We are in the frontline of a struggle against Islamist extremism that threatens us all.
The Muslim Council of Britain fails to recognise the DCLG’s goodwill towards British Muslims – but the Department might have foreseen this.
It’s not just cartoons of Mohammed that have become taboo.
On this and much else, the son of a bus driver from Pakistan is more likely to deliver than the former stockbroker from Sevenoaks.
The reality is that jihadists have claimed more lives in Muslim-majority countries than anywhere else.
But since this particular strain is expressed using the symbols of Islamic culture and Muslims’ identity, resisting it needs politics of exceptional subtlety.
Plus: Charlie Hebdo and 7/7. Mildenhall’s closure: a garden city opportunity? More bad news for the Bow Group. And: I ditch the Telegraph for the Times.
Media that decide not to reproduce the magazine’s cartoons of Mohammed shouldn’t be criticised.
Sometimes the religious beliefs of a terrorist are irrelevant; sometimes they are critical – as in this case.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the targeting of Charlie Hebdo and its staff for murder had nothing whatsoever to do with western foreign policy.
The murderers of Stéphane Charbonnier and his staff understood that freedom isn’t the only challenge to their fanaticism.
That’s certainly what we saw last year – and not just because of ISIS.
Douglas Alexander is right to urge the creation of a Government envoy for it.
Pretending that recent events have nothing to do with Islam is fooling no-one, and driving scared people into the arms of extremists.