Maybe There Won't Always Be An England

From the February 19th Daily Telegraph:

Music, chess and cricket are just three things banned in some Muslim schools in the UK. Others are drama, dance, sport, Shakespeare, and, in some cases, any aspect of Western culture whatever. According to the management committee of London's Madani Secondary Girls' School, this is because "our children are exposed to a culture that is in opposition with almost everything Islam stands for". The response to this sense of danger is often to forbid outright any kind of relationship with non-Muslims: "Allah has warned us in the Koran, do not befriend the kuffaar. The Jews and Christians will never be content with you until you follow their way," says Riyadhul Haq, a teacher in Kidderminster.

As reported in the February 19th New York Times:

Britain's government apologized Thursday for endorsing a lesson plan which asked students to think like suicide bombers.

Britain's government-run Teachernet Web site pointed teachers to a lesson plan about the deadly attacks which suggested that students think about the bombings from the perspective of the people who carried them out.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families described the site as a "one-stop-shop" for British teachers looking for lesson plans and teaching aids. He acknowledged that the lesson about the bombings was inappropriate for schoolchildren and said it had been pulled from the site.

"We've apologized," he said, speaking anonymously in line with official policy.

The lesson plan, called "Things Do Change," examines life in multicultural Britain. The focus is on the "golden rule" -- treating others as you would want to be treated -- but it also touches on the London bombings, in which four British Muslims killed themselves and 52 others aboard subway cars and a double-decker bus.

Among the lessons' suggested features was: "A brief presentation on the 7/7 bombings from the perspective of the bombers."

From the February 21st Daily Telegraph:

British Muslims are providing the Taliban with electronic devices to make roadside bombs for use in attacks against British forces serving in southern Afghanistan, The Telegraph can disclose.

The devices, which enable Taliban fighters to detonate roadside bombs by remote control, are either sent to sympathizers in the region, or carried by volunteers who fly to Pakistan and then make their way across the border. . .

They included mobile phones filled with explosives, which could kill or seriously injure British soldiers patrolling on foot, and more sophisticated devices that can be used against military vehicles.

Explosives experts who have examined the devices say they have found British-made electronic components that enable Taliban insurgents to detonate their home-made, road-side bombs by remote control.

The electronic devices smuggled into Afghanistan from Britain range from basic remote control units that are normally used to fly model airplanes to more advanced components that enable insurgents to conduct attacks from up to a mile away from British patrols.