In the course of my cleaning work, I end up listening to all sorts of radio I wouldn't normally hear, as I don't like to mess with people's radios, but I like a bit of company. So this morning I found myself listening to talksport radio, or something like that. First hour was dreary, with some dull discussion of the top six footie clubs in England, with West Ham getting hardly amention despite the huge support they get even in the face of a cmparatively empty trophy cupboard. After that though, it turns out Jon Gaunt is doing a phone in about the John Reid thing.

It was hideous to hear. I don't think the extremist guy was right in all he said, but the way it has been reframed so that he's supposed ot have been practically declaring a Muslim no-go area is really out of order. My interpretation of it was that it was more of a 'how dare you come here to an area where predominantly Muslim people live, when it is your policies that are terrorising them.' Whether he's right or wrong, he's not declared an independent Muslim State, which you'd have thought to be the case listening to the programme.

Then there were all the callers who were outright racist. I think it is safe to assume that if you ever find yourself prefacing what you are about to say with 'I'm not a racist but...,' then in fact you are.

One of the favourite lines was that fundamentalists like him should go and live in a country where there was Sharia Law. My problem with this is that it's exactly what used to be said about socialists - 'why don't they go and live in the Russia.' It's all part of the way those in power fire up the unthinking masses. Don't think, just mouth the words. There's always got to be an enemy.

And of course there was all the mouthing off about 'why don't the moderate Muslims do more?' The implication being that they secretly believe exactly the same. Well what are they supposed to do? How come we don't get calls for 'moderate Christians' to condemn those who kill gays (or invade other countries for spurious reasons)?

Gaunt himself was the only one to make an interesting point, which kind of ties in with the Pope thing. As soon as he saw the protester, he recognised him and said to himself 'he's trouble.' So, he said, how come (in an invited audience) the security services let this guy in?

No one really picked up on this point, but if the government wanted to encourage a stereotypical view of Muslims in its electorate, wouldn't allowing a known radical, who was bound to kick off, into the room be a great way of doing it? Just like if you wanted to precipitate a 'clash of civilisations', having a religious leader take a pop at Islam seems like a really good idea too.