Abu Qatada released "to walk the streets of Britain"!

Abu Qatada released to relax at home

Abu Qatada is the latest bete noire of the British government and of a vast swathe of the British people. This self-styled Islamic teacher, this bearded cleric, has not be charged with anything in Britain but is generally deemed exceedingly undesirable. We're told he represents a threat to us. Well I slept soundly last night except for being awoken by my wife who thought I was behaving oddly. Flinging my arms around, apparently. She then thought it must have been the shadows. No mention of Abu Qatada.

How can this man be a threat to Britain? He's been locked up for goodness knows how long. Now he's out now under the most restrictive curfew ever imposed. Only an hour out of the house each day. Just time to do the wheelie bins and have a chat with the locals. He is electronically tagged and with that flowing beard, gone grey over it all, highly recognisable as a firebrand and madman. But how is he dangerous? During his hour out is he going to do something evil and wicked?

Nobody has yet said what his crimes are as far as the UK is concerned. He may talk drivel and generally incite people, but the powers-that-be don't see any of this as being of an indictable nature. He can't go to the mosque, distribute leaflets or say boo to a halal goose. This is all about getting him back to Jordan. Now that's fine by me, but don't con us by saying he's a terrorist or a inciter of hatred if you haven't got the proof. Such attitudes could be used against other people.

Peter Bone (what is it with these Bones?) was on the television last night waffling on about it all. Listening to Mr.Bone you might think something terrible was about to happen. It may well do, Mr.Bone, but nothing Abu Qatada might do. It will be us all suffering from kneejerk reactions and badly worded laws.

We must be vigilant against those who wish to control us and our freedoms.

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Syria's Assad says his house will not fall

Another cocky bugger buggering up his country!

President Bashar al-Assad has said his government is in no danger of falling, despite months of protests. As Mandy Rice-Davies famously said, during a famous trial, concerning remarks made by a peer of the realm, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?". Assad says a lot of things like he's keen on multi-party democracy and political solutions. But reality is that he's seen as a liar and a cheat when it comes to the real changes required.

Assad keeps saying that his security forces have stopped behaving badly. Yet Youtube footage tells a different story. Pressure is mounting against him but it's too much just words and not deeds. A good outcome in Libya will show him that freedom means peace and justice. A good outcome in Libya may change the weak minds of those like the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell who gave on Newsnight last night the best Humpty Dumpty reasoning for not upsetting the tyrant. I have little regard for Assad. He needs a good shoving and the shoving should start PDQ!

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Mubarak is the dimmest man in the world!

Hosni Mubarak must be the dimmest man in the world. Virtually the whole of Egypt thinks he is past his sell-by-date for whatever reason. He thinks otherwise. Just on that level only he is not fit to be in power. Has he read history? If he hasn't he should be given a few good books to thumb through. His best bet is to go with a bit of dignity. Leave it any longer and he will be joining the likes of Mussolini in ignomy.

I saw John Kerry, erstwhile US presidential candidate who is in Davos, waxing on about Mubarak. His waffle and double speak did him no favours. Democrats should be democrats for all and not suggest that a tyrant can be tamed just to suit American foreign policy. On that note alone I'm glad John Kerry never got to be president.

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Humpty Mubarak sat on a wall...

Humpty Mubarak had a great fall! Well, not quite yet, but he's going either tomorrow or some time soon. This erstwhile "friend" of theWest is nothing more than a nicely suited bully, keen on the old Stasi type tactics of whispering campaigns mixed in with a liberal amount of genital torture and iron bar bashing.

First Tunisia, now Egypt. I hope it ends with those thugs in Riyadh. All circling each other as the masses encroach on their evil empire.

Every person in the world deserves to live in peace and freedom. What is the Muslim greeting? Peace be upon you. Not much peace in Mubarak's peaceless piece of the world.

Humpty Mubarak will have a great fall!

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Tunisian despot Ben Ali turns up in Jeddah

It was always a likely destinaton. What other country on earth welcomes despots and dictators of such ilk. Ben Ali is welcome to his bolthole. He's going to continue in some kind of luxury lap. A Saudi palace statement said, "Out of concern for the exceptional circumstances facing the brotherly Tunisian people and in support of the security and stability of their country... the Saudi government has welcomed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family to the kingdom."

If such a man is welcomed, what sort of man is shunned?

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UKIP and a burka ban

UKIP are peddling the idea of a ban on Muslim women wearing the burka. Nigel Farage is of the opinion that it is an affront to women and is un-British. I think he's wrong on both counts. I've never thought the women who wear these head-to-toe cloaks are in any way subjected to being second class citizens. Most seem to wear the garment with pride. My only suggestion is to make the eye-slit a bit bigger as some of the larger ladies get that peripheral vision problem.

As for being un-British, when was it ever "British" to suggest the correct clothing for a person to wear? Nigel Farage wears some fancy gear I've noticed, but that's his business.

However, he does have a point over the security issue. Unlike the Saudi system, where burka-clad women get photographed for driving licences (and in New Jersey!), Britain should insist on a full-face picture. Anything else is to make a ridiculous situation at airports even more ludicrous.

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Thought police to raid domestic fridges!

Richard Littlejohn has a fantastic article in the Daily Mail. Read it and weep! It's all about the New Labour Thought Police acting through local councils by paying inspectors £8.50 an hour, with double time on Saturdays, to visit our homes and offer ‘advice’ on what we eat and what we throw away.

I like this quote from a spokesman for the health department, who said, "By hitting people at home, rather than in supermarkets, we can get inside their lives. It’s only by knocking on doors you can find out what they are having for their tea and offer some healthy suggestions."

Do you really want these politically correct door thumpers "getting inside your life"?

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Vile Chinese reaction to London protests!

The vile Chinese government, which delights in trampling on free speech, starving girl babies to death, and generally acting in a pretty sub-human manner, offers up a traditional comment! It says that the demonstrations in London were uncalled for. Beijing denounced the "tiny number of Tibet independence elements" who disrupted the torch relay through London yesterday. "We strongly condemn this vile behaviour," an official said. Could this official explain what he defines as behaviour beyond his description of vile?

The Chinese government promised the Olympic bigwigs that they would clean up their act if they got the Games. There appears to be precious little in the way of decent behaviour coming into the hearts and minds of the Chinese politburo types.

I'm glad to see that the International Olympic Committee is putting pressure on the Chinese to open up the Internet during the run-up to the games and during them. What sort of pressure they'll be getting, I'm not sure, but my devious mind suddenly thinks of Chinese burns. Now I mustn't slip into tit-for-tat!

This whole Tibetan freedom issue will continue until Tibet is free. China have either to live with world hostility or just get round a peace-talks table. It's up to them.

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