A few days ago I received notice from the local councils watchdog, the Standards Board for England, that mega-mosque backers Tablighi Jamaat had referred me to them. TJ object to my opposition to their proposed mega-mosque at West Ham and had complained about me to the Board on four separate grounds.

The Board didn’t reckon there was enough against me on any of these grounds to make an investigation worthwhile. They threw out the complaint and justified my opposition as appropriate and legitimate.

I’m pleased, but also personally sorry that TJ referred me in the first case. It’s backfired on them of course, but why this small-minded manoeuvering? Why don’t they simply come out into the public and debate their huge project? Their secrecy, silence and petty sniping doesn’t help their case.

Interestingly, this is the third time in my six years as a councillor that I’ve been referred to the Board – and all three referrals have been immediately throw out without the need for detailed investigation.

Former Newham Labour councillor Alan Griffiths referred me on some frivolous grounds and had his complaint thrown back at him. When this hit the local press, the egg on his face was evident for all to see.

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At their request I was today interviewed again by Hertfordshire police. They are finalising their investigation into ‘Abdullah1425′ aka ‘Muhammed’ who was allegedly responsible for putting the obituary ‘death threat’ video, In Memory of Councillor Alan Craig, on YouTube. (See eg Daily Telegraph Report)

Extraordinarily, the prosecution case against him seems to depend largely on my feelings about the issue. The police want to know how, as victim, I felt about the video. What did I think when I heard about it? Was I afraid when I watched it? How did my wife feel?

The whole approach seems nonsense. The question isn’t, what did I feel? That is purely subjective. The important thing is whether the accused objectively committed a crime.

I tried to help the police during the interview and explained that as a person of faith I took a conscious decision not to be afraid nor to let the obituary video threat affect my life. But surely this shouldn’t be relevant as it was a deliberate decision taken by me after the alleged crime was committed and in response to it.

Or has our legal system now become dependent on subjective touchy-feely emotion-based ‘evidence’ ? Perhaps prosecutions and court cases should be sponsored by Kleenex.

I was invited onto the BBC 1 Sunday morning programme “The Big Question” to discuss Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali’s comments on Islamic “no-go areas”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu87DzLY3Io]

I arrived at the studio and immediately met the chairman of a recognised Muslim organisation who said he is adamantly against Tablighi Jamaat’s proposed mega-mosque at West Ham. He offered his support for the campaign to stop the mosque. It’s helpful there is growing Muslim opposition to Tablighi Jamaat’s plans.

After the programme had finished, a senior Hindu man from Leicester told me that he had seen me speak against the mega-mosque and offered his support too.

I was having a good day – sacrificing Sunday morning church for the TV studio, but gaining new friends!

The only disappointment was the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, whose criticism of his fellow Anglican, Nazir-Ali, was disgraceful and whose contribution to the debate was anaemic. Why does the C of E specialise in such insubstantial and ineffective leaders? Give me the exceptions, John Sentamu of York and Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, any day. Why is it the best bishops are the non-English bishops?