Don't Like British Law? No Problem! Set Up Your Own Courts!

I am not making this up.

"The British sharia 'crime' court in a cafe where knifemen walk free"

Well, not quite free. There was an exchange of money and an apology after a knifing.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is still dealing with reactions to a little speech in which he called for an "accommodation" with parts of the Islamic legal code. Quite a few Britons were not amused.

On the surface, allowing one minority to have their own little system of law courts seems daft. On consideration, however, I believe that that the Archbishop's recommendation, as implemented, is insane, bonkers, dotty, demented, unbalanced, wrong on several levels, and barmy, as well as daft.

I mean to say: letting one group decide that they'd rather not obey the law that everyone else does? I'm all for community involvement, but this is carrying the idea way and away too far.

British culture secretary Andy Burnham said it best: the Archbishop's mooncalf notion about independent sharia courts would be a "recipe for chaos."