Arch right-winger, Danniel Hannan is often regarded as a rabid neo-con outrider. His piece in today's Telegraph gives ample justification for this.  Along with his rather lazy attitude to basing his arguments on facts – much of his opinion is equally misplaced.

However, in the same article, he raises some more interesting points apposite to the CentreForum Middle East conference on Saturday. 

He then states that:

"The 1979 Iranian Revolution will one day be seen as an epochal event, on a par with the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution. Like them, it immediately burst out from behind its borders, seeking to replicate itself across the world. Before 1979, it would not have occurred to most Muslims that there might be a tension between their religious devotion and their civic loyalty. Today, that notion is becoming commonplace."

Danniel Hannan – The Telegraph

This intriguing interpretation is attractive – and one that he believes explains why some first and second generation Muslim men are less patriotic than their parents.  He also suggests that the fracturing of ‘British’ identity into ‘the four constituent nations’ leaves people who can’t identify Scottish or English routes rootless.

Mr Hannan’s remedies are as predictable as they are un-interesting (pulling out of the EU and ending ‘squalor of welfare dependency’.)  But that’s not to say that his initial observations are necessarily misguided.  

Also in the news today:

• http://www.electoral-vote.com/ – Dem 50, Rep 50 – New Jersey is looking safer for the Democrats again despite the massive media-buy the Republicans have lavished on the state.  Tennessee is looking more distant for them.