Britain must declare war on Islamic State says Ann Widdecombe

In 1938 and 1939 the UK was similarly war-weary, being only 20 years away from a war that had taken husbands, sons and fathers on a huge scale and had left millions injured, disabled or disfigured.

The last thing any Briton wanted then was another such calamity but there was no choice because the evil threatening the civilised world was too great to ignore.

Sadly, here we are again. Cameron is not Churchill and he appears to have no stomach for a real fight beyond intensification of our current efforts unless it involves bombing regimes he doesn’t like such as the former Libyan one and the current Syrian one from a safe height.

Fortunately Parliament stopped him bombing the latter, which is now resisting IS.

His messing about with unwarranted interventions has scarcely helped but now that we have a real enemy he wrings his hands and does not much else and the Opposition is no better.

The civilised world – all of it – needs to ally with forces in Syria, Libya and Iraq and preferably with others from the wider region to defeat IS.

Cameron has ignored beheadings, crucifixions and burning alive because most of the victims were not British but can he really ignore the slaughter of (it is believed) 30 innocent Britons?

If so what exactly does IS have to do before he finds the guts to act?

If we declare war on Islamic State, at least we can deal with the extremists within our own borders and refuse re-entry to those who treasonably fight with our enemies.

We can take emergency powers including internment.

The jihadists are barbarians who are not prepared to co-exist peacefully with civilised beings.

We must fight them or ultimately be ruled by them just as we had to fight or be subjugated by Hitler.

Which is it, Mr Cameron? 

All mothers work but stay-at-home ones get no recognition 

British families with full time mothers and earning fathers pay more taxes than anywhere else in the Western world.

Indeed they pay a third more than the average in the richest countries and their plight has steadily worsened since this PM first took office. This is of course no accident.

Eligibility for child benefit was deliberately structured so that families with two earners would receive it even if their joint incomes far exceeded that of a single earner who lost it as soon as his income reached the threshold.

The taxes of those managing on one income are ruthlessly plundered to fund the career aspirations of those on two through steadily increasing access to free childcare.

Worse still is the rhetoric.

Cameron and Osborne regularly talk about helping “working” mothers as though those who bring up their children themselves are unworthy of any help, as if indeed anyone who cannot be described as “working” is some sort of un-person.

Working of course means economically active.

Never mind if Mum works from dawn till midnight caring and cooking.

Never mind if she spends the kids’ school hours volunteering with a charity.

Never mind if she does the accounts for her husband’s business.

If she is not earning her own living she is not “working” and therefore not worthy of any recognition or respect.

We also know from statistics that a sizeable proportion of working mothers would prefer to be at home with the children but feel financially unable to be so.

Well they needn’t look to the current occupants of Whitehall for any tea or sympathy.

A country which assesses the worth of an individual on the basis of economic contribution alone has lost its way.

On that basis we are already in the wilderness.

Alesha wows the Devon festival goers

My niece and her friend arrived at the weekend to go to a rock concert being put on by Boyzone in nearby Newton Abbot (in Devon) but it was Alesha Dixon, the supporting act, about whom they came back raving.

Clearly there is life after judging if you are grounded enough to return to what you were always good at in the first place.

Prosecuted over banana

I wonder how many burglaries there were in Dorset last year?

How many assaults? Perhaps even a murder or two?

I ask only because Dorset police think eating a banana in a traffic jam is a heinous offence and have fined responsible middle-aged citizen, Elsa Harris, £100 for doing so.

As Ms Harris said, a warning would have been sufficient but I suppose the further police take minor infractions the more boxes they tick in their neverending statistical exercises.

Common sense says that if you are stationary and you keep your eyes on the road, then taking a quick bite of fruit is not going to endanger anyone, but that if you do the same thing at even 30 mph you are running a risk.

Over-zealous policing is counter-productive for it erodes good will between police and public.

I am not saying the officer should have ignored the incident but a few friendly words would have been enough.

The chief constable should have a look at his priorities or Dorset might reasonably conclude that he has gone bananas.  

Martha’s window of opportunity

Congratulations to little Martha Salisbury aged seven, who was lifted up feet first by police officers and lowered through a tiny window to help them gain entry to a house where an elderly person was lying helpless and unable to move, but even greater congratulations to the resourceful Cornish police officers who were not afraid to use the child in that way on health and safety grounds.

Well done to Mum as well for agreeing. Sadly the old lady died next day but at least thanks to a little girl’s courage she did not die frightened and alone. 

Picturesque, but cows can kill

Yet again someone has died, this time a retired professor, after being attacked by cows as he walked his dog in their field.

About a dozen people a year are injured by cows and some are killed. Dogs are usually involved and the attacks nearly always occur in the calving season.

As the summer is now upon us and Brits will be taking to the countryside it is worth reminding them that peacefully grazing cows can be dangerous.

On Dartmoor I give them a wide berth and wince when I see tourists rushing up to be photographed with a calf.

Above all, if you are walking a dog, don’t go in a field where there are cows.