Active, Muscular Liberalism

Iftikhar, your anger at Cameron's speech is palpable but extreme and ill-informed.  For a start there is absolutely no contradiction between explaining that Britain does not tolerate racism and promising to cease relationships with extremist Islamists - in fact they serve one another.  Extreme, political Islam is heavily racist in its attitudes and priorities.  The anti-semitic hatred that is par for the course in many extremists Mosques and organisations (and, indeed Islamic schools) is a classic example of precisely the kind of racist demagoguery that Cameron is insisting we must not permit.  He is right to insist on this.  Britain is not, and has not been, a culturally racist nation.  We were at the forefront of the fight against slavery and went to war with Germany, in part, because of their genocidal impulses.  Of course the story of the British Empire is not one of unalloyed benevolence.  But the idea that we have no right to comment on, or act upon, moral and tolerant values now because of something that has happened in the past is the worst kind of nihilistic relativism.  It is also, by the way, incredibly racist.  You surely don't believe that because of the alleged sins of my great-grandfather's generation I should be barred from engagement in ethical, moral and political questions?  Do British people in some way inherit the guilt you ascribe to our ancestors?  And if so, do the same odd rules apply to the descendants of Persian empire builders or Iraqis whose parents and grandparents participated in the wholesale genocidal slaughter of Kurds?

You assert that 'British schooling has been trying to force Muslim children to learn, speak, read and write English only so that they could become notoriously monolingual Brits'.  The question of language education in British schools is indeed cause for concern - but the reason for insisting that the children of migrants learn English is simple, straightforward and entirely reasonable.  Children unable to speak the language of their community will suffer from reduced academic attainment, reduced employment opportunities and will experience frustration as they attempt to access services etc.  What is more they hinder integration more widely.  If their community begins to offer services, custom and education in a native and non-English language then that serves to alienate english-speaking neighbours.  That is a very real source of conflict, ignorance and inter-cultural strife.  

You ask, in your opening paragraph, 'Does the government mean to say that it will not engage with any Muslim group or mosque that believes, for example, that homosexuality is a sin?'  I, for one, very much hope so.  Of course Muslim groups, like Christian, Jewish and other faith organisations, must be free to believe in what they like.  Privately.  When it comes to endorsement, resources or assistance from the state their beliefs surely must reflect the tenets of British law and the widely held views of the vast majority of British people?  Gay equality is protected under British law and the Government has a statutory obligation to promote equality.  Please explain why I, as a gay man, should see my Government invest time and resource in organisations which - contrary to the law and to the moral view of the vast majority of my countrymen - object to my way of life?

I think you betray your real feelings on British people and British values when you say - 'You people love to blame everyone else, but the rot set in right here at home: it's not government's fault, it's not immigrants' fault, it's yours, for your laziness, your smugness, and your arrogance'.  It is normally considered to be both racist and offensive to refer to an ethnic or national group with the term 'you people'. Your descriptions of British people as lazy, smug and arrogant are vile, racially motivated and belie your deeply held hatred for this country.  You claim repeatedly that Muslim children must be spared learning english and integration and state that 'The whole world belongs to Muslims'.  That is not the case.  However, large swathes of the world do indeed 'belong to Muslims' and are happy to enforce precisely the kind of racist, homophobic social controls that you appear to hanker after.  I would suggest, considering your dislike of Britain and your deeply held contempt for British people, that you seek out one of those places so that you can live happily there and avoid all of us nasty, tolerant, colour-blind folk that irk you so.