Is the expenses row something to be proud of?
I’m proud of the fury at MPs’ expenses, by Ally Fogg — Comment is free Two opposing views about the ongoing Parliamentary expenses scandal: one by Joan Smith in yesterday’s Guardian, and one by...
Category: Politics
Clive James on feminism and democracy
BBC NEWS Magazine: Clive James on feminism and democracy Clive James is arguing that the reason feminists are not loud on the issue of promoting democracy abroad when the alternatives are far worse for...
Thugs go on rampage in Luton
The story is starting to come out regarding the display of thuggery and bigotry in Luton last Sunday, in which a group of about 200 broke away from a bigger march and headed for...
French bigots drive Muslim school to the wall
Why are the authorities refusing to fund France’s oldest Muslim school, now facing bankruptcy? | Education | The Guardian Today’s Guardian Education supplement on how bigots in a north Paris education authority are using...
Dorries and the MPs’ expenses debate
I’m sure nobody reading this, even those in the United States, has not heard of the scandals involving British MPs’ expenses. The scandals involve members of Parliament claiming things on parliamentary expenses (i.e. out...
British tabloid hypocrisy shocker
The Sun today featured the story of a former British soldier whose image was featured in a British Nazi Party election leaflet, in uniform next to the words, “we’re fed up with being sent...
The politics of Gurkha resettlement
The astonishing history of a 200-year-old British-Gurkha friendship | UK news | The Guardian This is an article from yesterday’s Guardian about the issue of whether all of the older ex-Gurkhas should be allowed...
“Civil war” in US anti-Muslim blogosphere
The Washington Independent » Civil War Raging in Right-Wing Blogosphere Or how the alliance between Little Green Footballs and its numerous offspring of mostly Christian (and sometimes Jewish), right-wing, anti-Muslim blogs have fallen out...
Erith scandal: a sign of Labour’s degradation
I have not had anything to say about the Draper/McBride smear story, mainly because the government actually had nothing to do with it, and it was all about suggestions being passed around by staff...
Rising anger at police thuggery
Since the G20 protests three weeks ago, there has been a rising tide of protest against the thuggish behaviour of the police which was witnessed, and recorded, by demonstrators and some bystanders, particularly at...
Stupidity about health targets and cancer
In today's Guardian, a senior NHS doctor, using a pseudonym, talks about the target culture which led to the scandal at Stafford Hospital yesterday, in which 400 more patients died in three months than...
Wrongly jailed man freed after 27 years
BBC News: Conviction quashed after 27 years A man has been freed after spending 27 years in jail for the murder of a woman who was strangled in her car in 1979. The man...
Provincial Tory attacks free speech
In case anyone was really thinking that the Tories had become the party of civil liberties in the UK (rather than the party which started the ball rolling on bringing in laws restricting the...
Democracy does not guarantee rights
Jack Straw: Our record isn't perfect. But talk of a police state is daft | Comment is free | The Guardian Jack Straw (currently the Justice secretary in the British government) wrote in yesterday's...
Wilders should be kept out
Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician notorious for making an anti-Muslim film called Fitna which was essentially a montage of all the worst stereotypes of violent Muslims, has been banned from entering the UK to...
Bush, Google and censorship
BBC NEWS: White House plans open government An interesting report on how the Obama government intends to open up the White House website to search engines. Under Bush, they "blocked" search engines from indexing...
Response to Umar Lee on Shaikh Hamza Yusuf
Umar Lee has posted an exposé of what he calls "Rand Institute Muslims" or RIMs as they supposedly exist in 21st-century America. Their characteristics, according to him, are "detachment from the Islamic Revival", supporting...
Exciting times to be out of a job
Train company is to cut 300 jobs Southeastern trains [which operates trains in south-east London and Kent] is to make 300 people redundant over the coming year. The company blamed "reduced passenger journey growth"...
British welfare laws and foreign competitors
On Tuesday, the Guardian printed a lengthy article about welfare standards – or lack of them – on pig farms on the Continent (Europe). Now, as Muslims we may not be too fond of...
Let US clear up Guantanamo mess
Some sense from a columnist at the Times, no less: it was the USA who rounded up men too casually in their "war on terror", and it is they who should take in the...