A LARGE RED BLOB

Being half British in origin, the whole of me is ashamed and outraged that Derby Municipal Authority should have banned all images of pigs, and forced a worker who carried a box of Kleenex depicting the beloved Winne-The-Pooh character "Piglet" to discard them. The reason for the ban? Some Muslims in Derby complained pig images offend them. Luckily Piglets are doing rather better in Russia.

There are those of of who think this sort of thing is harmless. There are even some who can't see the clanging irony of the Derby Council member who said that banning things porcine was a "sign of tolerance of others" - not mentioning the huge intolerance of a minority against the overwhelming 98% of Britons who are not offended by pigs.

Since a considerable number of Muslims are offended by anything non-Islamic, we can see just where this "tolerance" (dhimmitude)is leading Britain. Actions like making people discard "Piglet" tissues are no better than the Taliban forbidding women to sell bread, or Saudi women not being allowed to drive. That these things should happen in a country that gave us Magna Carta is evidence of a deep national sickness, a perversity of self-loathing, the end result of moral relativism taken to the point of decadence and grotesquerie.

The other half of me is American. One is proud to say that were this supine appeasement to happen there, Derby Municipality would face lawsuits, parades of citizens wearing Piglet T-Shirts, people walking their pet Vietnamese house pigs down the main street and national anger. But those stupid uncouth Yanks, they are prepared to see freedom as a "verb" , wheras in sopshisticated Britain and Europe it would appear to be an abstract noun, or just an abstraction.

Anyone who imagines religious appeasement works better than other forms is in for a rude shock. Rather than dowsing the "hurt feelings" of a tiny bunch of Muslim nut-cases, actions like those of Derby authorities merely confirm that the fundamentalists were right, in their eyes, and set them looking for new targets. Let's not forget that dogs are unclean animals too. The 3 Little Pigs is an obvious target - multiple porkers and a large wolf! Allah forbid. And He will.

The Prime Minister has an official advisor who openly believes the Iraq war is a conspiracy between Freemasons and Jews. The PM's wife took the legal brief for a pro Al-Queda front group to enforce Taliban clothing against moderate British Muslims at a state school (and won). The Mayor of London calls a radical Muslim cleric who praises suicide bombers and says homosexuals should be executed, "the same as the Pope John Paul"....... and a Jewish reporter "a German concentration camp guard" on national TV. The Queen knights a Muslim leader who says that "death would maybe be too kind" a punishment for author Salman Rushdie. They lead. The populace follow, as silent as shamed sheep.

I understand that there are now suggestions the English flag should be changed, as the red cross offends Muslims as well. I have a suggestion for the new flag graphic. A large, random red blob.

To paraphrase Pastor Bonhoffer: "They sent for Piglet but I was not a pig. They sent for my neighbour but I was not he. Then, they sent for me." (Thanks to Mark Steyn for this idea)