I have no idea what the crime rate is among the British Muslim community, but I would hazard a guess that it is low.  What upsets the indigenous Brits is not that these immigrants engage in criminal activities, but that there are so many of them that their culture is overwhelming ours.  Enoch Powell was not a racist; he just said that "there are too many", and he gave a warning of a possible future.  But Ted Heath, like most politicians, didn't like to hear bad news, so he gave Enoch the sack.  (Was it coincidence that Ted Heath died just about the time of 7/7?)  And if you go to Southall in West London, and many other areas you will see what I mean.  Our way of life is being swamped.

I worked in Damascus in Syria in 1980 and spent almost a year there.  The Europeans were in a minority and were tolerated by the local people, but had Europeans descended on Damascus in the numbers that Muslims have descended on us, I have no doubt that they would have resented us for overwhelming their way of life.

Rather perversely, I found Damascus to have a law and order culture that I would like to see imported here.  Some British Muslims have called for Sharia Law to be introduced in Britain.  I am not keen on that idea, but there is one aspect of the Law that we could well consider.

European embassies in countries like Syria, have a pretty good idea of what and where safety or danger lies in the cities where they are established.  And it was common for European women to walk back across the city late at night coming home from a party.  They would walk through the darkest of alleyways without the slightest fear for their safety.  Tell me of a city in the West where you can do that!  The reason, of course, is that Sharia Law is draconian on their criminals.  One embassy man told me that any crime that we in the West look upon as a particularly nasty one, would have the criminal on the end of a rope within a week of him being caught.  Damascus has either run out of criminals, or the would-be criminals are far too frightened of being caught.  Either way, Damascus is a beautiful city.

And even minor crimes like giving short weight in a shop are treated quite severely.  I always found that if I bought fruit from a roadside peddler, he always ensured that I knew that I had the correct change.  A lovely climate; a lovely people; I seriously considered retiring there.  But see my book on page ADL for the reason I decided not to.

I never looked for it, but I was told that a square somewhere in the city had the public gallows.  It sounds a bit gruesome and medieval, but it ensured that law-abiding folk were not tortured by the scum of their society, as they are in some European cities.  Don't look down on the Islamic way of life, they may do things differently to us, but order prevails.