Douglas Murray takes on Time Out's Islamic challenge
Douglas Murray's response to Time Out's Is London's Future Islamic:
''In ‘Is London’s Future Islamic?’ the author (one ‘Michael Hodges’) begins with a heavy-handed parody of what he thinks critics of Islamism think an Islamic Britain might look like. But stick with it, because it’s only after the attempt at parody that the real hilarity gets under-way....''
''All in all, the serious part of the article is closer to satire than the ‘satire’ with which the article tries to open. Additionally, the author seems unaware that even as he lambastes the ‘reactionary and often ill-informed press’ which he claims portrays Islam negatively, his own ill-informed ideas have led him into supporting laws and ideas of the most reactionary kind imaginable.
''As he dreams of public gardens as green as those in the Middle East, and public schooling as developed as that in North Africa, it becomes noticeable that the author has failed to consider what Islamic London’s press might look like. Perhaps we might imagine for him.
''There will be fewer listings in Time Out. The ‘gay’ section in particular will thin. After a while the listings of straight all-male juice-bars won’t appeal to enough readers. Sales will slump. A desperate rebrand will be launched. ‘Time In’ will flop, and after a while the whole enterprise will close.
''No Time Out magazine? Perhaps Islamic London would have certain upsides after all…''
