Hitchens and that.

Pearl Eliadis and that.

Birmingham’s links with jihadism continues, as scary looking Parviz Khan, the man who plotted to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier, gets jailed for life.

On a local radio station today I heard an interview with one of Alum Rock’s councillors, who knew Khan, saying that we needed more action and less talk from the government to win the hearts and minds of Muslims. Whilst making it clear that this was a dreadful and shocking thing, he continued to say that the government must engage with the “grievances” of such people, then finished with the usual flourish along the lines of “the longer we stay in Iraq” etc… you know the rest.

No, Mr Councillor, whoever you were, what we do with these people is bug their houses, track their movements, show the evidence in our courts and then jail the would-be-murderering scum. That’s what we do. Lock them up. Not sit around with them having a nice cup of tea and a chat.

Not yet heard from the famous Cllr Salma Yaqoob on this. Seem to remember she was very vocal when these arrest took place. As I recall she got her fizzogg all over the TV quite concerned about how this would harm community relations - not the murder plot itself you understand, but the press reporting it. She didn’t want trial by media, you see.

Well, I hope Salma’s happy that in the end they were they were tried by Leicester Crown Court, and the evidence was so strong against Pavid Khan and his co-defendants that they all pleaded guilty. Clearly, we now see, the danger came not from freedom of press but from the men who were arrested. Fancy that.

Reading this story today, I was startled by the reappearance of one of Superman’s old enemies!

Here’s another post from the Windsor Military Conference mentioned below. About the casualties of war and a lucky and determined soldier who is still serving in the Canadian Reserves.

Corporal Bruce Moncur.

I’m a great admirer of Brother Jim. He doesn’t post here enough, so here’s what he’s on about at his place today.

NEVER DEFEATED:

Canada would suffer the first military defeat in the country’s history if its troops withdraw from Afghanistan, says historian Desmond Morton. “We’ve never actually lost a war the way we would if we walk away from Afghanistan and the whole thing collapses.”

Morton’s still going strong at 70. At the Tilston Armoury in Ontario on Friday night, he walked the audience back through the Battles of the Hundred Days, the Second Ypres, Vimy, Amiens, Valenciennes, and he could have gone back to the War of 1812, for that matter. To that I’d add that the Yanks are lucky we didn’t have to fire up this baby:

Defence Scheme Number One: A Defensive Preemptive Strike Against The United States, 1921.

The plan was designed for the Canadian Department of National Defence by Brigadier James “Buster” Brown, long remembered as a friend of the Canadian working class. Brown was put in charge of the unemployed relief camps run by the DND in British Columbia, in the 1930s. He fought tooth and nail for the humane treatment of the workers, and ended up resigning his post in disgust.

Brother Jim is from Belle River, Ontario. Founding member of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee. Allways loyal to his fellow workers and their friends. Everyone else, he’ll kick your ass.