Two Books on Islamism

Two books on Islamism have hit the UK book market this year. One, “The Islamist” by Ed Husain is a biographic account by a former Islamist activist; the other “Rethinking Islamism” by Lord Meghnad Desai is an extended essay, based on arguments in an earlier letter to the Financial Times. With a personal account on the one hand and a more detached, academic approach on the other, both titles could well complement each other. Yet, one of the two is clearly a more rewarding read.

Stealing the taxman’s identity

There is a new book out called “How to Label a Goat”. As the title suggests clearly enough, it deals with silly and superfluous rules and regulations in New Labour Britain. This book is amusing and annoying at once –although it might just be amusing if you live in the US. The following detail on P.37 caught my eye:

“10,000 civil servants were recently found to have had their identities stolen by gangs fraudulently trying to claim tax credits.”

The cost of that fraud is annoying enough, but not particularly unusual when it comes to government spending. What is interesting is that it does not seem to be a major problem to steal the identities of thousands of civil servants in one of the departments the government presumably cares most about.

Just dwell on this for a moment and consider what it means for ID cards: the same organisation which is planning to force you to hand over all kinds of information about yourself can’t stop identity theft from its key employees. Just imagine how much fun those gangs could have had with all the information on a central identity register. Well, at least someone will benefit from ID cards.

Ross Clark
“How to Label a Goat: The Silly Rules and Regulations That Are Strangling Britain”
Harriman House Publishing, 2006
ISBN 1897597959

Retreat of Reason

Anthony Browne at Civitas has written a short but worthwhile book on political correctness: "The Retreat of Reason". It is worthwhile not least because Browne doesn't simply use 'PC' as shorthand for 'left wing' or otherwise for anything he doesn't like but aims for genuine comprehension of the phenomenon and its evolution. There are some sample chapters on the Civitas website, and I can't resist adding another quote:

"Those most zealously opposed to PC tend to be those who were once infected by it and then broke free. Like Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984, the doubts often start slowly at first, with people realising the little lies and distortions. First they justify them as white lies, excusing them as being for the greater good. But as they start thinking about the lies, they start realising how prolific they are, and start wondering about the truth they conceal. Eventually, they become convinced that you cannot reach the truth through telling lies, and that, as the Bible said-in a rather different context-'the truth shall make you free'.

The pieces fall into place, and a new picture of the world-view emerges. The PC way of thinking is replaced with a new way of thinking-or rather an old one-that puts the emphasis on factual correctness rather than political correctness, and on reason rather than emotion. They are, in the classic definition of neo-conservatives, 'liberals mugged by reality', but often still liberal in the classical sense.

Those who journey from political correctness to truth often risk public disapprobation, but it is notable that most never lose their tolerance or humanity, and retain their fundamental values. They may question the politics of race, but not that racism is bad; they may question campaigns about women's pay, but not that women and men deserve equality of treatment; they may realise that western civilisation-with its extraordinary ability to create wealth and culture while promoting freedom, equality and democracy- is, by almost all measures, the best civilisation that humanity has yet created, but that doesn't make them Islamophobes."