Politics, tech and media issues from a Muslim perspective
Two British-based pro-Palestinian groups, the Friends of al-Aqsa and the Palestine Solidary Campaign, have had their bank accounts withdrawn by the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Alliance & Leicester bank respectively. This is...
I’d like to start off by saying I have no familiarity with the life and works of the recently departed Susan Sontag (apart from having merely heard of her), but I couldn’t help noticing...
Some time in 2003 I took part in a rally in north-west London against an appearance by Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, where an organised “riot” in 2002 resulted in a huge...
Spencer’s two blogs also have something to say about Muslim responses to the recent Aceh tsunami disaster. The biggest-hit area was the Aceh province in Sumatra, with casualties in six figures, followed by Thailand,...
Yet again, a mentally-ill Muslim with a criminal background has murdered someone. It’s not, of course, all that uncommon that somebody with a disturbed mind may imagine that they are doing the “Lord’s work”...
Aziz Poonawalla has opened nominations for the alt.muslim Brass Crescent awards (nominations here), for the best Muslim blogs and blogs about Islam. I’ve put in my nominations (and no, I’m not expecting nominations in...
Charles Arthur has just published a new article outlining his predictions for the tech scene in 2005. One thing I noticed was the prediction that “Comment spam” on blogs will threaten to strangle discussion...
I’m not sure if the sort of ruminations which have appeared since the past weekend’s earthquake / tsunami disaster appear after every such disaster. But the whole idea of “how God can allow such...
George Monbiot has a piece in today’s Guardian (which may shortly appear at his website) regarding the Great Skye Toll Bridge Rip-off in which a bridge was built linking mainland Scotland with the Isle...
Listening to how people in the British broadcast media pronounce names of people who are very much in the news, you wonder why the organisation does not find out how they are pronounced, and...
A not-so-secret secret intelligence report reveals that “al-Qa’ida” is planning a big attack on the new year celebrations in London, according to the Daily Telegraph. This means, of course, that the Muslim community should...
Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called for “equality” in the allotment of blood money on account of manslaughter during a forum in Qatar’s Supreme Council for Family Affairs. (I’m commenting on this here because Al-Muhajabah’s blog,...
I’ve been meaning to write something about the debate about weapons laws in the letters page of the Spectator for as long as it’s been going on, but have never got round to it,...
I just saw an ad on ITV for Ariel non-bio washing powder. The advert featured an African woman, traditionally dressed and with her scarf tied around her hair, kissing a little boy goodbye and...
I was beginning to miss the experience of being out on the road. Typically my truck and van driving career has consisted of a mix of middle-distance (ie. around the south-east of England) and...
It’s only Tuesday, and I’ve already seen four things which make me think “that’s dumb”.
On the subject of windbags, Daniel Pipes crows about Tariq Ramadan giving up his professorship at Notre Dame University, after the US revoked his visa for reasons unknown (no doubt, behind-the-scenes pressure). Even more...
Notorious web windbag Robert Spencer has decided to repeat Israeli intelligence “information” that the registered British charity Interpal is a “Hamas front”. This is, of course, a common tactic of his gang, and the...
Hearing of the Dutch bigots who are among the most vituperatively anti-Islamic in Europe does not have its full impact until you realise what they are fighting to protect. We’ve all heard of the...
Last week Yvonne Ridley wrote an article in the Observer about the hostile reaction her headscarf has caused when going about her business in London, including jibes about bombs and “Chechen black widows”, and...