One of the most interesting - often intriguing - aspects of any conflict is the role of language in either calming or inflaming feelings of apprehension, division, fear and hatred that lie between the conflicting parties. In the aftermath of 9/11, the world was...

Reading Hassan Butt's piece in the Observer, "My plea to fellow Muslims: you must renounce terror", I couldn't help but think of how much his likes have to do with the dire security conditions we all face today. Despite his claim to have repented, I would ask to be...

When I first heard that someone had shot and killed 32 people on an American university campus, the first thought that came to mind was: Please God, let it not be a Muslim! By the time the full details of the horrific tragedy unfolded, it was clear that he wasn't,...

When a BBC online worldwide poll shows that a third of 27,000 respondents believed some degree of torture was acceptable when dealing with terrorist suspects, we should be seriously concerned. That so many people from 25 countries can even begin to think that such...

When David Blunkett was home secretary, he came up with the extraordinary idea that the problems of social cohesion and integration could all be solved by calling upon parents, and he singled out Asian parents, to speak to their own children at home in English rather...