Yet more doubts about those news reports of a simmering clash of civilisations in Windsor, not far from where I live. Last Saturday the Sun said a house that four Household Cavalry officers planned to rent in the nearby village of Datchet had been vandalised by local Muslims: "Brave Heroes Hounded Out..." Tory immigration minister Damian Green called it "a shocking development." Quite a few blogs - including JihadWatch - picked up the story.
Well, I just checked the website of the local paper, and its seems the police don't believe there was any racial or religious angle:
Thames Valley Police have now said they are not pursuing this line of inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Reschwamm said: "This incident was reported in a national newspaper reports, alleging that Muslim youths were responsible for causing the damage to stop four soldiers moving in.
"I would like to emphasise that, although one of our initial lines of inquiry was to consider possible racially aggravated circumstances, we never labelled any particular faith or religion as being responsible."
He added: "Inquiries carried out to date conclude that there is no evidence to suggest that this was racially motivated. The MoD has also informed me that Combermere Barracks did not receive any threatening calls from Muslims or people claiming to be Muslims in relation to this incident."
OK, it's possible the local paper is wrong. And I don't have any problems with news stories about Muslim intolerance. (Here's one, from today's Telegraph, about a pharmacist who refused to give a morning-after contraceptive to a 37 year-old mother.) But let's keep some perspective, please.
