In the first few sentences on Question Time tonight David Milliband, whom I generally quite like for a Labour minister, said that there's a debate to be had within the Muslim community, that all the great faiths have had in the past, about whether they side with those who seek co-existence with others or domination over others.

He's right of course, this is a debate that has been held by the world's other faiths, as well as Islam, through centuries. And you know what - the faith that seems to have most consistently decided on the "domination" answer over the centuries is Christianity. And it's probably no surprise that even today, the spread of western liberal-democratic hegemony by hook, crook or force, is still driven primarily by those of a Christian religious bent, like Bush and Blair.

If we set ourselves up as world police then those with a grievance against the world are going to target us. Personally, I don't vote for a Westminster representative to see some jumped up MP straddling the world like some Titan. I long to see the day when we put our own problems and communities first, to try to become smaller in the world.

I know that seems counter-intuitive. I understand the arguments about how we are trying to spread freedom and democracy and so on. But it took us centuries to discover true democracy (and in many aspects we are not there yet). Our example, in a globalised world, with media beamed into homes on nearly every square inch of the planet, will stand, whether we are aggressive and imperialistic about it or homely, self contained and introverted.

For those of us who want less government for ourselves, why should we want that to be any different on the world stage? The Co-operative Common Wealth of Oxfordshire is a multi-racial, multi-faith, diverse community with yes, some problems yet also huge opportunities. Were we on our own, or substantially so, would we want to project our might across the world in the same way we seem to do when we combine as a nation? I doubt it. And nor, I would suggest, would we be the target that we are as a nation for disaffected others around the world.

Coexistence for me, rather than the domination of the global power elite.

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