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Dear Jonathan,¹

I agree with Daniel Hannan about misrepresentation and the disproportionate coverage of Anjem Choudary’s gestures in the media.²

When Mr Choudary announced his plans to carry 500 empty coffins through Wootten Bassett, all our journalists were required to do was a little maths. Unless we are talking about matchbox coffins in a carrier bag, a gesture of this kind would require around 2000 coffin bearers. Yet it is well known that his followers number just a few dozen. Despite the widespread coverage their Luton escapade received last year, all the photos I have seen of that stunt show no more than ten of them.

Why so much attention then? The feeling I get is that those of us opposed to the war are supposed to feel guilty by association. For a while now — listening to neighbours and colleagues, reading the newspapers and overhearing the chatter at the supermarket — I have noticed a growing sense of militaristic patriotism in the air. Those who question the war — even gentle Quakers — are beginning to be characterised as raving Anjem Choudarys.

He may not be an agent provocateur in the traditional sense, as many suspect, but his actions do nevertheless serve to silence dissenting voices.

Yours sincerely,

etc.