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The banning from the UK of controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders raises difficult questions over the limits of free speech. Mr Wilders was deported yesterday after attempting to attend a showing at the House of Lords of his provocative film Fitna, which implies a direct connection between the Koran and terrorist attacks including 9/11.
Former Conservative minister Michael Portillo and others have criticised the Government's banning of Mr Wilders. But it is hard to see what public good would have been served by his visit to Britain.
Critics say that the ban has attracted more attention than would Mr Wilders' appearance had he been allowed to stay. While that is impossible to assess, what is certain is that he intended his visit to stir up trouble. Lord Pearson, the UKIP peer who invited him, must have realised that this would be the likely effect. The Dutch prime minister has said Fitna “serves no purpose other than to offend”.
There is every opportunity in the UK for open debate on Islam and on the ways it has provided inspiration to terrorism, and rightly so. But for anyone to use that right of free speech purely to provoke trouble risks threatening the very atmosphere in which free speech is possible.
The Home Secretary's power to exclude foreigners whose presence could cause a threat to public safety is an important one. It has rightly been used to exclude the extremist Muslim preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi: while he was unlikely to incite violence directly, his pronouncements would still have been deeply offensive and provocative to signficant sections of the community. Likewise the firebrand American leader of the black Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.
The same is true of Geert Wilders. We should show no tolerance for hate-mongers, regardless of their faith: banning the Dutch MP was, reluctantly, the right decision.
Schoolboy dad
The case of Alfie Patten, a father at just 13 years old, has sparked predictable expressions of outrage. Baby-faced Master Patten was only 12 when he impregnated his girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, now 15; he is reported to be helping care for their daughter, Maisie Roxanne, at her Eastbourne home. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader who now runs the Centre for Social Justice, has condemned the case as a prime example of Britain's “dysfunctional families ... where anything goes”. David Cameron and Gordon Brown have also expressed their concern. But the case does highlight Britain's lamentable record on teenage pregnancy.
Reducing numbers of teenage pregnancies was supposed to be a priority for ministers. Indeed, such pregnancies have dropped by more than 10 per cent in London since 1998 — but from a very high base. Britain still has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. Recent statistics show that 7.1 per cent of all UK births are to teenagers — more than double the European average.
Until ministers are prepared to get tough on such behaviour, rather than being mealy-mouthed for fear of looking censurious, and until they tackle the benefits culture that encourages dysfunctional families, we will see more young parents as tragically ill-prepared as Alfie Patten.
The bright side
THE Church has offered prayers for those who have lost their jobs but the Right Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, points out that “sometimes... people seem to be relieved to get off the treadmill and be given an opportunity to reconsider what they really want out of life”.
If people can use such misfortune to find a new direction in their lives, that is certainly positive. For some afraid for their jobs, though, Dr Chartres may risk sounding uncomfortably close to the injunction in Monty Python's Life of Brian: “Always look on the bright side of life.”
Reader views (3)
Anyone interested should buy a good translation of the Koran, which is quite short, and see what they think themselves. I must say, it bothers me - but so would the vast 'Old Testament' if I came across it afresh.
- Steve, London, England, 13/02/2009 15:58
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Strikes me that the only people allowed to voice an opinion, however odious it might be, are the 'Ethnic Minorities'.
The indigenous population are bound and gagged by years of NuLabour Laws.
- Cap, london, 13/02/2009 15:50
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The 'elephant in the room that no-one is talking about' is that this film is unfortunatly factually correct.
- Rich, dorset, 13/02/2009 13:00
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