My new computer
A couple of weeks ago I got myself a new computer – or rather, a new old computer. I did not actually want to, because apart from one particular habit, my computer was performing...
Indigo Jo Blogs Blog
What use is the Council of Europe?
George Monbiot, in today's Guardian, on the deafening silence of European politicians as Serbia takes the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the body, entirely independent of the European Union, which runs the European...
Swimming in Saudia: not such a big splash after all
I was going to blog on this BBC article when I saw it a few days ago, but sister Nzingha in Saudi Arabia has done so for us: My Fellow Swimming Sisters In Saudi....
Atatürk’s wife’s hijab
Various Muslim blogs have published pictures of the reprobate founder of the Turkish republic and his wife, wearing the standard hijab that his followers in modern Turkey want to ban – see Tariq Nelson,...
“Dancing slags” and pied pipers
Catherine Bennett on terrorism (from yesterday's Guardian) Last Monday, five young British Muslim men were sentenced to life in prison for a plot to set off large fertiliser bombs in southern England. The targets...
Salma Yaqoob: abolish postal votes to cut fraud
Comment is free: The secret to success Salma Yaqoob (Birmingham Respect party activist) is calling for the postal vote to be abolished in order to cut out the electoral fraud which plagued recent elections...
Express stokes hysteria over “Shari’a Court”
Islamophobia Watch – Home – 'Now Muslims Get Their Own Laws' This is a response to the shocking lead story in today's Daily Express, a disreputable newspaper which routinely leads with scare stories of...
Al-Qa’ida and Muslim hearts and minds
Matthew Parris, writing in the most recent edition of the Spectator (part 1, part 2) in reply to David Selbourne, who claimed that American power is past its prime, that Islam is what has...
Thinking of getting the MS Office demo?
This is something I read on the Planet KDE blog I use to gather news for my other blog: an account of what the author found when she downloaded the recent Microsoft Office demo....
Review of “Londonistan”
I waited for some time to pick up my copy of Melanie Phillips's book Londonistan, largely because I have a conscience about paying for books which are as full of damaging gibberish as this...
Radio 4: Muslims leaving the UK
BBC Radio 4 – I'm a Muslim, Get Me out of Here! This programme (to which you can listen until this time next week) examines the phenomenon of educated, professional Muslims leaving the UK,...
Bananamerica in ten easy steps
Naomi Wolf has an article in today's Guardian entitled Fascist America, in 10 easy steps, which lists ten things governments generally do when turning a country from a democracy to a dictatorship. It's not...
Manal Omar, the ‘burkini’, the rude busybody and the local media
Manal Omar on her five piece Islamic swimsuit – The Guardian I don't know why I'm surprised that a woman has run into problems wearing an all-over swimsuit; Manal Omar's run-in with some staff...
Cyberporn and credit card fraud
Operation Ore flawed by fraud – Guardian Unlimited Technology This tells the story of a witch-hunt against supposed downloaders of child porn who were jailed for the offence in the UK on the basis...
Blacksburg: from one massacre to another
There were two articles that caught my eye today in the Guardian about the Blacksburg massacre, one by Simon Jenkins and the other, in the G2 supplement, by Lionel Shriver, the author of a...
Not posh enough for a prince?
The Guardian: Common people I’m not sure if the latest bit of royal news has made it across the Pond yet, but over the weekend it was announced that Prince William (heir to the...
London’s foxes and hen-houses
Has anyone been watching the programme Meet the Foxes, about London's urban foxes? The film showed a "family" of urban foxes in north London, and their various neighbours, including some who fed them and...
Abdul-Hakim Murad: the churches and Bosnia
Abdal-Hakim Murad – The Churches and the Bosnian war This is something br. Mas’ud Khan posted to his website a couple of weeks ago, which I only just got round to looking at for...
“Inshallah” on the BBC: a cultural cringe?
Melanie Phillips’s Diary » The Beeb’s cultural cringe Melanie Phillips reproduces emails one Brian Gilbert sent to her (not sure who he is; there is a film director by that name, but it may...
“Something remarkable” happening in Glasgow
Guardian Unlimited: Something remarkable Robina Qureshi on what you might not hear about the situation in Glasgow vis-a-vis the resettled asylum seekers: the fact that the community has rallied around them, to the extent...