After the IS terror attack in Paris, Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust argues that while IS has the support of only small minorities amongst Muslim populations in the Middle East and Europe, it has a clear political genealogy that builds on a history of Islamist politics and jihadist violence. The ‘not in my name’ response to IS from Muslim organisations is necessary and genuine, but it fails to directly and openly challenge the Islamist political culture of which IS is the latest and most extreme manifestation, and which – in the form of the idealisation of jihad and the utopian vision of a Caliphate as a system of government – put down deep roots in the UK during the 1990s.

Our Voice of the Week is a talk by Director of the Quilliam Foundation Maajid Nawaz ‘From Islamism to Secular Liberalism’.

Our Image of the Week is of the Israeli Presidential cat waiting on the red carpet for US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Islamic State and Islamist politics in the UK: why ‘not in my name’ is not enough

by Dave Rich