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November 5, 2006

UK: Why Did Pro-Islamist Leave Government Think-Tank?

Madeleine Bunting has been a columnist for the Guardian newspaper for 17 years. She has regularly savaged anyone who has the temerity to criticize Islamic extremism. Individuals such as Martin Bright, her fellow-columnist who has written for the Guardian for years, has been attacked by Bunting as someone who "loathes (the Muslim Council of Britain) with a contempt that is hard to explain."

She describes Melanie Phillips and politician Michael Gove (author of the book Celsius 7/7) as "the venomous media voices who think no Muslim is worth talking to."

She has championed the UK government's policy of engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, such as the Muslim Council of Britain. She denigrates Ayaan Hirsi Ali as someone with "loathing and suspicion of Islam", but praises the Muslim Brotherhood as "the 20th century's most influential political Islamic movement."

Bunting frequently hurls the term "Islamophobe" at anyone who questions Islam. She wrote after the death of Oriana Fallaci, a journalist of far more class than Bunting could ever aspire to, that she was a "rabid Islamophobe".

Bunting has written: "Some of this armchair advice to government can be pretty briskly dismissed, such as the paranoid fantasies of the rightwing Daily Mail commentator Melanie Phillips in her book Londonistan or those of the Conservative MP Michael Gove in his book Celsius 7/7. Both authors haven't troubled themselves to get much beyond revived imperial delusions of demented, violent Muslims."

Bunting's hypocrisy is evidenced by her contempt for Catholicism under Pope Benedict XVI, whom she blames for having "papal stupidity". She said of his September 12 Regensburg address that "the Pope seems to have abdicated his papal role of arbitrator, and taken up the arms in a rerun of a medieval fantasy."

She condemns the Pope's opposition to gay marriage, but has not offered the same condemnation of the homophobia of the former head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Iqbal Sacranie.

For some strange reason, Bunting was chosen to head the think-tank Demos, a post she took up in September. Demos is a group which is said to be behind most of Tony Blair's policies - it has an undoubted influence upon policy formation.

To appoint a self-important, opinionated columnist, who thinks that Britain should continue to engage with Muslim groups, even if they have links with terrorism or extremism, seemed like the last nail in the coffin of credibility for the government and those who influence its policies. What possible good for the nation would such a blinkered and vicious liberal offer to Demos?

It appears that she had nothing to offer of substance. Martin Bright, who is also political editor for the magazine New Statesman, has written on his weblog:"It seems Madeleine Bunting, the Guardian columnist who argues the case for dialogue with the Islamic far-right has suddenly resigned as director of the think tank Demos after just weeks in post. What is going on? Has there been an anti-Islamist coup?."

Martin Bright is right to draw attention to this. Before her appointment, Bunting had announced: "I've reached a point where I want to do more than describe and comment - I want to try to shape debates, to move upstream in the process of how ideas bring about change. A tall order, murmur sceptics, but life has to include some gambles."

She took up the reins at Demos shortly before the furor erupted over the wearing of Muslim face-veils, and before the policy volte-face on Islamism, which had previously been tolerated and even encouraged. Bunting's appointment preceded a sign from the government that there were limits to its bleeding-heart liberal policies of multiculturalism. On October 11, the communities minister, Ruth Kelly, warned Muslim groups that if they did not support the ethos of British values, they would lose funding.

Bunting resigned quietly, and the issue was not widely reported. An entry in the Media Guardian from October 19 announced her resignation. A statement from Demos read: "Since it has emerged that her vision for Demos is incompatible with that of the trustees, she has decided to focus on her interests as a writer and a thinker at this point in her career."

Bunting stated: "Demos has played an important role in shaping key public debates in the past, and I wish it well in taking that mission forward."

The new acting head of Demos is Catherine Fieschi, a Fabian and leftist. A taste of her views can be found here.

Bunting returned to her role as columnist for the Guardian, and agreed to write a book about the countryside. She belongs in the Guardian, where liberalism and woolly thinking on serious issues is devoured by latte-drinking armchair "radicals". She is not a journalist of stature, more a loud echo of the leftist liberalism found in the corridors of the BBC or in the wine bars of Islington. I wish her well in her return to her natural environment of the Guardian, and look forward to criticizing her daft opinions on its "Comment is Free" section.

Journalists, and even bloggers, do have their influence upon people's thoughts. But often they merely vent. Any government, whatever its hue, needs advisers with "clout". Being self-opinionated and idealistic is not enough when it comes to shaping practical policies. And it appears Bunting lacked the necessary pragmatism and vision to be able to influence those who influence the government. Hopefully humbled, and with her hubris dealt the blow it so needed, she will realize her limits. A columnist for the Guardian is better remaining as a commentator, not a policy-builder in the real world.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 5, 2006 11:28 PM

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