British worry

Your report (“Jewish educators called to UK authority meeting on Rosh Hashana,” July 27) states that “While British school inspection authority Ofsted holds respect for minorities high on its agenda, it has set a meeting for independent London schools including Jewish schools on Rosh Hashana.”

Perhaps this needs to be put in context. The real problem that is worrying the British establishment is those independent Muslim schools that are teaching an extremist Salafi ideology – but it is afraid to say this openly. So it has been making life difficult for strictly

Orthodox Jewish – and for that matter also fundamentalist Evangelical Christian – schools to deflect any accusation of Islamophobia, even though the others pose no security threat to society.

Probably, it is a lack of any genuine concern about the latter that has led Ofsted not to bother to check its calendars to avoid scheduling meetings on days inappropriate to them. Drawing attention to this publicly may therefore be counterproductive. MARTIN D. STERN

Salford, England