On jokes and such

My friend Rezbi got a bit excited about the last post, and my response is this.

I like the joke.

I also like Irish jokes, Jewish jokes, Polish jokes, English jokes, Scottish jokes (except for a few in Parliament), Australian jokes - in fact all jokes, not to mention ones about the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is a Welsh joke, and jokes about priests and rabbis.

Catholics and Jews love jokes about priests and rabbis, but do Muslims like jokes about their religion? If not, they should learn to if they plan to hang around here, because in this country we love jokes. And I like it that way. I would like England to remain English, jokes and all.

Like Rezbi, I detest extremists, and they do indeed give you a bad name whatever community you belong to. For instance I think all members of the National Front or whatever it's called should be shipped to the South Pole.

But although I know that ordinary Muslims detest extremism (because, guess what, I have Muslim friends) the voices of those who think this have been relatively quiet.

But I do not agree with his comment that the government or the authorities have encouraged anti-Muslim sentiment; for the most part they have done exactly the opposite. In any sane country the rabble-rousers who have been allowed to stay and be subsidised as they have here would have been thrown out.

But going back to the joke, those of any background who have had a sense of humour bypass operation may find the atmosphere better in a country where people are more serious. Germany springs to mind. They have had a few extremists there now and then, but you can't have everything.