With the recent Parliamentary approval that lead to British Tornado aircraft dropping bombs on ‘ISIS’ targets in Syria, many people have been struggling to come to terms with just how the UK has found itself in a further military operation in yet another state in the Middle East? With public opinion having mounted against military action and with notably 75% of the Labour Party’s membership opposing such motion, the morale on social media post the vote was low and the question of just how effective parliamentarians justly represent the views of their constituents arose. Yet fast forward 24 hours and Labour’s Jim McMahon MP (known for supporting right of centre colleagues) was elected as the MP for Oldham West and Royton – evidently the voting behaviour of the electorate didn’t reflect the atmosphere felt digitally just like the 2015 General Election. One constructive outcome was that fact parliamentarians across benches unanimously described ‘ISIS’ as Daesh the Arabic phrase that means Islamic State without explicitly stating ‘Islamic’ when translated into English – a word and religion that such death cult is the very antithesis of. Any attempt to speculate of the potential consequence(s) of Britain’s involvement in Syria in my opinion is unproductive at such time without evidence and ultimately beyond the remit of ordinary citizens. However, surely the focus now should be protecting our young people sincerely and pro-actively within our peace loving communities from the risk of becoming radicalised? It’s easier said than done, but something I hope I can provide further clarity on in the coming months without fear and without favour.
