I went through this system, I breached this system, I lived it and I can tell Robin Simcox that it is, was, and will continue to be ineffective, couter-productive and disruptive to 'cohesion'.

With the new government there is a renewed interest in our countries approach to the “terror” problem. A review has been ordered by Theresa May, looking into amongst other things Control Orders. Contentious from their inception some of the fiercest critics of control orders have found they now sit in the seat of power. This leads to an uncomfortable question “What to do with those pesky Muslims?”

The Centre for Social Cohesion clearly hopes that a report it has released will instigate a political u-turn. Produced on the subject of control orders its author Robin Simcox describes himself a research fellow and author of Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections. 

After close examination of this document one thing becomes clear. Mr Simcox has very little grasp of what life is like under an order, something I have an intimate knowledge of, worryingly he also seems to have misunderstood what cohesion means. His report reads like a recipe for strife and disaster within the UK. 

Take one community...add illegally deporting family men to countries where they will most likely be tortured and killed. Sprinkle those that can’t be sent abroad – placed in their homes under house arrest for indefinite periods, without access to the evidence used against them. Knead well until said community feel soft and mushy.

Finally bake for years on end without fair trial. Preferably separate fathers from sons and husbands from wives.

When we are done the cake shall emerge and Simcox seems to suggest that this lead us to “cohesion”. One can only assume he thinks that Muslims will lie down and accept such actions. That Muslims, fearing state and police powers, will cut out the radicals, ostracize them, and just integrate into the wonderful British society. And we all lived happily ever after…. Well wouldn’t we?

Unfortunately Simcox’s fairy tale lacks any understanding of the psyche of a Muslim. As you oppress one, you oppress all. The reality is that as draconian measures are used it will lead to greater radicalisation, after all where is your so called justice? If the government takes steps to break the law because it does not suit, as Simcox suggests they should, more young men will rebel and stand against the hypocrisy. Simcox provides many examples where similar measures where used in the past such as internment. Any Irishmen will tell you that nothing bolstered the IRA more than the internment system. Why does he believe that Muslims will react differently?

Control orders are a failed experiment that should be consigned to history’s dustbin. They are expensive and oppressive, dispensing collective punishment on whole families. Many are dropped as judges quash and repeal them at a rate of knots. And of those who really dislike them and do not want to wait for “justice”. Well 15% have absconded and none have been recaptured. So for all this oppression, for all these lost hearts and minds, we have a system that offers no real protection.

Yet I doubt Mr Simcox has taken the time to see a family living under these conditions, has he spoken to those who he besmirches in his “report”. Does he know what it is like to live under a control order? 

I went through this system, I breached this system, I lived it and I can tell Robin Simcox that it is, was, and will continue to be ineffective, couter-productive and disruptive to 'cohesion'.