Recently in Appearances Category

Here is a transcript of the conversation I had with Anne Diamond, on the subject of the Daily Express complaining about Tower Hamlets council workers (in east London) will be asked not to eat at council meetings in front of fasting colleagues.

By the way, the same folks who made the Dispatches programme Undercover Mosque have made a follow-up, which is expected to air tomorrow, at 8pm. (I wonder if it's coincidence that it goes out when a lot of people will be breaking their fast, rather than a week earlier.)

I got through to speak to Anne Diamond (sitting in for Vanessa Feltz who's off having her gall bladder removed) today! The issue was a story picked out of the Daily Express (or Daily Spew as it's known in these parts) about Tower Hamlets council (Tower Hamlets is an area of east London with a heavy Muslim population) asking its councillors not to eat publically from next week onwards because a lot of their colleagues will be fasting (more at Islamophobia Watch). I think that this, in principle, is no big deal and quite a reasonable request, but obviously the Daily Spew thinks otherwise (how would they sell papers otherwise?). I said pretty much what I've said here, that the Spew has a history of stirring up hostility against Muslims with headlines like this one, and that as a driver I could not eat and drink while on the road or I could be fined for not driving with due care and attention. You can hear it here (about an hour and five minutes in; you need Real Player) until next Thursday; I intend to post a transcript of the conversation over the weekend insha Allah.