Richard Peppiatt, the Daily Star reporter who resigned in protest at the paper’s methods, notably its boosting of the English Defence League and its incitement of racism and Islamophobia, gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today.
You can read his witness statement here. It describes a culture at the Star where “a top down pressure to unearth stories which fitted within a certain narrative (immigrants are taking over, Muslims are a threat to security) led to casual and systemic distortions”.
Peppiatt told the inquiry how he made up a story about a non-existent Muslim bomb plot. He said the inspiration for the story was “a line” from a Sunday Telegraph article which suggested that Muslim terrorists might be thinking of disguising themselves as Sikhs and hiding bombs in their turbans. From the Star‘s standpoint, Peppiatt explained, “having a story that lashed out at both Muslims and Sikhs at once was far too good to pass over”.
A WA Liberal MP has claimed Australians are unknowingly being converted to Islam by eating Halal meat. In a speech to Parliament yesterday, backbencher Luke Simpkins said most Australians did not know that most of the meat they ate came from animals killed in accordance with Muslim law.
The close relationship between the right-wing Liberal VVD and anti-Islam PVV in government is a cause for concern among many local VVD leaders and officials, the NRC reports on Thursday.
A national Muslim group is 
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has claimed Education Secretary Michael Gove is “stridently Islamophobic”.
The Queen held a halal state banquet at Buckingham Palace for Turkish President Abdullah Gul tonight and promised British backing for his country’s bid to join the European Union.
Concerned about backlash against a