Pick-Axe Handle Be Upon Him

After 9/11 there was a great increase in interest in Islam in this country - both among natives and Muslims. The Government's response seems to have increased this interest. People, just like schoolchildren or dogs, can smell fear a mile off, and there's much anecdotal evidence in the pages of the Guardian and articles by Yazza that after 9/11 - and even 7/7 - that young Muslims felt more need to express their religious identity than before. Hence the growing volume of stories re hijab, niqab, prayer-room etc.

Strange at first glance. After all, if Christians living in, say, Pakistan killed 3,000 Pakistanis in a terrorist attack carried out in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is it likely that Pakistani Christians would be more open about wearing crosses and rosaries , more confident in demanding that the State grant them rights and privileges ?

I think not. It's the response of the native Brits (or to be exact their rulers) which has been key. Just as some women are excited when a pub scrap breaks out in front of them (knowing that they are perfectly safe) it can't but do something to an impressionable young mind when your fellow-Muslims slaughter infidels and the police rush to protect the mosques while the Government and state media proclaim the glories of your faith. In my Pakistani parallel, I'm sure the police would also be rushing to the churches - and woe unto to anyone they caught there.

(To any impressionable commenters, this does not mean a) that the imagined Pakistan scenario would have been my preferred response b) that I'm unaware that Pakistan have in fact hanged Muslims for raping Christians - and the sentence was confirmed by a sharia court. I'm not sure this laudable example of even-handedness would be followed in the aftermath of a Karachi or Islamabad 9/11, that's all.)

It works with non-Muslims too. Anecdotally (again) conversion rates have increased since 9/11. More Brits are interested in Islam. After all, it's only human to want to support a winning team. Unfortunately it's the violent bit that's precisely the appeal for some.

Tempers flared after Paul Gibbons, 47, and John Jones, 43, exchanged insults in an Internet chatroom, an Old Bailey judge was told.

After tracing Mr Jones to his home address in Clacton, Gibbons armed himself with a pickaxe handle and, accompanied by a man with a machete, travelled 70 miles to the Essex seaside town in December 2005.

When they arrived, Mr Jones, whose girlfriend and three children were in the house, opened the door holding a knife for protection.

A fight broke out in which Mr Jones was disarmed and then beaten with the pickaxe handle and cut with his own knife.

Gibbons fled after Mr Jones's girlfriend called for help. Mr Jones suffered cuts to his head, neck and hands.

An earlier hearing was told that Gibbons, from Southwark, south London, and Mr Jones had encountered each other in a chatroom called Islam 10 because they both had an interest in the Muslim faith.

Jailing Gibbons, who has a record of violence, Judge Richard Hawkins told him: "It is accepted by the prosecution that Mr Jones taunted you and dared you to go to his house where you would be greeted with weapons."

Gibbons, who is unemployed, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful wounding after the prosecution agreed not to proceed with charges of attempted murder and threats to kill.

Hmm. "Whose girlfriend and three children were in the house". "Who has a record of violence".

Was it Islam's strict sexual morality or its peacefulness that was the attraction for these upstanding Brits ? We'll never know.



PS - note the two and a half year sentence for travelling seventy miles with a pick-axe handle (and mate with machete) to beat up someone he'd never met. He'll be out in a year and a bit.

Tougher sentences - say twice that - five years - are reserved for the people who pose a real danger to the public.

Like 66 year old William Hughes.