Hear ye, hear ye.

I have to say I feel rather uncomfortable at finding myself siding with Rupert Murdoch and Eric Pickles - two people who wouldn't exactly find themselves on my Christmas list.  Murdoch has been criticised for suggesting that Muslims should apologise for the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and Pickles has equally been criticised for circulating letters to mosques asking them to be more vocal in their condemnation of extremism.  But I can see where they are coming from - albeit they are approaching it from different directions.  As I see it, the problem is that Islam has nobody who can authoritatively speak for it. There is no Islamic equivalent of the Pope, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Chief Rabbi or the Dalai Lama.  So you have a problem if you are trying to address Islam, and end up having to address all Muslims (Murdoch) or all those who preach to Muslims (Pickles).  There's no solution to this, but an understanding of the problem might help.