You might have thought Fox News’s debacle over “no-go areas” and “no non-Muslims” in Birmingham, England — where EA WorldView and I are based — was over. The US terrorism “expert”, Steven Emerson, and Fox have both apologized. The Mayor of Paris is threatening to sue over similar derogatory, and untrue, remarks about the French capital. The TV outlet has provided unexpected levels of mirth through the parody hashtag #FoxNewsFacts.

But, no, the story continues. On Tuesday, leading Republican politician Bobby Jindal repeated the “no-go Birmingham” theme at the right-wing Henry Jackson Society in London. The Society has also thrown up a new “expert” defending Fox and the scare stories of Muslim takeover — Douglas Murray, who is also contributing editor of the Spectator.

I met Mr Murray on Wednesday afternoon on BBC Radio 2, following the summary of a BBC presenter and comments by a French journalist about the possible Paris lawsuit.

The discussion was, to say the least, full and frank.

Listen to full item from 1:09.13 and Lucas-Murray debate from 1:15.49

Fox News is black comedy, but there is a serious side. Reports like these are poisonous. They are poisonous because they encourage division and fear. They are backed up by so-called “experts” in the US and Britain who make allegations based on no more than rumor and exaggeration.

If you are serious about dealing with issues like terrorism and issues in the Middle East, then you need dialogue. And you cannot have dialogue if you are practicing scare-mongering all the time.