@FraserNelson It is exploitation of a tragedy - as was the reaction to the murder of George Floyd. It's part of the culture war, itself an expression of a class war. Brendan O'Neil in the Spectator sees it clearly.
Police community support officer (PCSO) sacked after asking questions about Islam during a diversity training session.
Luke Salmons lost his job with North Yorkshire Police and was barred from policing after a conversation about Gaza with a Muslim officer at a training day on race, religion and culture.
Staff were encouraged to ask questions in what they were assured was a “safe space”. Salmons said the day turned into an “indoctrination” session, with trainers chanting “Islam is a religion of peace” and discussions about white privilege taking place.
He asked a Muslim officer for his views on terrorist attacks carried out by groups such as Hamas. The officer was happy to discuss the issue and even invited him for a coffee afterwards to continue the conversation. Within two days, Salmons was suspended for gross misconduct by an inspector who told him: “I don’t like your beliefs.”
Mr Salmons said: “I loved my job and I was good at it. I was well respected as a PCSO and my colleagues said they loved working with me and couldn’t understand what was happening.”
Speaking about the events of October 2024, he said: “The whole day was pretty much about Islam. At one point the trainers walked up and down the room for several minutes saying ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ over and over again. It was bizarre.
“Then, a Muslim sergeant spoke about his faith and invited questions. It was made clear that there was no such thing as a bad question and we could speak freely.
“Someone asked him about why it was bad to depict images of Mohammed, then I asked him what, as a peaceful Muslim, he thought about the situation in Gaza, with Hamas and other terrorist groups carrying out atrocities in the name of Islam.
“We had a really good discussion and I asked him what he understood jihad to mean. There was no problem, I spoke to him privately at lunch and he asked me what books I had read about Islam. He said he would love to speak to me more, so we arranged to meet for a coffee at his police station.
“I believed I was on safe ground when the training sessions invited open discussion. I quickly discovered that questioning Islam is now treated as ‘wrongthink’ within North Yorkshire Police.”
“But an overzealous inspector took against me and that was the end of my career, even though I had done nothing wrong.”
He later won an appeal against his dismissal but never received an apology from the force, where he said a “culture of fear” existed among officers who were scared of saying the wrong thing.
There is an Islamic blasphemy law being enforced by police forces across the country.
Read more below in @Telegraph 👇
I am not using my account here to comment on things often, but this news story needs a comment:
How is it possible that a professional European politician in 2026 does not see the very obvious historical parallels of supporting the idea of creating lists of Jews?
Rubio said he is unaware of the U.S. delegation at Putin’s conference in St Petersburg, led by Commission of Fine Arts chief Rodney Mims Cook Jr. Today, the 🇺🇸delegation definitely wasn’t talkative.
Was it wrong to “politicise” the Stephen Lawrence murder? Or that of George Floyd? What does the word “politicise” even mean in that context? Don’t tell me that it is right to “rage against the machine” when state authorities fail black murder victims for reasons connected with race, but that we are obliged not to “stir up tensions” when the victim happens to be white. It is this two-tier approach that is fuelling tensions and division. Can the establishment not see it?
@izakaminska It’s not “we as a society” because there is a fracture. Progressives have lost the capacity as you say but socially conservative people have not; but they are outside the elite
This is such a dumb statement on several levels.
You failed to mention that Israel’s military action in Lebanon has also further diminished Hezbollah, and actually brought about ‘space for diplomacy’. That’s how and why the direct talks took place. You also failed to mention any of the consequences of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel for many many years, just that they “must end”. How do you think such and end is brought about? Through your weird fantasy posts on X? You write it here and it’ll just happen? Abracadabra!
It’s embarrassing to see Britain reduced to this sort of meaningless drivel. What purpose does it serve? Who would be impressed by your post? Really, who?
It just broadcasts to our adversaries our own weakness, and our own lack of solidarity with our one-time allies fighting against Islamic terrorism. Will that deter attacks on UK interests?