For Shamima Begum, the Jihadi bride, the saga goes on and on and on. In short, after 5 years with Isis, she has had enough and wants to come home. By home, I mean Bethnal Green and not the crushing poverty of Bangladesh where she and her family originated.
According to the latest opinion polls, over 76% of our population don’t want her back. They take the view, as do I, that she went to Syria with her eyes open, knowing full well what to expect, and because her adopted Caliphate is about to be crushed, too late for regrets.
To the rest of us, if her ‘plight’ was ever newsworthy, we have had a blanket exposure from the media for the best part of two weeks, and for several days it was front-page news. I say enough is enough.
I remind myself that this girl and her foolish companions left the United Kingdom for Syria to provide sexual services and immoral support for Isis fighters who specialised in the most depraved forms of torture and killing known to man, and these girls did so willingly and in full knowledge of their depravity and, by all accounts, totally unfazed by it all.
It may seem harsh, even draconian, to strip Shamima of British citizenship, but Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, is obliged to look at the bigger picture. By allowing her to return, it sends out the wrong message to others who might be tempted to behave in the same way, knowing that if things don’t work out, they can return.
It is also worth remembering that jihadists, some home grown like Shamima, regard the United Kingdom as a legitimate target to maim and kill innocent people, regardless of the consequences. Have we forgotten Manchester and Westminster so soon?
Shamima may be the turning point in our otherwise tolerant attitude to our enemies within, and if so, the time is long overdue.