Batley school frenzy is a stark reminder we are really not ‘in this together’
AS an atheist, I find it incredibly difficult to grasp the extent of feelings of insult, blasphemy and indecency associated with the use of an image of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims perceive.
I don’t deny that they’re affected by this and nor do I question it — but as a woman sans religion, it’s inscrutable.
As a baby, I was christened.
I forced my mother to send me to Sunday school because I’d been told if I prayed to God I’d get new shoes, and I sang in my local church choir when I moved to England because I have a decent voice.
That, and getting married in church — just the once — is the extent of my affiliation with the Church, Christianity and religion.
I’ve often longed to have a faith of some sort — to have some sense of guidance and a template to which I could live a more structured life.
I would also have appreciated some navigation in times of crisis.
Like when my father suddenly and unexpectedly died and I felt so utterly lost.
But try as I might, the only faith I have is in dogs.
Humans linger far behind.
But here we are, mid-pandemic with so much talk of humankind being “in it together”, and yet the scenes outside Batley Grammar School in Yorkshire this week serve as a stark reminder of the tension awaiting us when our “new” normal resumes.
Here a teacher was suspended after showing an image of the Prophet in a religious studies class.
Soon after, a mob gathered outside.
It’s worth noting that it was a group seemingly made up of only men, some of whom probably had little connection to the school itself.
KNEE-JERK DECISION
But that’s a whole other article.
To me, as an outsider, the crowd baying for the teacher’s dismissal played straight into my own stereotypical image of intolerant Islamic fundamentalists, and I know I was not the only one.
If ever there was a threat to social cohesion, it was surely the speedy and spineless suspension of a young teacher by an appeasing headmaster who gave no clear details of context or background to the “offence” but cowered in fear of that strict element of Islam.
A teacher, by the way, who is now under police protection and who will be sweating wondering if he will be the next victim of intimidating hardliners, like the teacher in France who was so shockingly decapitated for a similar “crime” only last year.
All this, despite the fact that the UK abolished its blasphemy laws in 2008.
And it’s not that I wish to cast aspersions on any Muslims, but I can already sense the rumblings of antagonism ready to rise in the far-Right corners of this country.
It was a knee-jerk decision by a headmaster who should have supported his colleague — or better still in such a volatile situation, explained the backdrop, which might have gone some way to calm tempers.
Lest we forget, this is a normal English state school in a secular system of teaching — it’s not a religious school regardless of the proportions of Muslims, Christians, Jews or others in attendance.
I am growing weary and continue to be perturbed by the gratuitous, instantaneous and unquestioning respect that we sometimes grant religion.
Those of us without faith are given no such luxury.
I feel angered by the situation at Batley Grammar but know my anger will be considered far less worthy than that of those with faith on their side.
Which seems not only skewed but incredibly dangerous.
Big love for Doh boy Pete
I USED to look at the skinny, grubby, depleted Pete Doherty and it would make my skin crawl.
Some women love a grungy druggie but it has never, ever appealed to me.
New pictures have emerged of an altogether different Pete – chubby, greying, well-fed and a bit cleaner.
And I’m thinking, that’s more my kinda guy.
Don’t mind love-handles.
Hate grime and squalor.
It’s Von hell of a style
I CAN’T take my eyes off EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s hair.
I suspect it’s a distraction technique so we don’t listen to what comes out of her gob.
She’s kind of outdone Maggie, hasn’t she?
I wonder how she can sleep at night, and not just because she utterly messed up the whole vaccine procurement process.
Or because of the commission’s appalling export authorisation mechanism which gives it the power to prohibit shipments of vaccines.
No, it’s the hair.
How does she actually Leyen down?
Fickle thinking
I’VE never liked Alex Salmond.
Always thought he saw himself as the cock of the walk.
Then along came Nicola Sturgeon, bloated with ambitions for independence and burning with betrayal, and suddenly Salmond’s star shone a little brighter.
Then he goes off and attempts to form his own clique with his friends and I start to dislike him all over again.
Now I don’t know who I dislike the most.
Sometimes it’s OK to be fickle.
Takes a lot of bottle
KATE FERDINAND, her wot’s married to Rio and off Towie, has had a baby.
Kate Lawler, her wot won Big Brother donkey’s years ago, has also had one.
Both are influencers and have documented their struggles with their newborns and entered into dialogues with their fans about breastfeeding.
Kate Ferdinand decided not to do it.
I breastfed all four of my children with very varying degrees of success and heartbreaking failure.
I was crushed at times – not just by the size of my breasts but by the pressure to perform this uncomfortable and exhausting task.
I’m glad these young women are sharing their feelings because it will hopefully help other mums.
But it’s so painful and disappointing to think that, 27 years after I had my first, those feelings of shame when one “fails” at breastfeeding are still omnipresent.
It puts mothers under horrible pressure and scrutiny.
We need to ease the burden – it’s OK if you can’t or don’t want to breastfeed.
And motherhood is hard enough without adding to the strain by continuing to push the need to attain goals which some of us are incapable of achieving.
You’re both doing a great job, girls.
Four-legged friends
I FOUND the pictures of the dog attacking Freddie the seal really distressing.
I’ve been a responsible dog owner for many years, with many dogs.
I keep my pets on a lead until I’ve met a new dog or pass a stranger in the road because I understand some people fear these wonderful four-legged creatures.
My dogs have been attacked by other dogs – on two occasions by a black Labrador.
After I lay down on the ground across my dog to protect it from harm, I confronted the owner who said: “He’s never done anything like that before!”
Which, I might add, is always what they say.
So I hit her with my heavy lead.
Violence shouldn’t be met with violence but dog ownership comes with liability.
And I have never done anything like that before either.
Oh, you beauty!
HAD an essential trip to London last week, to renew one of the Ungratefuls’ passports at the Swedish Embassy.
London is much changed – most noticeably to those of us with weak bladders who have to run in search of a place to relieve oneself and spend £14 on things we didn’t need just for the pleasure of using the facilities.
As we were crossing a major road, a woman cycles up, stops at the lights and says to me: “Gosh, you’re beautiful. I’ve never seen you in the flesh before!”
It was the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said to me.
Why?
Because it came from a woman.
I may have been told or lied to by a man but it meant nothing in comparison.
Women supporting women is a heart-warming thing.
I was asked by a male: If a man had said that to me, would I have considered it harassment?
No.
It is a compliment if it is done in a respectful, safe environment
My 16-year old female Ungrateful admits she would still find it creepy if a man had said it because women are instructed to be mindful in the presence of men.
A terrible shame – but let’s not blur the lines between kindness and harassment.
A sorry state
I’M a stickler for good manners.
Pleases and thank-yous are everyday words in my house (as are “bloody” and “sh*t”, but that’s just for balance).
I was really impressed with how Angela Merkel apologised to the German people after having decided to put the country in a strict lockdown over Easter and then realising it was a terrible mistake.
I’m not sure if there’s been a more pure “mea culpa” moment in politics.
And I’m wondering if it’s because she is a woman.
Psychologists say that, in general, females are more prepared to apologise.
President Macron had “no remorse and no sense of failure” over his disastrous performance around Covid.
Some view the utterance of the words “I am sorry” as a sign of weakness.
Most read in Opinion
For me it makes me more likely to believe you in future.
Why is that so hard for politicians to grasp?
Could it be that vanity and arrogance stand in the way?
- Jane Moore is away
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