This blog earlier published a piece about the forthcoming appeal against conviction and sentence by the counterjihad writer Tim Burton on ‘hate speech’ charges. In this piece it was mentioned that there was a potential major conflict of interest on the part of the prosecution’s defence expert witness Dr Matthew Wilkinson. When he entered the witness box and took the oath Dr Wilkinson failed to disclose that he was the founder of an organisation that shared patrons with organisations run or founded by the chief complainant in the case one Fiyaz Mughal.

This is an extraordinary link between the prosecution expert witness and Fiyaz Mughal’s various organisations and front groups along with senior Crown Prosecution Service staff who serve on the board of Dr Wilkinson’s organisation, an entity called ‘Curriculum for Cohesion’. It’s such a close and disturbing link that it should have been declared to the court. But it was not. It wasn’t declared by Dr Wilkinson himself and it also wasn’t mentioned by the prosecution counsel in the case of Crown vs Burton.

However, it’s not the court case that I wish to examine in too much detail today, that was done in the previous article that is linked to above. It’s Dr Wilkinson’s extremely disturbing organisation that is the subject of this piece.

‘Curriculum for Cohesion’, judging by its website, appears to be a full-on Islam promotion outfit masquerading as a group concerned about ‘community cohesion’.

The page stating ‘why’ Curriculum for Cohesion’, created in 2015, exists, contains the usual guff about Muslims existing peacefully in multi faith and globalised societies (yeah right, show me a peaceful multifaith Muslim majority country please) such as:

Ideas create the unseen environment of all our lives. We believe that the Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority worlds have arrived at a moment when a fundamental shift in ideas about the relationship of Islam and Muslims with the rest of the world is required in order for Muslims to interact peacefully and productively with multi-faith, globalised societies.

All around the world today we see terrible things happening because of the presence of bad, false ideas about religion and because of the absence of good, true ones:

• The presence of false, bad ideas about religion is causing religious sects to slaughter each other in the Middle East;
• The presence of false, bad ideas about religion is causing some nation-states to deny basic human rights to minorities and women;
• The absence of good, true ideas about religion is paralysing western governments from catering for the legal and political needs of the religious minorities in their own countries and abroad;
• The absence of good, true ideas about religion is leaving the educational and personal potential of millions of young people under-fulfilled.

We exist to identify and remove bad, destructive and false ideas about religion from the world and how to discover and introduce good, productive and true ones with a case focus on the traditions of Islam and Muslims.

About the only bit of that statement that doesn’t give me cause for concern is the part that said that ‘ideas create the unseen environment of our lives’. Difficult to disagree on that one, the rest of it verges on the sort of kumbaya bullshit that you can hear at any ‘interfaith’ meeting.

The idea that Curriculum for Cohesion are promoting is that there are problems regarding Islam and the relationship with other faiths primarily because ‘false’ views of an ostensibly ‘good’ faith i.e. Islam have taken hold both in the Islamic world and the West. Curriculum for Cohesion also, you will notice blame false views of religion, presumably Islam, for Western nations ‘ ‘Not catering for the legal and political needs of the religious minorities in their own countries and abroad’. The more I read of such stuff being put out by a group founded by Dr Wilkinson, who is a convert to Islam, the more I understand why the West-hating, pro-Islam, Israel-bashing academic carbuncle School of Oriental and African Studies is connected to this project.

You don’t have to drill down that deep into the site to discover that Dr Wilkinson’s group believes in stuff that would probably horrify many people and justifiably so. To give one example the organisations page entitled: ‘How are our beliefs put into practise’ could be seen as a step by step guide to infiltrating and influencing a nation’s legal, political and cultural systems. Curriculum for Cohesion openly admit that an amalgam between UK Civil law and Islamic shariah law can be created. This should ring alarm bells with anyone who believes that religion and law should be utterly divorced from one another.

We should be doubly concerned that this organisation is putting its tentacles into the legal system and the teaching professions as I have little doubt that the policies and philosophies of Curriculum for Cohesion’ are not those that will bring any benefit to the majority of the people of Britain. On the contrary it likely to increase the propensity of police officers, magistrates, judges, teachers and a number of other state employees, many of whom hold draconian powers over our lives, to appease Islam and pander to whatever is the latest Muslim whine of the day.

This is what Curriculum for Cohesion state is how they will achieve their aims.

Our mechanism is a team of the UK’s brightest scholars of philosophy, Islamic studies, as well as legal and educational theorists and practitioners. We are building a systematic philosophy of religion to clear the intellectual ground of redundant and false ideas about religion in order to put in place coherently-related good ones which respect both the principles of faith and the legal and existential contexts of multi-faith society.

We then apply these ideas in the most direct way to way to improve and enrich the practice of teachers, judges, prison officers, researchers and journalists.

We believe that the philosophy of critical realism so fittingly ‘underlabours’ for the contemporary interpretation of Islamic doctrine and practice in multi-faith contexts as to suggest a distinctive branch of contemporary philosophy of religion specifically suited for the purpose of relating Islam to multi-faith society which we call Islamic critical realism.

• At the level of original critical realism, being-as-such, Islamic critical realism is well-placed to help revitalise Islamic praxis due to critical realism’s sharing core metaphysical premises with Islam: ‘Underlabouring’ and philosophical ‘Seriousness’.
• At the level of the dialectical Islamic critical realism, being-as-process, we show how Muhammad’s mission can be authentically and robustly interpreted as one of peaceful transformative engagement with the structures of society: it was neither violent nor passive.

Finally, Islamic critical realism at its spiritual moment, being-as-unity, can give life and relevance to contemporary Islamic ethics by helping to distinguish the essential objectives (maqasid ash-sharia’) of the Islamic Law (Shari’a) from what is peripheral and showing how these principles related to the principles and procedures of English Common Law.

We should be very uncomfortable with the idea that organisations founded by academics from an institution that has long been associated with Islamic extremism, hatred of Israel and contempt for the West, are training judges, teachers and police officers. This is not going to improve ‘cohesion’, this is just going to further entrench Islam and pandering to Islam into our adminisphere. More of the sort of pandering to Islam and accommodation of Islamic mores will not bring cohesion but will only bring a greater divide between the governors and the governed. The courses that Curriculum for Cohesion run must be like ‘schools for Quislings’, with public servants, who are paid for by us and who rightly should be protecting us, instead eagerly lapping up pro Islam propaganda that’s all wrapped up in feel good post modern relativistic newspeak bollocks.

If anyone is in any doubt that Curriculum for Cohesion is a pro Islam propaganda outfit then a look at their section on the ‘professional training’ that they are giving should dispel any thoughts that this organisation might genuinely be interested in a peaceful nation.

Curriculum for Cohestion said:

Our ideas work directly to improve the practice of professionals and their impact on the lives of young people through face-to-face training.

Every year, we run:

• at least six teacher-training workshops for History and Religious Education teacher-trainees at the University of Oxford, UCL Institute of Education and SOAS, University of London and the University of Cambridge;
• at least two judicial events for senior judges
• at least two training events for senior media professionals.

Our History education workshops show teachers how an inclusive historical provision will also be more accurate, true to the discipline of History and interesting for all types of children.

Our Religious Education workshops suggest how the philosophy of critical realism can be applied to create an RE provision that allows pupils to reflect on, justify, critique and articulate the beliefs and values of their own faith traditions whilst remaining open to the wisdom of those of other faiths and none.

Our Judicial workshops examine cases of Serious Crime and procedural issues in court that appear to be Islam-related and interrogate the relationship between the principles of Islamic shari’a and those of English Common Law.

Our Media workshops show how journalists can make the presentation of Islam in the media more balanced, accurate and useful.

What this tells us is that this organisation is trying to influence children via their teachers into promoting the idea, now thoroughly busted, that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. ‘Inclusive’ history and RE curricula looks very much to me like trying to impart a false view, an Islamocentric view if you will, on UK history curricula. As an aside, if I was you, the reader who is sceptical about Islam, then I’d invest in history books published before the savagery of Islam arrived on our shores, that way you will know what really happened and not what the Islam promoters who are likely to decimate the history curriculum want you and your children to know. People should be aware that this Islam promotion outfit has it’s feet under a lot of tables and has already, by their own admission, had an input into future history curricula. This does not fill me with confidence for the future of vigorous and honest history teaching in Britain’s schools.

The courses that they are running and have run for members of the Judiciary sends a shiver up my spine. Do we really need, and does genuine justice require that Judges in UK courts ‘interrogate the relationship between the principles of Islamic shari’a and those of English Common Law‘? No of course, neither we nor the idea of justice itself requires that our judges need such teaching. We require our judges to be honest and knowledgeable in the matters of law and legal procedure, we do not need them to be wondering what the laws of the followers of a desert savage called Mohammed say on any matter. Shariah should no part in English Common Law, but Curriculum for Cohesion appear to think that it should be.

Many people who consider themselves to be patriots and those who are sceptical about Islam or opposed to this ideology will be quite rightly disturbed that this sort of organisation, an organisation that is promoting both Islam and a particular view of Islam, is influencing our governance, law and cultural life. What Curriculum for Cohesion are promoting to what used to be called ‘the great and the good’ is plainly that which will benefit Islam and Muslims and is liable to end up creating policies and attitudes within the governing classes, that will be of great detriment to the ordinary non Muslim Briton. Some would look at Curriculum for Cohesion and say that they were a type of fifth columnist promoting Islam and promoting appeasement of Islam as a way of bringing a sort of faux togetherness to society. I must say that this description of Curriculum for Cohesion may not be entirely inaccurate.

We now move on from the nature of Curriculum for Cohesion and onto some shocking evidence of close connections between Curriculum for Cohesion, the Crown Prosecution Service and various organisations and front groups created or managed by Britain’s most infamous ‘Islamophobia’ whiner, Fiyaz Mugal. We shall also take a look at fiscal matters pertaining to Curriculum for Cohesion. The connections between Mughal’s organisations, the CPS and this Curriculum for Cohesion outfit are blatant and are also a matter of public record. The Establishment contacts and backers in the form of patrons of Curriculum for Cohesion are extensive and include a former Director of Public Prosecutions, members of the Church of England, Sadiq ‘Saracen’ Khan, Simon Hughes, the former MP and equally former ‘straight choice for Bermondsey’. It is worrying in itself that this bunch of Islam promoters have such high level backing and such influential patrons.

However, as much as my bile rises at the sight of people who should know better backing Curriculum for Cohesion, the matter at hand is the links between the CPS, Curriculum for Cohesion and Fiyaz Mughal’s various organisations and front groups.

Firstly there is the matter of the shared patrons, both current and former, which depending on what level of involvement the patron has in the organisation may represent either a strong or weak link between the different organisations that they are patrons of.

Let’s look at the patrons that are shared. Let’s start with Baroness Neuberger

Baroness Neuberger was one of the first women to be ordained as a Rabbi in the United Kingdom and has been a constant presence on the liberal left scene for many years. She is a patron of Curriculum for Cohesion and is also a patron for Fiyaz Mughal’s Faith Matters vehicle.

Let’s look also at Mohammed Amin, former patron of Tell Mama and who is listed as a current funder and patron of the Curriculum for Cohesion group. Mohammed Amin played a major part back in 2013 in trying to deflect public and media criticism of Tell Mama when they were caught out lying about ‘Islamophobia’ figures following the Islamic murder Fusilier Lee Rigby. According to Mohammed Amin’s website he ceased to be a patron of Tell Mama, not because he disagreed with the groups objectives but because he appeared to have had a later falling out with Fiyaz Mughal himself.

Then we have Simon Hughes the aforementioned former ‘straight choice for Bermondsey’ who, like Baroness Neuberger, is a patron of both Curriculum for Cohesion and Faith Matters. Hughes’ full position in this organisation is as the President of Faith Matters, which is as about as honourable a title as having ‘Britain’s least trusted estate agent’ appended to ones name.

The sharing of patrons, staff, funders and supporters, either in the present or in the past, may be entirely innocent, but at the very least it may suggest to the reader that there is a nexus of liberal-Left Islamic schmoozery going on between Islam promoters such as Curricula for Cohesion, various Fiyaz Mughal linked organisations and our public servants. At the worst it looks like a cabal of idiot liberals and those pushing Islam down our unwilling throats.

The involvement of trustees of extremism linked mosques, such as the East London Mosque, to Curricula for Cohesion must also be noted and does little to persuade me that Curricula for Cohesion is entirely honourable in its aims. Neither does the presence on the list of patrons for Faith Matters of one Nazir Afzal a former chief prosecutor and Chief Executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioner or the senior police officers who appear on the lists of patrons and advisors for Faith Matters and Tell Mama respectively convince me that Fiyaz Mughal’s organisations have any worth apart from advancing the profile and political influence of Fiyaz Mughal himself. Those such as police officers who are tasked with enforcing the law and those individuals such as Nazir Afzal who are still involved, although now at one remove as chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, in the administration of justice by their presence in organisations such as Faith Matters and Tell Mama, declare that protecting one group, Muslims, comes before all else.

Although the sharing of patrons between Mughal’s organisations and Curriculum for Cohesion may raise eyebrows, the fact that a serving senior member of the Crown Prosecution Service is on the board of Curriculum for Cohesion is even more worrying. That this should be the case whilst the founder of Curriculum for Cohesion is working at the same time for the CPS as an expert witness on the subject of Islam, begins to bring to the nose a whiff of if not corruption itself, but more the appearance of corruption. In public life it’s not just corruption itself that should be avoided but also the appearance of corruption, lest one be unjustly accused of that crime.

As the Curriculum for Cohesion website itself states, one of their patrons is a serving prosecutor working for the CPS. Ms. Baljit Ubhey OBE is Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) for the Crown Prosecution Service in London and is the national hate crime champion within the CPS. This will look to some like an awful conflict of interest for a prosecutor who specialises in ‘hate crimes’ becoming a patron of an organisation like Curriculum for Cohesion which is selling its services to government agencies. It is especially worrisome where the founder is getting paid for his expert services by the CPS and paid by the Curriculum for Cohesion group as well.

When you look at Dr Wilkinson’s connections with the CPS, both as contractor and as a beneficiary of the services of senior CPS staff in the form of Ms Ubhey’s patronage of his organisation in the context of the Burton Trial and the fact that there has been patrons shared between the organisations connected to Fiayz Mughal, is it any wonder that Mr Burton’s legal team feel that these connections should have been disclosed to the court? I cannot help but wonder if the Jury in the Burton case may have looked at Dr Wilkinson differently if they knew that the complainant’s organisations and Dr Wilkinson’s were not only linked together but also linked to the CPS? I also wonder what may have occurred and how embarrassed the CPS would have been, if in open court a competent defence counsel had brought out the links between Dr Wilkinson, senior CPS staff, Curriculum for Cohesion and the organisations run or founded by Fiyaz Mughal, which include the dishonest Tell Mama organisation and Fiyaz Mughal’s self publicity vehicle, Faith Matters. There should have been no legal or moral problem with both the Defence and the Prosecution in Mr Burton’s trial having expert witnesses, both sides in a trial should have that right. However, the prosecution should not have chosen someone like Dr Wilkinson because his links with CPS staff through the Curriculum for Cohesion group and his group’s connections with Mughal’s groups via the shared patrons, give rise to suspicions that there was some form of collusion between Fiyaz Mughal, the Crown Prosecution Service and Dr Wilkinson or his organisation. It also raises the question: Did Dr Wilkinson give Fiyaz Mughal the evidence that best suited the complainant or was it truly independent? Dr Wilkinson is probably innocent of all wrongdoing, but the use of a different expert witness, one unconnected in any way to either CPS staff or to individuals who are or have been involved with Fiyaz Mughal’s groups, may have avoided the stink of collusion between the CPS and other parties in the case that has subsequently arisen.

So let us take a look at the finances of this Curriculum for Cohesion shall we. There seems to be one major beneficiary of this organisation and that is Dr Matthew Wilkinson himself. Dr Wilkinson has over the six year life of the Curriculum for Cohesion project pocketed a total of £314,246 not including London Weighting or NI or pension contributions. Dr Wilkinson’s salary dwarfs the figures for the salaries of the ‘academic assistants’ which are now as low as £5k pa and the project management and administrative support which comes in at £20,500. I see now how pumping out pro Islam propaganda can be a nice little earner.

We can console ourselves a bit, only a little bit mind you, that Dr Wilkinson’s snake oil about ‘cohesion’ with an ideology whose own ‘holy’ books state that we as kufar should be dead or enslaved, isn’t being funded by the hard pressed British taxpayer. A perusal of the list of funders shows that the money to fund this pile of Islamic academic excrement and propaganda scandal is coming from a variety of sources such as private trusts, individuals such as the aforementioned Mohammed Amin, Margate Mosque, Muslim Aid and Lord Mohammed Sheikh, a Tory peer who according to the Daily Mail left his wife for an Usbek waitress 40 years his junior. This project is also funded by Cambridge Muslim College and by what appears to be various other members of the British liberal wankerarti and a few idiot Jewish business people who seem to have inexplicably failed to read the bits in the Koran and Hadith that tell Muslims to ‘Kill the Jews’ and still naively believe that Muslims will live in peace with Jews.

Although we can take some comfort that it’s private citizens and charitable trusts who are funding this guff and propaganda and unlike various of Mr Mughal’s organisations, Curriculum for Cohesion has not stuck it’s beak into the taxpayer funding trough, that doesn’t mean we should not be concerned about the information and the ideas that this organisation has been promoting. We should not be too ready to treat as either honest or reliable an organisation that was founded by a Muslim and someone who actively chose this death-cult as well, funded to a considerable extent by Islamic groups and by individual Muslims, and whose raison d’etre is calling for more appeasement of Islam and an accommodation between English Law and the brutalities of Islamic shariah law.

Links

Tell Mama current Patrons

https://tellmamauk.org/patrons-of-the-programme/?lang=fr

Worth also checking out their list of advisors just to see if your local police officer is sucking up to these charlatans

List of patrons for Faith Matters which is often a vehicle for the self aggrandisement of Fiyaz Mughal himself

https://www.faith-matters.org/category/patrons/

Biography of Dr Matthew Wilkinson

https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff104976.php

List of donors for Curriculum for Cohesion

http://curriculumforcohesion.org/donors/donors/

Patrons for Curriculum for Cohesion

http://curriculumforcohesion.org/who/the-patrons/

Lord Sheikh who ran off with an Usbek waitress 40 years his junior

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380209/Camerons-Muslim-peer-72-bewitching-waitress-45-years-junior–toxic-romance-thats-enraged-wife.html

The budget for the Curriculum for Cohesion project

http://curriculumforcohesion.org/donors/budget/

Mohammed Amin’s personal website link in which he defends Tell Mama but later announces that he is stepping down from Tell Mama as he can’t work with Fiyaz Mughal

http://www.mohammedamin.com/Community_issues/Response-TellMAMA-criticism.html

The writer David Collier who has lived in both Britain and Israel on the ‘cess pit’ of antisemitism that SOAS has become.

http://david-collier.com/soas-antisemitic-dhimmi/