Britons have long been known for their respect for human rights and civil liberties as well as their tolerant attitudes towards peoples of other creeds and cultures. Britain is a ‘live and let live’ nation where people rarely interfere in the business of others and hardly anyone blinks an eye at eccentricities in dress or behaviour.

I am privileged to have a wonderful house in the English countryside surrounded by green fields. I often visit this peaceful place to recharge my batteries and I have always felt at home among the local village residents.

It is my deep and abiding affection for the #United_Kingdom and the British way of life that now drives me to highlight its changing character and the threats to its identity that the government shies away from tackling.

Antiquated laws, civil liberties written in stone and a culture of political correctness bordering on the ridiculous are afflicting severe damage on the country and its people.

Everything good that Britain has stood for over the centuries is being washed away by alien populations set on doing the nation harm. In short, British tolerance – or perhaps the apathy of officialdom – has created legions of democracy-detesting enemies within, biding their time until there is an opportune moment to strike.

Besides the entrenchment of the terrorist #Muslim_Brotherhood into British society and the freedom allowed to the emissaries of #Daesh and other terror groups to distribute recruitment leaflets, tens of thousands of #Shiite woman garbed in black were last year given license to march down #London’s main thoroughfare #Oxford_Street displaying posters, flags and chanting during the #Ashoura commemoration. Traffic was brought to a standstill. Police were tasked to walk alongside.

Well, those women did not do any harm you might be tempted to think. The problem rests with what they represent – an ideology that encourages self-flagellation and the cutting of babies’ heads with swords as a penance for the martyrdom of #Imam_Hussain, grandson of #Prophet_Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), and son of the 4^th Caliph #Ali_bin_Abi_Taleb. Yes, you read correctly. The cutting of babies’ heads.

Some days ago, I watched a video on social media that is the stuff of nightmares. It was so disturbing I wish I had skipped it. A #Shiite man sliced through the scalp of a terrified infant being held by another.

There is a photograph on Facebook of a smiling proud mother displaying her bloodied baby for the cameras along with others similar in nature. This is nothing short of barbarity that has nothing to do with the #Muslim religion.

Some years ago, The Mail on Sunday published horrific photographs of #Shiite #Muslim men “flaying the skin off their backs” with whips carrying curved blades “as a baying crowd looked on, chanting and beating their chests”.

“However, these appalling scenes did not take place in #Iran, #Iraq or anywhere else in the #Middle_East – but in suburban Britain, and party on local council land,” the article reads. Earlier, #Wandsworth Council had actually given permission for this disgusting practice to take place under a marquee.

It is a mystery why the British government and local authorities pander to such religious deviants who besmirch #Islam’s noble message of justice and peace. Worse, they often hold allegiance to the greatest terrorist state-sponsor on the planet, #Iran.

According to a report in the Associated Press last year, #Iran was “establishing a global terror network that includes sleeper cells capable of carrying out attacks in #Europe and the #United_States”. Iranian sleeper cells are not a product of someone’s overblown imagination I can assure you.

Just last year, a #United_Arab_Emirates court was told how #Iranian_Revolutionary_Guards had set up a #Hezbollah terrorist cell in the Emirates and in 2015, a Kuwaiti court convicted 23 men for stockpiling weapons and spying for #Iran and its Lebanese proxy.

In the event the US withdraws from the nuclear deal and slaps #Iran with further sanctions over its illegal missile testing that contravenes #United_Nations resolutions, it is likely that the #United_Kingdom will follow suit. If #Iran does have sleeper cells hiding within Britain’s #Shiite communities, they may be activated in retaliation.

The decision taken by the majority of voters to quit the #European_Union (EU) was a mistake in my opinion. Nevertheless, I can empathize with leavers who said they want to take their country back.

These are generally people who worry about their country’s loss of identity due to the door that successive governments have opened to immigrants. Their patience is wearing thin in the same way that ours would be if hordes of fanatics took over our streets screaming insults at our police force and rulers.

Truth is that the horse has bolted. The quintessentially British character of the #England I fell in love with in the early 1970s is no more but that does not mean a better Britain cannot emerge, one that reflects the kind of future Britons want in keeping with 21^st century demands.

High on their list is security, jobs and the preservation of traditional British values. They will soon discover that withdrawing from the EU is no magic bullet because the ones that hold the most extremist views are also holders of British passports.

British authorities are guilty of being too soft. They have hesitated to crack down on miscreants purporting to be Muslims so as not to unsettle community relations.

A case in point is scandal involving a gang of British-Pakistani child abusers who targeted 1,400 young white girls in the town of #Rotherham over many years under the nose of social workers and the police alleged to have turned a blind eye in case they were accused of discriminating against an ethnic minority.

The #UK needs to get its act together to prevent an inevitable clash of cultures. Laws should demand respect for Britain’s flag, the Union Jack and for its royal family. Anyone with even scant terrorist affiliations should be deported or jailed. Street protests should be a privilege, not a right.

And, lastly, communities unwilling to assimilate should be closely monitored. The US gets it as do several European countries which have taken bold measures against destabilizing influences. What will it take for Britain to finally wake up from its politically correct stupor and do the same?