Iggy Risu

Says the middle class media man who has been represented & felt represented by Westminster mainstream politics. All I need to counter this is 3 words Peter Mandelson & Hartlepool

My personal view on an important matter. On the 18th of March the House of Lords rejected the amendments tabled to remove or meaningfully limit Clause 208 of the Crime and Policing Bill, a clause which decriminalises, without restriction, a woman ending her own pregnancy at any stage up to and including full term. Abortion is a matter of considerable moral complexity on which reasonable people hold differing views. It has long been held to be a matter of individual conscience by both myself and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). However, this clause was not in any party's manifesto. It was not debated during a general election campaign. Rather, it was inserted into the sprawling Crime and Policing Bill and given just 46 minutes of debate in the House of Commons. Abortion pills may now be obtained over the internet, without prescription or medical oversight. A full-term viable pregnancy may be ended at home with no legal consequence. Further, it could be argued that this law leaves vulnerable women more exposed, not less. It reduces vestiges of the legal framework by which coercion towards abortion would have been identified and prosecuted. It also opens the door to sex-selective abortion - which some societies practice at scale throughout the world - with no mechanism remaining to challenge it. This reckless legislative change has been passed without public consent, without adequate scrutiny, and - critically - without regard for the viable human lives it leaves entirely unprotected. My personal position is clear: I regard this as an appalling and distressing decision by the Lords. To decriminalise abortion at any point in pregnancy crosses a line which, hitherto, I had considered to be well beyond the majority view of any reasonable British parliamentary body. Sadly, I was wrong. It’s an extreme decision which some argue puts into question our claim to be a civilised society. Were I in government I would push for the restoration of the legal protections for viable human life that this clause removes.

Too many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan - which declares there is no god but allah and Muhammad is his messenger - is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. Perform these rituals in mosques if you wish. But they are not welcome in our public places and shared institutions. And given their explicit repudiation of Christianity they certainly do not belong in our churches and cathedrals. I am not suggesting everybody at Trafalgar Square last night is an Islamist. But the domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook. Trafalgar Square belongs to all of us. It is a national memorial to our independence and our salvation. Last night was not like a televised football match or a St Patrick’s Day celebration. It was an act of domination and therefore division. It shouldn’t happen again.

Too many are too polite to say this …but give your head a wobble Nick! London rightly hosts Diwali, Vaisakhi, Chanukah and in a few weeks Easter celebrations But this nonsense of singling out Muslims at an Iftaar open to all Londoners as exceptional is just bigotry. Faith leaders must call out this nonsense from politicians who seem committed to causing hate and division.