Deport Clarkson and Philips to Norway

I wish to join the growing chorus of voices in the media calling for the immediate deportation of Melanie Philips, Jeremy Clarkson and other 'hate preachers' to Norway, considering how dangerous their views are as an inspiration to terrorists such as Anders Breivik, currently on trial there for mass murder. What? Oh sorry, I appear to have got that wrong. Apparently, the media are calling for the deportation of so-called Muslim 'cleric' and erstwhile MI5 asset, Abu Qatada. It's an easy mistake to make. After all, Qatada has plenty in common with Clarkson and Philips: he's a great fan of cultural purity and has no time for lefties. One difference is that Clarkson has never been found guilty of any crime in the UK, whilst Qatada has spent years in prison -  for holding abhorrent opinions and inciting violence. However, Clarkson was once prosecuted for a speeding offence and he has definitely broken the law, many times. It seems unlikely that Qatada will be prosecuted here for any actual terrorism offences, since that would be embarrassing to MI5, among others.

Hate preachers

Abu Qatada has been accused of being a spiritual inspiration for terrorists, such as Richard Reid (the 'shoe-bomber') and tapes of his sermons were allegedly found in the flat occupied by Mohammed Atta in Hamburg before the 9/11 attacks. Curiously, a copy of the Top Gear Annual was also found in Atta's flat ... No, OK, I am (probably) making that bit up, although I don't know - he may also have had a copy of Razzle under his bed. One thing I'm not making up, however, is that both Clarkson and Philips were quoted approvingly in Anders Breivik's manifesto. Philips in particular is quoted extensively for her opposition to multiculturalism, an opposition heartily endorsed by Qatada too, as well as many of the newspapers now shouting for his deportation. *Irony Klaxon*

As for Breivik, allow me a small digression: the media have consistently sought to portray him as a psychotic loner and delusional fantasist whose views are marginal to the society in which he is embedded. None of these claims stand up to examination. Breivik displays no symptoms of psychosis whatsoever - no hallucinations and no disconnection with everyday reality. He is almost certainly a psychopath, but that is merely an extreme personality type. He may also be considered delusional in some ways, but no more so than the writers he admires, such as Philips. In fact, his delusions are extremely widely held and they are promoted almost daily by British tabloid newspapers: I remember reading a Sun headline screaming that Muslims would be a majority in the UK within about 20 years. Over half a million people voted for the BNP in 2010 and nearly a million voted for UKIP. Similar numbers support the EDL. If Breivik is delusional, then he is certainly not alone in his opinions and scarcely a marginal figure. He was also a 3rd degree Freemason, affiliated with an Oslo lodge, at the time of his crimes. Before you go shouting 'conspiracy theorist!' at me, I should point out that I don't regard this fact as terribly significant, except to illustrate that Breivik was far from being a 'loner'. In fact, he was fairly gregarious and clearly had connections to people with power and influence in Norwegian society.

Breivik's connections go well beyond Norway, however, as he seems to have met senior members of the EDL and claims to be in a more secretive organisation he calls the Knights Templar, supposedly founded in London in 2002. Could there be a deeper connection between the founders of the Knights Templar (a name with obvious Freemasonic undertones) and the shadowy and wealthy figures who channel funding to the EDL too? Perhaps. If we had been talking about al-Qaeda, the media would immediately have taken this as irrefutable proof of a global conspiracy but we'll reserve judgement and merely say that Breivik is well-connected and may not have been acting entirely in isolation. Just because various police forces have been unable (or unwilling?) to investigate those connections in much depth does not mean that Breivik must be making them up. Breivik certainly never lacked for money, even after several business failures. One has to wonder whether his parents (divorced when he was 1 year old) were merely overindulgent or whether he had financial support from other quarters? Would his mother, on only a nurse's salary, have been happy to provide the tens of thousands of dollars Breivik spent on tons of fertiliser, farm equipment, guns and fragmentation rounds, in between playing video games at home and failing to get a job? If only we all had such an understanding mother.

Enough of the digression. I simply wanted to make it clear that Breivik is no isolated monster, but a product of social and political forces which have very wide and mainstream currency, despite the understandable attempts of his various mentors to distance themselves from him. The enthusiasm of the media for the deportation of 'hate preachers' like Abu Qatada stands in naked, hypocritical contrast to their total silence on their own complicity in creating the paranoid, Islamophobic hysteria which feeds not only Breivik's murderous delusions, but those of  millions who share his views. If they looked into a mirror, they would see not Breivik's cold smile, but the face of Abu Qatada; the man they hate so much that they actually, secretly love him - and his opposition to multiculturalism. It's strange that he's still here. After all, we had no trouble illegally transporting terror suspects to be tortured in Libya and whenever the US tells us to deport one of our citizens to them, we always comply with great haste and without a word of censure from the European Court of Human Rights.

So why is the 'will-they-won't-they?' Qatada deportation pantomime still dragging on? Because it's great entertainment for the masses. It serves a whole host of useful purposes: burying other news, making Theresa May look resolute and strong on 'terrorism', whipping up more anti-Muslim sentiment for the divide-and-rule strategy of the British elites. If Qatada ever does get deported, they'll be sorry to see him go. I wish I could say the same about Jeremy Clarkson and Melanie Philips.