“Apparently, one in 11 British Muslims actively supports terrorist attacks over here and a further 20% or so ’empathise’ with those who carry out such attacks. This warning comes not from the BNP, but from a bloke called Haras Rafiq, who is an adviser to the government. I’d put the figures slightly higher – based on previous opinion poll findings – but Rafiq seems to be in the right sort of area. That’s something like 400,000-plus British citizens ready to either strap on the Semtex or smile indulgently while someone else does so.

“Who knows if this will come as a shock to the government, the leaders of Muslim organisations and the BBC which insist that terrorism has ‘nothing to do with Islam’ and that each act of carnage is simply the work of rogue nutters and wholly unconnected to the religion to which, seemingly by coincidence, they adhere.”

Rod Liddle in the Sunday Times, 5 August 2007