Quote of the day

"My brother was Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by two false Muslims. Islam is a religion of peace and love. As far as my brother’s death is concerned it was a waste. He was very proud of the name Ahmed Merabet, proud to represent the police and of defending the values of the Republic – liberty, equality, fraternity. I address myself now to all the racists, Islamophobes and antisemites. One must not confuse extremists with Muslims. Mad people have neither colour or religion. I want to make another point: don’t tar everybody with the same brush, don’t burn mosques – or synagogues. You are attacking people. It won’t bring our dead back and it won’t appease the families."

Malek Merabet responds to the death of his brother Ahmet, a policeman shot during the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack.

As obvious as they might seem, his points were certainly worth making, as some idiots seem incapable of distinguishing between Muslims and terrorists - such as this imbecilic caller to an LBC phone-in, suitably ridiculed by presenter James O'Brien. Equally indignant was Mark Steel's reaction to the suggestion that all Muslims should be expected to apologise for or denounce the atrocities - after all, "You can be a Christian and believe that means you should be generous, peaceful, modest and love thy neighbour. Or you can be a Christian and be a Tony Blair."

Meanwhile, Fox News' coverage of the events stretched to an alleged terrorism expert announcing that "there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim, where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in". Thanks Fox - I'd always wondered why the BT Tower looks like a minaret. As one YouTube commenter has said, "Just wait until he hears about the Black Country"...

(Thanks to Nannon, Martin and Laura for the links.)