What do the following things have in common? The ‘Safety Advisory Group’ of Birmingham City Council banning the sale of away tickets to fans of an Israeli football team. The refusal of police to arrest ‘pro-Palestinian’ marchers calling to ‘globalise the intifada’ right in front of them. The reluctance of politicians to implement the law on separation of the sexes, made clear months ago by the Supreme Court ruling. The government’s unwillingness to protect parliament from Chinese spying. I think the answer is simple: plain, old-fashioned fear.

Yes, we often hear accusations that the institutions are squeamish about difficult topics, that individuals are guilty of moral cowardice. We toss this criticism about airily, as if all it would take to sort these things out is for our leaders to sh

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