8th February 2010

A few months ago I reported that our useless Labour government had secretly allowed men with multiple wives to claim State benefits despite the fact that bigamy is illegal in Britain.  A few people complained, calling the article ‘racist’ or ‘offensive’.

The article was based on reports in the Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph, and Times newspapers, with no hint of racism. The mention of Islam and Moslems was strictly factual. Or were these complainants disputing that a Moslem can come to this country with a harem of wives, and claim state benefits for each of them? The taxpayer, of course, picks up the tab. As for ‘offence’, I find it offensive that ill-informed correspondents try to stifle debate by insulting those whom they disagree with. Refutation by denigration is easy but lazy.   I have a simple message for this handful of complainants: if you don’t like the Trago Column, don’t read it.  Stick to the Guardian. 

Of the estimated 1.25 million readers of the Column (which has been running for 40 years in thirty-six different newspapers) there has been not one single complaint from any Moslem reader. Far from criticising Islam, the article castigated the Labour government (and by implication the ‘useful idiots’ of the progressive left) who embraced the lunacy of multiculturalism. This is an old tactic. Ignore the genuine complaint. Invent another.

At the moment we still have a comparatively free press. For all our sakes, let us hope that these few individuals never get their hands on it.

David Challice
UK Independence Party

For more information on UKIP please visit www.ukip.org or tel: 01626 830630