A powerful man humiliates a young girl
Yesterday it was reported that Muhammad Tantawi, the dean of al-Azhar University in Egypt, announced that he was going to issue an “edict” banning the niqab or female facial veil. This happened after he...
Indigo Jo Blogs Blog
He didn’t just call her a Paki
So, I’m sure everyone in the UK has heard that Anton du Beke (a BBC presenter and Strictly Come Dancing contestant) told his partner Laila Rouass, after she had applied a fake tan, “you...
Getting others’ hands dirty
Last week, there was an inquest into the suicide of a young woman, Kerrie Wooltorton, who drank poison and called an ambulance, supposedly because she did not want to die alone. The 26-year-old had...
Polanski versus Gary Glitter
Yakoub Islam (on Facebook) linked this video, in which Chris Rock compares Roman Polanski to OJ Simpson: People are defending Roman Polanski because he made some good movies? Are you kidding me? He made...
Charlie Brooker bashes Macs again
Microsoft’s grinning robots or the Brotherhood of the Mac. Which is worse? | Charlie Brooker | Comment is free | The Guardian Charlie Brooker, of TVGoHome and Screenwipe fame, wrote this column for Monday’s...
Hey Emel, what have you done to my avatar?
Back in late 2008, I got contacted by Emel magazine, a British Muslim lifestyle magazine, for a feature on Muslim bloggers. The process of getting the material over there took months, and I dealt...
Polygamy and sisters’ distress
Abdul-Rahman Murphy of Practimate on Muslim men’s attitude to polygamy and the distress it causes sisters, who often find themselves reluctant to marry: As my wife and I discussed this odd phenomenon of young,...
File on 4 investigates football racists
BBC – BBC Radio 4 Programmes – File on 4, 22/09/2009 File on 4 investigates the football hooligan racists who have been going around causing trouble in various British cities. They claim to be...
What’s with the new Pret?
For some years I’ve been a regular at the Pret a Manger café in Kingston. Yes, it’s part-owned by MacDonalds, but it had comfortable seats, the coffee was nice enough, your coffee wasn’t made...
The big lie
BBC NEWS | England | London | Murder claim politician faces ban The BBC reports that a London Assembly member from the British National Party may be banned from the council for six months...
Disability and brutality
One of the most distressing stories to be in the news last week was an inquest into the murder-suicide of a mother and her disabled daughter in Leicestershire. The family, consisting of the mother,...
The music teacher and the teenage lesbian
School teacher Helen Goddard jailed for 15 months for lesbian affair with teenage pupil | Mail Online A judge yesterday jailed a (now former) music teacher for fifteen months for carrying on a lesbian...
London Independent ‘gone by Christmas’
UPDATE 1-O’Brien sees London’s Independent closed by Dec | Industries | Technology, Media & Telecommunications | Reuters Denis O’Brien, the second largest shareholder in the Independent News and Media group, has said that the...
Wheelchair access at Green Park is money well spent
There is an article in the current issue of The Spectator by Andrew Gilligan, attacking a project to make Green Park station, an important London Underground interchange, wheelchair accessible or, in London Transport jargon,...
Rubbishing the ‘Islamification’ myth
Mark Steel: So has anyone really been ‘Islamified’ against their will? – Mark Steel, Commentators – The Independent Mark Steel tears into the ridiculous myths about the ‘Islamification of Europe’ peddled by some on...
The pollution of argument: Zionists and HRW
Judge Goldstone and the pollution of argument | Comment is free | The Guardian Antony Lerman in today’s Guardian on the ongoing smear campaign against human rights activists who criticise the state of Israel,...
Head injury, and disabled and black perspectives on Serena Williams
BBC – BBC Radio 4 Programmes – Saturday Live, 12/09/2009 This programme features an interview with Jade Bracey, a young woman who suffered a head injury after being hit by a car on her...
BBC feature on Welsh ‘Degmo’
BBC Radio 4 had a lovely feature this morning about the Degmo Centre, a farm in Wales where Somalis from Britain’s inner cities come to learn about their rural roots. In Somalia, families often...
Former K-Towners who leave Islam
Recently sister Safiya (Outlines) posted an article about the situation of women who got hurt in the Kharabsheh or “K-Town” community in Jordan; this is the community of Shaikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller’s students...
Another attack on a Muslim in Tooting
BBC NEWS | England | London | Man hurt in mosque ‘race’ attack Another Asian man has been attacked near a mosque in Tooting: this time, a 30-year-old, attacked by ‘youths’ after taraweeh at...