Radical ambitions? Forget politics and find God

Some of the arguments trotted out at yesterday's Battle of Ideas event in London (mentioned here) were a little bit too complex for me.

There were shades of the old left in a debate called "Radicalism then and now: the legacy of 1968." But that was a good thing. There isn't much "left and right" posturing in British politics anymore. Instead we all flounder around the gooey middle.

The idea was to hark back with nostalgia to the revolutionary fervour of the late 1960s. It didn't matter, I suppose, that not all the panel were there at the time. At least Tony Elliott, founder and chairman of the Time Out Group (founded in 1968) was there and just to prove it he was wearing a flowery shirt.

Airfix and The Beano

I was there, but only in short pants. I was making Airfix models at the time. My radicalism was informed by reading the Beano and watching the Likely Lads on TV.

But what was so radical about carrying a copy of the Little Red Book and wearing a Che Guevara tee shirt? The problem with British student protests in the late 1960s is that the issues were elsewhere. Our boys were not in Vietnam.

The stakes were far higher for those who enjoyed a brief taste of political freedom in the Prague Spring. The Czechs really did have a cause.

Cushy radicalism

A lot of the British protest was what I would call "cushy radicalism" made possible by student grants, easy living and the knowledge that our policemen carried truncheons, not guns.

No, as Elliott argued, the late 60s in Britain were more about a revolution in fashions, ideas and attitudes. The swinging sixties were all about Mary Quant, the miniskirt, pop art and sexual freedom. Yes there were demonstrations led by Tariq Ali but if you wanted a real sense of radicalism you would have to have lived in Northern Ireland.

Thatcher, a true radical

I don't see much radicalism in British politics today either, nothing to match that of Margaret Thatcher. Now she was a true radical.

The real radicalism today exists outside politics in religion: in radical Islam, radical Christianity and radical Judaism. If radicalism is your bent today, forget politics and find God.

Archbishop rings alarm bells

I wonder how many of those engaged in pillorying Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury for his remarks on sharia law in Britain have actually listened to his speech or read the text?

His argument is so dense and diffuse that it was bound to be interpreted in simple headlines as "Archbishop wants sharia law in the UK". The problem with such headlines is that for most people in the UK sharia law carries with it one meaning: a draconian system that advocates extreme punishments such as the stoning of women for adultery and the cutting off of the hands of thieves.

Extreme naivety

If Dr Williams is guilty of anything it is extreme naivety if he believed that his speech would create the conditions for a balanced debate on Islamic law in the UK. The visible changes wrought by Islam on so many British communities are creating real anxieties within those communities. Dr Williams should visit towns such as Dewsbury in Yorkshire, or Blackburn and Burnley in Lancashire, where multicultural policies have done little to unite cultures that are as divided as ever a full half century since Asians began settling in the UK.

If he thinks the imams within some of the more radical mosques are debating the merits of religious unity in their communities he is mistaken. There is a war going on and part of that war is being fought in our own backyard.

Two-systems, one country

The vast majority of British muslims want nothing to do with the kind of terrorism promoted by Al Qa'eda. On the other hand there is much broader sympathy for creating a community within a community which might operate to a different set of rules, principles and beliefs on more of a Hong Kong-style, one country, two-systems basis.

Those who have extended Islamic practices in the UK have taken advantage of British tolerance, underpinned by a strong vein of liberalism, that has overshadowed an equally embedded conservatism. Islamic conservatism - dominant in many of the former northern textile towns - however, has shown scant interest in assimilation.

Christian society

I can sympathise with those among Dr Williams' critics, who believe that creating further inroads for sharia law within the UK is the thin end of an increasingly divisive wedge in our society. Britain remains essentially a Christian Society even for those of us who have adopted more secular beliefs.

No I don't go to Church anymore but I feel comfortable with the sound of church bells in my parish. They help define the country I know and love. I want an Archbishop who is less in the thrall of the muezzin and keen to keep those church bells ringing.