show his movie Fitna to Batten’s colleagues.
Europe’s Choice for Christmas: Pink Trees or None at All
Be prepared for a homosexual parody of Christmas when you take a stroll through Amsterdam these days. The Dutch city, the self-declared “gay capital of the world,” is holding its first “Pink Christmas Festival.”
Duly Noted: Success Cannot Be Handed to You
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1. Christian Klar, a famous terrorist of the German Red Army Fraction got life for the murder of nine persons. (He performed retail, not wholesale.) The German government, acting in the name of the unconsulted people, will let him go in January. Demonstratively, aside of his capture, the as-ever arrogant Klar, regrets nothing. One wonders whether some of his contempt is not justified in view of the imbalance between the forgiveness extended and his withheld recantation.
The Politics to Watch in Europe
Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe. This cannot be denied, although the media prefer to downplay one of its main causes: the Islamization of Europe. Last week’s Economistreferred to the problem (though only in passing) in an article on Muslims in Europe where it mentioned fights between Muslims and Jews in rough parts of northern Paris.