Peter Rhodes on risky opinions, the bill for barracks and how Whitehall works
How government works. Civil servants have been drawing up a list of the sort of poisonous, hateful opinions that might justify a citizen being carted off for re-education by the anti-terrorism organisation, Prevent.
This is one that they came up with. If you utter it, be prepared for a knock on your door. Here we go (readers of a sensitive disposition, look away now): “Western culture is under threat from mass immigration and a lack of integration by certain ethnic and cultural groups.”
You see the problem? That opinion is probably shared by half the UK population. We can't possibly brand every one of them a potential terrorist and send them all on Prevent courses, can we? Imagine the furore on day one of the course when some hapless citizen asks, if mass immigration is such a great blessing, why does every major political party promise to reduce it?
