Islamophobes and anti-Semites are in UK political parties, opponents claim

Many of those who voted to leave Europe hark back to some undefined era when Britain, they keep claiming, was “great.” That, they say, is where they want to be. It is difficult not to suspect that the Britain of this golden age was one without foreigners.

Anti-black prejudice (hatred, even) is demonstrated anonymously every day on social media and police are clearly harder on non-whites in the prosecution of their inquiries. But do not look to the powers that be to correct the anti-black situation because the ruling Conservative party is currently accused of Islamophobia and the opposition Labour party is being denounced as anti-Semitic.

The Muslim Council of Britain claimed last week that Conservative tweets described the Prophet Mohammed as a paedophile, branded Islam as “the new Nazism,” and shared articles that derided Muslims as “parasites content to live off the state”. One Conservative council candidate posted a photograph of a rasher of bacon hanging from a door handle and stated, “Protect your house from terrorism”.

ATTACKS

The Council said racists and bigots had poisoned the Tory party and called for an investigation to root out the Islamophobes.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Arkush, outgoing head of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, denounced Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for holding “problematic anti-Semitic views”.

He claimed Corbyn remained silent, when he asked him, “Why is there nothing good you can say about Israel?” Noting that Corbyn is a patron of Palestine Solidarity, Arkush said, “De-legitimising the state of Israel is anti-Semitic.”

A spokesman for Corbyn said, “These are outrageous and unfounded personal attacks without any evidence to support them.”

BIGOTRY

Noting that Conservative Premier Theresa May had failed to act on the Muslim accusations, The Observer newspaper said she “cannot avoid the charge that the Tories are unwilling to confront racism in their ranks.

“Together with Labour’s deplorable failure to confront its own problems with anti-Semitism, it creates the unedifying impression that Britain’s two main political parties are more comfortable making political capital by calling each other out for bigotry than resolving the problems within their own houses.”

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A recent poll of shoppers showed that close to a quarter had committed theft at self-checkout machines – failing to run items through, bagging products when the machine fails to register them, replacing expensive barcodes with cheaper ones, thus getting, say, chocolate eclairs for the price of bread rolls.

The website that carried out this survey reported the loss to supermarkets during 2017 as a whacking £3 billion. But the retailers are undaunted.

Amazon is pursuing plans to create stores where computer vision and artificial intelligence will align to keep track of items taken, allow a shopper to walk out, charge her account and send a receipt by email.

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The police may not be universally liked, but the records show that during 2017, in the county of Kent at least, gifts were bestowed liberally on the men in blue.

Officers investigating a crime on a farm were rewarded with a packet of sausages and bacon rashers, which they cooked for their Christmas breakfast. At a petrol station, a customer gave two cops a Mars bar each, and a grateful driver donated two bottles of port for a police fundraiser.

A community support officer was presented with a New Testament and a Book of Psalms by a victim of crime, and someone who worked as a cleaner handed over a 36-pack of toilet rolls. Best of all, an off-duty constable who restrained a drunken airline passenger while flying to the United States was given a free upgrade valued at £1,050 for himself and two friends for the return flight.

In the interest of transparency, all police forces are required to publish registers of gifts and hospitality. 

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Britain’s most popular Sunday lunch is roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, right? Not any longer. A poll indicates that while many aged over 55 still take the roast route, two-thirds of families do not. They prefer takeaway treats such as Indian or Chinese dishes, pizzas and fish and chips.

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Most stand-up comedians in Britain are white men. Bucking the pattern is a black woman, Kenya’s Njambi McGrath. Her aim is to make people laugh by showing Britons how outsiders see them. Declaring that many British people believe immigrants “are coming over here to change our way of life,” Njambi asks, “What do you think we are — colonialists?”

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Late for work, a man asks a farmer, “May I take a shortcut across your field? I need to catch the 8.45 train.”

Farmer: “Please go ahead, and if my bull spots you, you might even catch the 8.30!”

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Doctor: “I’m sorry but you have a terminal illness and you only have ten to live.” Patient: “What do you mean, ten? Ten months? Ten weeks.” Doctor: “Nine ...”

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