‘There are far too many people attached to our government and our commentariat who are determined to attach important policies to more or less crude threats. Let’s get this out in the open; whenever we do a big deal about “our shared British values”, then the implicit message is “and if you don’t sign up to this list, we’re going to put you on a boat”.

‘Nobody would be so vulgar as to put it in quite exactly those words, but unless you are very careful with the mood music, that’s the message that the audience is going to hear. Now for a rhetorical question; precisely what is it about our experience with radical Islam since the Russian invasion of Afghanistan that makes us think “yes, these people respond well to threats”?’

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