He resurrected the issue of Rushdie at the last meeting of his so-called parliament because the previous three or four

"He resurrected the issue of Rushdie at the last meeting of his so-called parliament because the previous three or four meetings had been ignored by the press.""In the end everyone saw through him - even the Iranians," said another. It was an anger which, in private, was undiminished yesterday "It was all just clever media hype," said one Muslim leader. Siddiqui narrowly escaped prosecution, but the British press seized upon him with horrified enthusiasm and he learnt how to manipulate its indignation into an effective recruiting sergeant for his tiny but fanatical following.The rest of the Muslim community was angered. It came to public notice that he intended to put Weber's ideas into action when, in 1989, he asked an audience of 300 Muslims in Manchester to raise their hands if they agreed with the fatwa that pronounced a death sentence on Salman Rushdie. It did not."What inspired such vehemence was the extremist fundamentalist oratory of Kalim Siddiqui and his great skill as a manipulator of the media. A former sub-editor at the Guardian, where he worked for eight years while completing a PhD in social studies, he wrote his thesis on Max Weber's theory that conflict has a positive role in society. At the heart of their disdain was the role the Muslim Parliament had come to occupy since it was founded by Mr Siddiqui in 1992."It was arrogant and mischievous to call it a parliament.

It was born out of a wilful separatism to create the idea that Muslims want to exist as some kind of state within a state," said one senior Islamic academic. "It spoke for no one except its own members, and those were just appointed by committees which were chosen by Siddiqui. In effect the so-called parliament was hand-picked by him, and its only real purpose was to create a platform for him It was an unrepresentative organisation in every sense. It is very important to challenge the myth that has grown up in the media that the Muslim Parliament spoke for Britain's Muslims.

But in private his views were fierce in their condemnation of the man who claimed to speak for Britain's 1.5 million Muslims. This private verdict was echoed by prominent Muslims in Leicester, Bradford, Manchester and London yesterday, caught on their way to or from the mosque for Friday prayers. One of them is not speaking ill of the dead." The speaker was one of the leading Muslim figures in Birmingham I shall omit his name, for reasons which will become clear. He was responding to a request to comment on the death of Kalim Siddiqui, the leader of the Muslim Parliament. "There are some traditions that we Muslims maintain which have rather gone out of fashion in the secular Christian world. The question for the Queen is whether she can persuade her heirs to serve likewise.The writer's `Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy' is published by Yale University Press.. Even in our intrusive, media-driven age, the phrase has application to Queen Elizabeth II.

English nationalism in both Labour and Conservative parties may be inflamed by devolution to Scotland. Westminster Health Care has a credible strategy of diversification away from nursing homes to so-called "higher dependency" units for patients who need more nursing care and where funding is more secure. Quality Care Homes is also well run and has a low cost base, but a high proportion of state-financed residents and could be hit by a minimum wage.Goldsborough and CrestaCare are looking relatively attractive as recovery plays, but these are only for the brave. The likely failure of any government to conquer social ills, combined with the sense of individual powerlessness that will arise from European union and the growth of a vacuous global culture, should provide fresh opportunities for the monarchy to ally itself with popular causes beyond conventional politics.The best hope for the future of the Crown will probably lie in the development of its social policy - the active promotion of civic welfare, social pluralism, and the associational democracy so dear to the Victorian royal family. If a republic were to be declared, would or could a president carry out 2,000 charitable engagements a year to such effect?The Queen's credentials as a social democrat should not be underestimated.