Treated With Contempt

Particularly galling is the way in which Yousaf Bashir, who was part of a gang that hurled abuse at members of the Royal Anglian Regiment as they marched through Luton last Tuesday, has been given twenty-four hour police protection.

It is, of course, wrong that someone should have attacked Yousaf Bashir’s house on Friday, breaking his ground floor windows and smashing in the front door. If caught, those that committed these crimes should be tried and punished.

However, why should the police give Yousaf Bashir and his family preferential treatment? Millions of British people have had to suffer far worse criminality than Yousaf Bashir, without receiving any semblance of police protection.

But, what else should we really expect by now? As Peter Hitchens observed in his Mail on Sunday column, we should aim our anger not at these misguided individuals but at the liberal Left which has brought us to this point – for it is they rather than Islamic protesters that are the sources of these problems. He observed:

We teach our children to be ashamed of our past. We tell them our sailors at Trafalgar had weevils in their biscuits but not that by astonishing courage and endurance they saved Europe from endless tyranny.

We act ashamed of the Christian religion that formed our laws and institutions. We encourage new arrivals to speak their own languages, to stay in isolated communities.

We never say that there are two sides to hospitality – a concept our Muslim citizens understand very well – and that those who are welcomed are expected to be loyal members of the society they have voluntarily joined. What do we expect these people and their children to think if we treat our own nation with contempt?

Britain is not actually very much like Britain anymore. Culturally, morally and in so many other ways it has changed beyond compare. Like Peter Hitchens I still cling to the idea that it is not too late to stop the disintegration of our society, but, if so, then time is very short indeed.

Taunton Marines Honoured

Despite the general unpopularity of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq that our British troops are engaged in, there still exists a great affinity between the public and our armed forces.

This was proven beyond doubt today in Taunton when the local Royal Marine unit 40 Commando, stationed at Norton Manor Camp, held a parade through the town to mark their homecoming after a tour of Afghanistan.

The streets were in places lined more than eight people deep, especially as the parade route converged at the war memorial outside the Market House in the centre of Taunton. In fact, so busy were the pavements that it was quite often impossible to see anything more than the back of another person’s head.

The parade also marked the sad death of three brave 40 Commando Marines who did not return home after losing their lives in service of their country. Two of those commandos were killed when caught in an explosion in Helmand Province, while another died in a separate explosion while taking part in an outreach patrol to disrupt enemy forces north of Sangin.

40 Commando is also the regiment of reservist Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, who has been in the news lately with the recent announcement that he is to receive the George Cross from the Queen in October, for bravely jumping on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades after tripping a wired trap while out on a reconnaissance patrol in Helmand Province in February.

News crews from BBC Points West (or BBC Points Bristol as they should really be known since the vast majority of their news never covers much else) and ITV West were on hand to cover the morning’s events, while the usually non-existent local Police were out in force to mark the route.

To cheering crowds, the Royal Marines of 40 Commando were given a special welcome home and a day that they, and those that were there, will hopefully remember for years to come.