Wednesday April 30 2008 
Williams disappoints God in not taking a stand, says gay bishop
Riazat Butt
God is "very disappointed" with the failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury to confront the Anglican communion's outspoken critics of homosexuality, its first openly gay bishop says today. Gene Robinson, from New Hampshire, accuses Rowan Williams of failing to stand up to Christian traditionalists who denounce the bishop's life as an abomination of the Bible's teachings, and threaten the communion with schism for not shunning him.

Bishop Carl Cooper resigns after rumours over relationship with female chaplain
Ruth Gledhill, Times
An Anglican bishop has resigned after weeks of speculation about his marriage and his relationship with his female chaplain, the Church in Wales announced this morning. The chaplain also resigned. The two clerics, both of whose marriages have broken down, have consistently denied any inappropriate behaviour. The Right Rev Carl Cooper, 47, who has three children with Joy, his wife of 25 years, had already been given leave of absence from his diocese.

O thou great irredeemable
Theo Hobson, Guardian CiF
The Church of England is a timid, visionless mess of an institution. It lacks the courage to reform itself. Or rather, it lacks the courage to stick with necessary reforms, to see them through. It cannot reform itself without simultaneously pandering to the reactionaries who don't want reform. The result, of course, is not reform, but division. In 1992, it decided to ordain women as priests. A clear, bold decision, you might think, without much scope for equivocation. Not quite.

Fritzl Watch: Austrian Nazis, Fritz, Puns And Nuclear War (The Anorak)
Christian party loses BBC fight (BBC News Online)
Bush soon a Catholic? Fantasy, speculation, wishful praying? (Philip Pullella, FaithWorld)
FEM 08 (Laura Woodhouse, F-Word)
Our two-week grand tour to beat racism (Ros Wynne-Jones , Mirror)

Tuesday April 29 2008 
MI5 accused of colluding in torture of terrorist suspects
Ian Cobain, The Guardian
Officers of the Security Service, MI5, are being accused of "outsourcing" the torture of British citizens to a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency in an attempt to obtain information about terrorist plots and to secure convictions against al-Qaida suspects. A number of British terrorism suspects who have been arrested in Pakistan at the request of UK authorities say their interrogation by Security Service officers, shortly after brutal torture at the hands of agents of Pakistan's...

Church plans 'men only' breakaway dioceses
Andy Bloxham & Lucy Cockcroft, Telegraph
The Church of England is proposing to create new dioceses that will specifically cater for those opposed to women priests and bishops. Church leaders fear that any attempt to introduce women bishops could enrage conservative members of the congregation and lead to mass walk-outs. One compromise option being considered is the formation of divisions within the church, such as new provinces, dioceses and even religious societies without women priests or bishops.
(‘Gender havens’ to avert split in Church: R. G., The Times)

Nurseries 'should teach English' to help schools struggling with immigrant influx, says Nick Clegg
Mail
Nursery schools should teach English to ease the burden on primary schools struggling with a huge influx of immigrant children... Leader Nick Clegg warned that mass immigration was damaging educational standards. He said migrant children take longer to understand lessons and divert the teacher's energies from English-speaking classmates. But he believes primary schools could be helped by encouraging nurseries, pre-school clubs and mother-and-baby groups to teach English.

Not only freedom: the dark ethnic side of the Tibetan Buddhist revolt (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
Scum-watch: Going soft on immigrants, but not on "Town Hall Hitlers" (Obsolete)

Monday April 28 2008 
British Muslim 'bullied' for converting to Christianity
Ruth Gledhill, Times
A British citizen who converted to Christianity from Islam and then complained to police when locals threatened to burn his house down was told by officers to “stop being a crusader”, according to a new report. Nissar Hussein, 43, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who was born and raised in Britain, converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says that he was subjected to a number of attacks and, after being told that his house would be burnt down if he did not repent and return to Islam.

Candidates for London mayor get religion
Riazat Butt, Guardian
The mayor, Ken Livingstone, had his apparent epiphany last year in front of 50,000 Christians at a rally in the Excel arena in Docklands. "I realised you couldn't govern London without engaging with its religious communities," he said on the campaign trail last week. "Given that more people in London believe in God than anywhere else in Britain and that more people here perform an act of faith than anywhere too, you can't get into office without their support."

Nick Clegg: Immigration undermines education
James Kirkup, Telegraph
Rising immigration is putting pressure on schools and undermining education standards, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, warns today. Mr Clegg says an influx of children who do not speak English is hampering the work of teachers and proves that ministers failed to plan for current levels of migration. "We must acknowledge that rising migration is putting pressure on schools at all levels," he will say.

I've Just Been a Bit Sick (5 Chinese Crackers)
Mosque victim 'clubbed senseless'  (BBC News Online)

Sunday April 27 2008 
I'm the wrong kind of Muslim for the TV
Huma Qureshi, Observer
You see, burkas make good TV. I don't. I've just taken a look at the show. What we get is the presenter donning an abaya and going to Yemen to show us all the fun things us Muslim women do, like wear long, black cloaks, party in the women's quarters and put sparkly eyeshadow on. 'Waxing's a big deal among Muslim women,' she says, causing an cringe from me. 'Having any hair is a complete social faux pas. The "Hollywood" that all the celebs are doing started in the Middle East'.

Egypt cracks down on the 'live in sin licence'
Carolynne Wheeler, Sunday Telegraph
In the back rooms of trinket shops, hidden in the snaking alleyways of Cairo, licences for love are signed, sealed - and sold. Young, middle-class Egyptians are buying so-called "urfi", informal marriage contracts, in growing numbers to get around religious strictures against having pre-marital sex. Without documentation it is almost impossible for couples to live together or stay in the same hotel room, and the whiff of impropriety can bring down the wrath of parents, friends and neighbours.

The great Rock Against Racism show plays it again
Jonathan Owen, Independent on Sunday
It marked the marriage of music with politics and spawned a generation of political activists. Thirty years after Rock Against Racism, in a more cynical and apathetic age, some of the musicians who were there at the start will reiterate their message to a huge crowds once again. The original demonstration saw 80,000 people march from London's Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in east London for a chaotic but hugely well-received open-air gig. As the Clash took to the stage in 1978...

Educating Muslim children (Bradford Muslim)
More zionist "miracles" at the Observer (Jews Sans Frontieres)

Saturday April 26 2008 
Drown out their discord
Tom Robinson, Guardian CiF
Three decades ago an unwelcome shock hit the London flat I shared with five people. The 1977 GLC elections were under way, and through the letterbox came - not three, but four manifestos. For the first time we had the choice of voting left, centre, right or Nazi. Nowadays the punk era is seen as a raucous and faintly insanitary blip on the continuum of pop history, but I remember it as a time of flux and desperate uncertainty. There were riots, brutality and a government falling apart...

What turns some Islamists to terror
Letters, The Guardian
We represent a cross section of the Muslim community, and reject the simplistic narrative about the dangers of Islamism espoused by the Quilliam Foundation (Response, April 25). We believe this is just another establishment-backed attempt to divert attention from the main cause of radicalisation and extremism in Britain: the UK's disastrous foreign policy in the Muslim world, including its occupation of Muslim lands and its support for pro-western Muslim dictators...

Doherty turns to Islam in jail
The Sun
DRUGGIE jailbird PETE DOHERTY is reading the Koran to get him through his days in the slammer. The BABYSHAMBLES singer has turned to the Islam holy book after being imprisoned at London’s Wormwood Scrubs. Potty Pete requested a translation after being put in an isolated cell at the tough prison last week. And the rock junkie is now “lapping it up”. A pal revealed yesterday: “He’s been reading the Koran since he went into segregation. “He’s got a lot of Muslim friends..."

'A world of casual racism' exposed at BA
Andy McSmith, Independent
"My captain suddenly embarked on an extraordinary rant about 'rag-heads' ... I stopped him by explaining he was going to be short of a first officer for the return sector if he carried on." Mr Maughan, who lives in Dunblane, Perthshire, was on another flight when a fellow flight officer complained that there were too many Asians in Britain. "The captain turned to me and said: 'I don't suppose there are many of them up your way.' I replied: 'Well, there's my wife.' After that, they had the decency to fall silent," he said.

What turns some Islamists to terror (Islamophobia Watch)
Son of Moonies ( Hyung Jin) founder takes over as church leader (The Guardian)
Khalil Gibran International Academy (Tabsir)
Livingstone backs vote for Galloway (Respect Renewal)
Polish priests threatened with jail for plagiarising sermons (Kate Connolly, The Guardian)

Friday April 25 2008 
Reconciling sexual and Islamic identities
Noorjehan Barmania, The Guardian
The man sitting next to me on stage started to tell the mainly LGBT audience: "Noorjehan is ..." then hesitated and cocked his head. "Do you mind if I tell the audience that you are straight, Noorjehan?" I demurred and the audience giggled. So at last month's London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival I was, officially, "outed" as a heterosexual. I found myself bringing the female point of view to a panel of men discussing the themes of A Jihad for Love, a brave documentary about gay and proud followers of Islam.

Inmates win prison racism battle
BBC News Online
Fifteen former inmates have won a legal battle over claims they were mistreated and discriminated against on racial and religious grounds at Leeds prison. The claims against the Ministry of Justice included complaints by Muslim prisoners who said they had been given contaminated halal food. Some of the prisoners also claimed they had been assaulted by prison staff and other inmates. A settlement was reached on Thursday in a trial at Leeds County Court.

It is ludicrous to dismiss us as neocon former extremists
Maajid Nawaz , The Guardian
Ziauddin Sardar's attack on Britain's first direct Muslim counter-extremism initiative, the Quilliam Foundation, was ill-informed in a number of ways (To lionise former extremists feeds anti-Muslim prejudice, April 24). The Quilliam Foundation was not, as Sardar claims, established by two former members of Hizb ut-Tahrir - a group he rightly identifies as a cult. There are many people involved. Ed Husain and myself were the public face for the launch at the British Museum on Tuesday...

David Edgar replies to his critics (Islamophobia Watch)
Poles in the UK are under attack. It's got to stop (Daniel Kawczynski, Independent)
Ethiopian troops accused of mosque killings (Xan Rice, Guardian)
Police review ethnic recruitment (BBC News Online)
Livingstone, Galloway and Benn share platform for peace this Sunday (Respect)
A treasure chest for Lahore-lovers (Koonj The Crane)
William Frankel: Obituary (Michael Freedland, The Guardian)
'Take care of mummy, sweetheart - and learn to fight,' 7/7 ringleader's message to his baby daughter to battle for Islam (Mail)
Can rock wreck racism? (Rupa Huq, Guardian CiF)
Scum-watch: Backing Boris (Obsolete)

Thursday April 24 2008 
To lionise former extremists feeds anti-Muslim prejudice
Ziauddin Sardar,  The Guardian
When one sinner repents, says the biblical adage, there is much joy in heaven. So the angels, along with the government, must be rejoicing at the launch of the Quilliam Foundation. The thinktank has been established by not one but two repentant sinners: Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz, ex-members of the extremist Islamic cult Hizb ut-Tahrir. On earth, however, I would suggest a greater degree of caution. In the here and now, it's not the repentant sinners we should celebrate but "the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance", those unmentioned Muslims who refused to be seduced by the dark side.

Crikey….Boris’s Israel links
MPACUK
On many an occasion Boris Johnson has tried to play to the Muslim voters in London, by playing his trump card of my great-grandfather was Turkish and a Muslim. So would it surprise you that the Henley MP has just found time to make a full disclosure of a trip he made to Israel. By law all MP’s are required to declare in the House of Commons Register of Members Interests, the sources of any extra income or gifts which they receive so that there can be no suspicion...

Boris thinks Muslim voters are fools (Islamophobia Watch)
Welsh anti-fascists challenge 'extraordinary' BNP claims (Islamophobia Watch)
Man sentenced to death for blasphemy in Saudi (Ruth Gledhill)
Advertising (Token Feminist)
New feminist group launched by and for Black British women: TrUe BLaCk-BeRrY (Jess McCabe, F-Word)
Minority Report: Anita's story and the callous immigration rule that trapped her (Jerome Taylor, Indyblogs)
FARK off - misogyny on the internet, again (Jess McCabe, F-Word)
Merry Pesach (Akram's Razor)
Don’t stop the carnival (Helen G, F-Word)

Wednesday April 23 2008 
Muslim plan to tackle extremists
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
Potential terrorists should be sent to rehabilitation centres and deradicalised by exposure to intense and substantial periods of genuine piety, Britain's first counter-extremism thinktank said yesterday. The recommendation came from the Quilliam Foundation, established by former activists of radical Islamist groups to challenge their ideology. At its launch at the British Museum in London, the deputy director and author, Ed Husain, who used to be in the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir...

Cops told: Don’t arrest illegals
Graeme Wilson, Sun
ONE in three police forces tells cops not to arrest illegal immigrants – despite Government assurances they ARE locked up. Instead, officers are told to give them directions to an immigration office. Only last month, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne slammed the old system of giving illegals a map to the asylum unit at Croydon, South London. He declared: “That was nonsense. Now we detain people immediately.” Days later, The Sun revealed Bedfordshire Police had issued a “do not arrest” order to cops.
(Quarter of police forces release illegal migrants: Christopher Hope, Telegraph)

The market town where they speak 65 languages...and a quarter of the people are Eastern European migrants
James Slack, Mail
The scale of the migrant boom was laid bare yesterday with the revelation that Eastern Europeans make up a quarter of one town's population. So many settlers have arrived in Boston, Lincolnshire, that 65 languages are spoken in a market town of only 70,000 inhabitants. Hazel Blears revealed the figure yesterday in giving evidence to the Commons communities select committee. The MPs are examining the impact on community relations of the arrival of 800,000 migrants from the former Soviet Bloc.
(Immigrants make up 25pc of town's population: Christopher Hope, Telegraph; In detail: Boston, the migrants' town: Christopher Hope; Boston's population swell's 25% as Eastern Europeans head for Fens: Richard Ford, Times)

Country churches prepare for 'wedding tourists'
Tom Peterkin
At present, unless they obtain a special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury, couples can marry in a Church of England chapel only if they regularly worship there or have lived for at least six months in the parish. The changes, which are expected to be made law in September, will open churches to those who were baptised or confirmed in them no matter where they live now and those whose parents and grandparents were married or attended.

Plans to ban gay jokes rejected by the Lords (Rosa Prince, Telegraph)
Extremists on TV (Letters, Guardian)
Is religion a threat to rationality and science? (Daniel Dennett and Robert Winston, The Guardian)
Who Is Worse, Ed Hussain or Mosque Leaders? (MPACUK)
Counter-productive counter-terrorism (Bradford Muslim)
Zawahiri identifies Qaradawi as al-Qaida's leading opponent (Islamophobia Watch)
UK Exhibit Shows "Human" Muslims (IslamOnline)
Heavy Metal Islam (Yusra Tekbali, IslamOnline)
Judge Hall’s shocking record on sentencing cases of sexual violence (Jess McCabe)
Can men be feminists? (Cath Elliot, Guardian CiF)
Britons give more to donkey sanctuary than abuse charities (Robert Booth, Guardian)

Monday April 21 2008 
St George's Parade Scrapped.... in case in upset Muslims
Steve Hughes, Daily Star
A MARCH to celebrate St George’s Day has been axed – because the authorities fear it could spark race riots. About 1,500 children were due to take part in a parade to commemorate the patron saint of England on Wednesday. But council bosses in Bradford, West Yorks, have ditched the event over concerns it could upset the Asian community, many of them Muslim. They feared a repeat of riots that hit the city in 2001, when an Asian man was stabbed by National Front supporters and 300 police were injured.

When Muslims become Christians
Shiraz Maher, BBC News Online
Ziya Miral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity. "They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam." Born and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant Muslims, and he planned to break the news to them gently.

Ken Livingstone defends his extremist backer
Aislinn Simpson, Telegraph
Ken Livingstone defended his decision to share a platform with a homophobic Islamic preacher as he and his challenger, Boris Johnson, were neck and neck in the race for the capital yesterday. Yusuf al-Qaradawi has described homosexuality as an "unnatural and evil practice" and said the Koran permitted wife-beating in certain circumstances. The Qatar-based Egyptian cleric has also advocated the use of Palestinian children as suicide bombers and once claimed that Asian tsunami victims...
(Londoners would be mad to vote for Boris, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Independent)

Enoch Powell 'still haunts immigration debate'
Kim Sengupta, Independent
Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech has cast a "40-year shadow" over the immigration debate in Britain, with governments failing to provide articulate leadership on the issue, the head of the country's race watchdog said yesterday. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the UK was falling behind competitors because of the lack of a coherent immigration strategy. While the issue had led in Britain to a "creeping resentment..."
(UK in danger of an ethnic 'cold war', warns Trevor Phillips, Bob Roberts, Mirror)

Ridley wins payout from Islam Channel
Ben Dowell guardian.co.uk
Former Sunday Express journalist Yvonne Ridley has won a case for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination against The Islam Channel. The three-person tribunal panel ruled that Ridley had been dismissed by the digital channel and upheld her complaint of sexual discrimination and harassment. Her case, which was part-funded by the NUJ, was held in London in February and heard evidence from a number of figures in support of her claims including the Respect MP George Galloway.

Spying on UK Muslim Garbage (IslamOnline)
Faith school admissions criteria are not so pure (Letters, Guardian)
Teenage terror suspect hoped for world peace (Richard Savill and David Thomas, Telegraph)
Uninvited gay US bishop will attend bishops’ conference (Ruth Gledhill, Guardian)
'Bishop of the poor' is winner in Paraguay poll (Agencies/Guardian)
New anti-terrorism rules 'allow US to spy on British motorists' (Toby Helm and Christopher Hope, Telegraph)
MPs to rebel over 42-day terror detention limit (Robert Winnett, Telegraph)
Apparently society really is moving backwards… (The Token Feminist)
Frontpage magazine: scientific racism (Islamophobia Watch)
London election is not just about race (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Officer resigns after race probe (BBC News Online)
Muslim call to adopt Mecca time (Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC News Online)
The Theologians Working Towards a Euro-Islam (Dieter Bednarz and Daniel Steinvorth, Spiegel Online)

Sunday April 20 2008 
Muslim moderates 'face hate campaign'
Ben Quinn The Observer
A new think-tank designed to counter Islamic extremism says it has been the target of a hate campaign to strangle the initiative at birth. The Quilliam Foundation, which is backed by Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, Conservative MP Michael Gove, Jemima Khan and Muslim and non-Muslim scholars will be launched on Tuesday. Its co-director, Ed Husain, a former activist of the Islamist political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, said he and his colleagues have been the target of death-threats...

SSPX Catholic rebels disappointed by Benedict (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Feminist, resistance fighter, anthropologist Germaine Tillion dies age 100 (jess McCabe, F-Word)

Saturday April 19 2008 
With friends like these...
David Edgar, Guardian
Despite Robert Frost's stern warning against the dangers of youthful idealism ("I never dared to be radical when young, for fear it would make me conservative when old"), remarkably few of those formed by 1968 and its aftermath have moved to the right in middle age. That is, until now. In the same way that a surprising number of Thatcher and Reagan's key thinkers were former communists, the ideological campaign for the war on terror abroad and against multiculturalism at home has been dominated by people who were formed by the student revolt, feminism and anti-racist movement of the 1970s.

Matzo wars as big stores go for Passover trade
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
To Jews celebrating Passover, matzo represents redemption and freedom from slavery. But this year the cracker-like flatbread has come to symbolise a weapon in an unholy price war. The major supermarkets have gone head-to-head with independent Jewish retailers as they compete for Passover trade by slashing prices on specialist items for the holiday, which starts today. Tesco claims people will spend less time "schlepping round the shops"

Face to faith
Abraham Pinter The Guardian
Tonight, Jews worldwide celebrate Passover, commemorating the redemption of the Jewish nation from its slavery in Egypt. More profound still than the freedom from physical bondage, this festival expresses religious freedom. The release from the Egyptian yoke took place over 3,000 years ago. But the concept of freedom and liberation of soul and spirit, the primary theme of Passover, possesses a timeless message. It is one which is relevant today in our modern democracies.

Islamophonic for April 2008 (Riazat Butt, Guardian)
Minority distorting human rights, says Pope (Ed Pilkington, The Guardian)
Muslim activist who heckled minister is jailed (Cahal Milmo, Independent)
I told FBI about ringleader before 7/7 bombings, says al-Qaeda man (David Brown, Times)
Detention centres attacked as figures reveal self-harm by asylum-seekers (Emily Dugan, Independent)
London mayoral election: It's really no contest (Islamophobia Watch)

Friday April 18 2008 
Mediums protest at new EU directive (shouldn't they have seen it coming?)
Jonathan Brown, Independent
For centuries, spiritualists have faced down the challenges of science and established religion. Now they fear changes to the law could leave them open to civil action from sceptics. Today, representatives of British mediums will march up Downing Street to deliver a petition containing some 10,000 signatories demanding that the Government change its decision to repeal the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act... Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association ... welcomed the change.

Public pool bars father and son from its 'Muslim-only' swimming session
Colin Fernandez and Nick McDermott, Mail
A  father and his five-year-old son were turned away from their local swimming pool because they were the wrong religion. David Toube, 39, and his son Harry were told that the Sunday morning session was reserved for Muslim men only. Hackney Council, which runs the Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington, north London, claimed staff there had made a mistake. However, the Muslim-only session was advertised on its website. Mr Toube, a corporate lawyer, described his experiences on a blog.
Father and son banned from council swimming pool for not being Muslims (Islamophobia Watch)

Humanism to be taught at GCSE
Telegraph
Pupils will be encouraged to debate controversial issues from the standpoint of all the major faiths - as well as those that reject the existence of God. In an attempt to bring the subject up to date, students will use the different views to examine topics such as euthanasia and abortion. The OCR exam board said the "philosophy and ethics" course would also include units on the nature of good and evil, medical ethics and death and the afterlife.

Boris boasts on radio: 'I'm down with the ethnics' (Andy McSmith, Independent)
He's a not-so clever Trevor (Simon Hughes, The Sun)
Islamists guilty of inciting and funding terrorism (Kim Sengupta, Independent)
West's policies 'hurting Middle East Christians' (Riazat Butt, Guardian)
Our third way (Asim Siddiqui, Guardian CiF)
'Red Ken: there's method in his vileness' (Islamophobia Watch)
Scum-watch: Septic isle betrays our heroes! (Obsolete)

Thursday April 17 2008 
Smith invites moderate imams into UK to help Muslim communities fight extremism
Alan Travis, Guardian
Moderate imams are to be invited to Britain from south Asia by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to help Muslim communities counter the threat of violent extremism, following talks she held in Pakistan and Bangladesh last week. The move appears to represent a shift in thinking as the Home Office has voiced concerns about imported imams and tried to encourage the recruitment of homegrown clerics more in touch with British Muslim youth.

Preachers from overseas 'may bring problems'
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
There was a mixed response to Jacqui Smith's new counter-terrorism proposals. Khurshid Ahmed, who chairs the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (Minab), said he supported measures to help tackle the "menace of extremism", provided they did not infringe on civil liberties and were "proportionate". He was more cautious, however, about her idea of importing moderate imams from south Asia as support. "We've had problems in the past with certain types of preacher from different parts of the world...

Concerns over funding of Islamic studies
Anthea Lipsett, EducationGuardian.co.uk
A closed meeting called by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) about Islamic studies will take place today amid fears that Saudi and Muslim organisations exert too much influence over UK universities as a result of donations that dwarf government funding. Private donations, mostly to Islamic study centres, are much greater than government funding for Islamic studies and academics are said to be nervous of the threat to their academic freedom.

Jacqui Smith 'broke election rules' with terror announcement, claim Tories in official complaint (James Slack, Mail)
Thousands line the streets as Popemania grips US (Ewen MacAskill, Guardian)
Boy called Islam 'banned from game show over name' (Islamophobia Watch)
Father and son banned from council swimming pool for not being Muslims (Islamophobia Watch)
Government puts trust in moderate foreign imams (Indigo Jo Blogs)
A crusade to smear (Anas Altikriti, Guardian CiF)
Foreigners responsible for 1 in 5 London crimes? (5cc)
And aint I a woman? (Koonj the Crane)
Abandoning banning (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)

Wednesday April 16 2008 
Imported moderate imams 'will counter fundamentalists'
Philip Johnston, Telegraph
Moderate Muslim clerics are to be brought in from Pakistan in an effort to combat extremism in British mosques, the Home Secretary will announce today. Jacqui Smith struck a deal on a recent visit to Pakistan under which respected imams could be invited to help British Muslims counter the fundamentalists. The move is part of Government efforts to step up its so-called prevent agenda, which is aimed at tackling jihadi propaganda in Muslim communities.

Migrant crime wave a myth - police study
Vikram Dodd, Guardian
The findings will be presented to the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, tomorrow when she meets chief constables to discuss the issue. Several of them had complained that they needed more money to deal with increases in migrant populations in their areas. However, the study prepared for the Association of Chief Police Officers challenges claims that up to 1 million people from EU accession countries have caused a rise in criminality.

Radical Muslims 'exploit jail staff to convert prisoners'
Mail
Extremist Muslim inmates are radicalising other prisoners at London's Belmarsh jail by exploiting staff inexperience, a government watchdog warned today. In a report, Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said that some terror detainees "committed to a radical interpretation of Islam" are trying to pressure other prisoners to convert. But she warned prison officers at the high-security jail were "insufficiently trained and supported" to combat the threat properly.
(Full report -pdf; Muslims Radicalised in UK Jails -IoL; )

Report urges recognition of British Muslim diversity
Sara Gaines, Society Guardian
The diversity of Britain's Muslim population must be recognised and more done to engage overlooked groups in order to tackle extremism, gang culture and community tensions, a report said today. Researchers spoke to more than 4,000 members of Muslim communities and those engaged with local groups, for the report by the Institute of Community Cohesion (ICC). Britain has "probably the most diverse Muslim community in the world" with at least 15 large ethno-national Muslim communities, the report found.

A skin-deep tolerance (Soumaya Ghannoushi, Guardian CiF)
Ground control to Morrisey: Israel tortures children, families (Jews sans frontieres)
Bishop calls for action against BNP (Telegraph)
Cruz Beckham is star of David (The Sun)
Smith pledges more terror police (BBC News Online)
Muslims are 'put off joining Met' (BBC News Online)
Video: Pope speaks out against abuse (Guardian)
Mormons say polygamist sects a headache (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Tuesday April 15 2008 
Mayor taken to court by own borough council over daughter's truancy
Lucy Ballinger, Mail
A mayor who took his daughter out of school to go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia has been taken to court by his own council. Liaquat Ali and his wife Zailnab took their youngest child on a family pilgrimage to Mecca - making her skip school for 12 days. The whole family including the couple's four other children who have left school - travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj - the largest annual pilgrimage in the world. The Mayor for Waltham Forest thought he and his wife Zailnab had escaped punishment...

Prisons watchdog says Belmarsh risks making Muslims more extreme
Richard Ford, Times
The alienation of Muslim prisoners in one of the country’s high-security jails risks fuelling their radicalisation, the prisons watchdog says today. Any intervention by staff at Belmarsh jail in southeast London could also be interpreted by disaffected Muslims as an act of provocation, the prisons inspector says in a report. Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, says that officers are “insufficiently trained” to combat radicalisation.

Teacher accuses Islamic school of racism
Alexandra Frean, Education Editor
A former teacher at an Islamic school, who alleged that it taught an offensive and racist view of non-Muslims, has been awarded £70,000 by an employment tribunal after winning his case for unfair dismissal. Colin Cook told the tribunal in Watford that pupils were taught from Arabic books that likened Jews and Christians to “monkeys” and “pigs” at The King Fahad Academy, which is funded and run by the Saudi Arabian Government. The tribunal ruled that Mr Cook, a British Muslim, was unfairly dismissed...
(See also BBC News Online: Cheat claim teacher in £70k award)

Bishop urges boycott of persecutors (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
“I’ve got to put this character in a movie” (Wajahat Ali, Alt.Muslim)
British headteacher shot dead in Somalia in raid on school by Islamist militia (Xan Rice & Helen Pidd, Guardian)
'Terrorist's lesson for West' (Vince Soodin, The Sun)
Racism or just commercial sense? (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Jail staff failing to counter extremism, warns inspector (Alan Travis, Guardian)
Fascists advertise Muslim introduction agency (Islamophobia Watch)
Bradford's political future - part one (Bradford Muslim)
Our absenting-minded Archbishop (Ruth Gledhill)
Pope 'deeply ashamed' of child abuse scandals (Daniel Nasaw & Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk)
Passover for feminists (Jess McCabe, F-Word)
Home Sec: terror threat "severe" and "growing" (Rolled-up Trousers)
Muhammad, the mini-series? (Riazat Butthead, Guardian CiF)

Monday April 14 2008 
Pope hopes to build bridges with first visit to US· Plans for multi-faith meetings in six-day tour
Ed Pilkington and Riazat Butt The Guardian
Traffic chaos, armed police lining streets, security screens at church entrances, scuba divers in New York's East River, back-packs banned for pedestrians, no-flight zones - it is business as usual as the US prepares to welcome Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow at the start of his American visit. The pontiff will carry a message of peace in the Middle East and around the world as he is met by President George Bush at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, at the beginning of a six-day tour...

Union accuses bishops of failing to help bullied vicars
Ian Johnston, Independent
Bishops are failing to support Church of England priests who are increasingly being bullied by powerful parishioners, according to a trade union. Clergy are experiencing psychological, emotional, verbal and even physical abuse, according to Unite, Britain's largest union, but bishops are "crossing the road to the other side" rather than offering help. The Church of England acknowledged bullying did happen but said it was "certainly not as widespread as suggested" by the union.

Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art
Mark Ravenhill, The Guardian
And so the stellar casting in Doctor Who continues with the news that Professor Richard Dawkins, biologist and bestselling author of The God Delusion, is to appear in the current series as himself. On Outpost Gallifrey, the definitive Doctor Who website, I read that Russell T Davies, the show's executive producer, and all the crew were delighted to see Dawkins. "People were falling at his feet," says Davies. "We've had Kylie Minogue on that set, but it was Dawkins that people were worshipping."

Terrorism in the name of Jesus? Everybody ignore (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
The Daily Express - for when a James Slack scare story just isn't misleading enough (5CC)
Women at risk of assault failed by new law, say judges (Frances Gibb, Times)
Jacqui Smith 'using old figures to back up terrorism Bill' (Duncan Gardham & Rosa Prince, Telegraph)
A reminder of the real cost of living (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Independent)
The managed decline of rural England (Rebellion Sucks!)
Gay Catholics urge Pope to enter dialogue (Agencies/Ekklesia)
Self-help for self-haters (Seth Freedman, Guardian CiF)
This is how an MP's mind fails to work (Obsolete)

Sunday April 13 2008 
'Extremism' fear over Islam studies donations
Ben Leach, Sunday Telegraph
Extremist ideas are being spread by Islamic study centres linked to British universities and backed by multi-million-pound donations from Saudi Arabia and Muslim organisations, a new report claims. Eight universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, have accepted more than £233.5 million from Saudi and Muslim sources since 1995, with much of the money going to Islamic study centres, according to the report. The total sum, revealed by Anthony Glees...
[Previous hysterical claims from Glees: see here, here, here and here]

IMF head gives food price warning
BBC news Online
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict. There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt. Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis. (See also: The other global crisis, Independent, 12/04)

Church seeks to recruit priests
BBC News Online
The Catholic Church in England and Wales is launching a campaign to replace its retiring priests. The move comes as the church struggles to find replacements, despite a modest upturn in the number of new recruits in the past five years. The campaign is encouraging young men to consider whether the religious life might be for them. The numbers of those willing to enter the Catholic church has fallen steadily, to a low of 24 in 2003.

Scientologists' HQ under siege (Jamie Doward, The Observer)
Jailed terrorists are using the internet to contact supporters (Jason Lewis, Mail)
Terror threat to UK 'is growing'  (BBC News Online)
FBI chief blames Britain’s laws for the ‘dark hole’ in terror intelligence (David Rose, Mail)
Black women MPs speak out about racism and sexism in Parliament (The F-Word)
Thousands celebrate Sikh festival (BBC News Online)
What next - internment for truants? (Rebellion Sucks!)
Lost England? (Rebellion Sucks!)

Saturday April 12 2008 
Muslim depicts 'violent' Christianity
Harry de Quetteville, Telegraph
The film, entitled Schism, was made by Raed al-Saeed. It splices together Bible verses and Iraq war images - including British soldiers beating civilians. Other images show Christian extremists in America apparently encouraging children to fight a "war" for Jesus. The film, which was posted on the internet last month, was initially removed by YouTube, the video sharing site. Mr Saeed complained to the site and it has been restored.

'Muslim governors hatched race campaign to force me out', says headteacher sacked for being Islamophobic
Laura Clark and Sam Greenhill, Mail
A headmistress who claims Muslim governors drove her out of their school with a campaign of harassment and false accusations of Islamophobia is suing council bosses for £250,000. Erica Connor, 56, says the governors accused her of anti-Muslim prejudice and repeatedly questioned her policies on religious education lessons and assemblies. She says there was a 'hidden agenda' among some governors. For more than a year, she claims, she suffered rudeness and aggression...

Atheist versus Bishop
Simon Jenkins and Richard Harries, The Guardian
Dear Richard, Your people have been having a good month. The Catholic church has staged a spectacular assault on Big Science over the embryology bill. Tony Blair has declared that, for him, religion must be more closely integrated with politics ... Religion is indeed in the news, again. But how should it be interpreted? For, as Pascal put it, there is enough light for those who want to see and enough darkness for those who don't want to see.

Why So Many Iraqis Hate Us? Try "Towel Head" On for Size (Phillip Martin, The Huffington Post)
Funding and the Muslim third sector - part two (Bradford Muslim)
Mosque denies call-to-prayer plan (BBC News Online)
What does Benedict’s Ground Zero prayer actually say? (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Friday April 11 2008 
Welcome to the Halal Inn: Britain's first alcohol-free Islamic pub
James Tozer, Mail
There are bar snacks, quiz nights, snooker tables and blaring music. But if you fancy a beer you've come to the wrong pub. The Halal Inn is open for non-alcoholic business only. The country's first Islamic pub opened last December in Oldham and although trade is not exactly roaring, it is purring along. The pub has its own snooker league with about 20 competitors vying to be its first champion. Office worker Mohammed Ali, 27, was enjoying a quiet game after work.

Crucifix row man's relief
Neal Keeling, Manchester Evening News
NO legal action will be taken against a hospital porter quizzed by police after a row over a crucifix being covered up in a prayer room. Joseph Protano, 54, was fired after the incident at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in Pendlebury. He was dismissed for gross misconduct, then lost an appeal. Police then interviewed him for four hours on suspicion of religiously aggravated assault, but he was released without charge.  Mr Protano, a Catholic, now intends to take his case to an employment tribunal...

The inconvenient truth about immigration
Rageh Omaar, Mail
On the afternoon of April 20, 1968, when Conservative MP Enoch Powell was making the most provocative and notorious speech in the history of race relations in Britain, I was a nine-month-old baby living in Mogadishu, Somalia. Speaking at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham, Powell predicted that the cost of the burgeoning immigration to Britain would be rivers of blood - communities torn apart by the tensions of conflicting cultures learning to live together. His words have reverberated ever since.

Three accused of reconnaissance mission with July 7 bombers visited London tourist spots (Audrey Gillan The Guardian)
Lack of self-government immoral, says Welsh archbishop (Rebellion Sucks!)
Minister meets Jewish heads to calm row over faith school donation demands (Laura Clark, Mail)
Landmark high court ruling says decision to drop Saudi-BAE inquiry was unlawful (Pixelisation)
Gloves are off as Ken accuses Boris of 7/7 smear on Islam (Islamophobia Watch)
Jails Go Soft On Muslim Perverts (Islamophobia Watch)
Scum-watch: Judges' blow to war on terror! (Obsolete)
Bomber's bruv kicked out (The Sun)
'Dozens hurt' in Dhaka protests (BBC News Online)

Thursday April 10 2008 
800-year-old key to Islam’s most holy shrine is sold for £9.2million
The Times
LONDON A 12th-century iron key to the Ka’ba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, was sold for £9.2 million at Sotheby’s in London yesterday. Its existence was previously unknown and prompted a bidding battle that took the price to more than 18 times the £400,000-£500,000 estimate in an auction of Islamic art, whose 405 lots sold for a total of £21.5 million. The key, which is 37cms (15in) long, was formerly in a private collection in the Lebanon and dated from 1179-1180.

BNP seeks to bury antisemitism and gain Jewish votes in Islamophobic campaign
Matthew Taylor, The Guardian
The far right British National party is trying to shed its antisemitic past as part of a drive to pick up votes among London's Jewish community. The party, which could get its first seat on the London assembly if voter turnout is low next month, is campaigning in Jewish areas across the capital and attempting to play on what it sees as historical enmity between the Jewish and Muslim communities. In one leaflet, handed out in north London last weekend, the party's only Jewish councillor...

Jails go soft on Muslim perverts - rehab is against their religion (Daily Star)
Intimidation and censorship are no answer to this inflammatory film (Timothy Garton Ash The Guardian)
Singing Jerusalem banned from church diocese because hymn is 'not in God's name' (Steve Doughty, Mail)
Terror suspects win battle against deportation (The Independent)
The right if difficult decision [Abu Qatada] (Obsolete)
Britain's first 'no-alcohol pub' opens (Bonnie Malkin, Telegraph -L)
'Spitting vicar' ordered to leave parish (Liam Creedon, PA/Independent -L)
Catholic leader takes embryo fight to YouTube (Simon Johnson, Telegraph -L)
Vienna museum reels from Last Supper uproar, blames outsiders (Sylvia Westall, FaithWorld)
Pastor resigns post over adultery (BBC News Online -L)

Wednesday April 09 2008 
Muslim sex offenders could opt out of treatment programme 'because it's against their faith'
James Slack, Mail
Muslim sex offenders are asking to be let off a prison treatment programme on religious grounds. Rapists, paedophiles and other dangerous attackers are expected to discuss their crimes with other inmates as a condition of release. But Muslim prisoners complain that criminals should not have to talk about their offences - a "legitimate Islamic position", according to Ahtsham Ali, the Prison Service's Muslim adviser. One thousand inmates were put on the Sex Offender Treatment Programme last year...

Sikh protests stop Sotheby's auction of 'religious relic'
Arifa Akbar, Independent
Sotheby's has withdrawn a rare 18th-century steel armour plate from public sale after protesters claimed it was a religious relic which may have been owned by one of Sikhism's holiest figures, Guru Gobind Singh. The auction house confirmed that the artefact, which had been estimated to fetch up to £12,000 in London today, was no longer up for sale after the person offering it requested its purchase to be arranged privately with a member of the Sikh community.

Mayoral candidates unite in call for illegal immigration amnesty
Amol Rajan, Independent
A formidable coalition of businessmen, politicians, religious leaders and community workers will pledge their support tonight for an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been resident in the UK for several years and can pass strict tests to prove their contribution to British society. All four of London's main mayoral candidates – including, against the official policy of his party, the Tory candidate Boris Johnson – will back the campaign to offer undocumented workers the chance to be integrated into mainstream society...

Muslim sex offenders may opt out of treatment (Ben Farmer, Telegraph)
Legal challenge to hybrid embryos (BBC News Online)
Bin Laden's 'right-hand man' set for life on British benefits after judges rule deportation would breach his human rights (Mail - L)
Appeal court blocks deportation of terror suspects (Alan Travis and Peter Walker, guardian.co.uk - L)
Not brought to book (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)
Is “God Particle” the right term for massive mystery in physics? (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Bishop who called Jerry Springer: The Opera 'filth' quits over eight-year affair with choirmistress (Andrew levy, Mail - L)
Cathedral bans popular hymn Jerusalem (Sophie Borland, Telegraph - L)
The right if difficult decision [Abu Qatada] (Obsolete)
Funding and the Muslim third sector - part one (Bradford Muslim)

Tuesday April 08 2008 
Officials think UK's Muslim population has risen to 2m
Alan Travis, The Guardian
The Muslim population in the United Kingdom may now number as many as 2 million, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, disclosed yesterday during an official visit to Pakistan. The last published official estimate of the size of the Muslim community in Britain was 1.6 million, based on the findings of the 2001 census. The updated Whitehall estimate confirms the position of Islam as the second largest faith community after Christianity, and means that Muslims now make up 3.3% of the UK population. (See also: Mail)

Anger at 'shoot Arab' war game
Veronica Lorraine, The Sun
FURIOUS Muslim leaders yesterday condemned a war game in which players with replica guns shoot rivals dressed as ARABS. Teams in military gear fight opponents with traditional shemagh head-dresses. They use plastic pellets for the events at a former RAF hospital, which are run by Zulu 1 Tactical Airsoft Simulations. Images on its website show “soldiers” pointing rifles at floored “Arabs”. Founders Darren Howells, 42, and Peter Jenkins deny racism... (See also Telegraph)

Rastafarian temple drugs trial collapses
Owen Bowcott , Guardian
A £100,000 cannabis-dealing trial, launched following a high-profile police raid on a Rastafarian temple in south London, has collapsed in legal confusion. The case against five men arrested last year when 250 officers burst into the building in Kennington disintegrated after it emerged that one of the defence legal team had allegedly been among complainants to police about drug sales there. The case had been running for four weeks at the Inner London crown court...

Muslims 4 Ken (Islamophobia Watch)
MAB condemns war game (Islamophobia Watch)
Scum-watch: Defending China by proxy (Obsolete)
Head of FBI says Al-Qa’ida can be defeated in less than four years (Pixelisation)
BBC reporter 'ambushed' by terror police (Sophie Borland, Telegraph)
James Slack adds a million immigrants to the electoral register in just the time it takes to bash out one article (5CC)

Monday April 07 2008 
Halal and kosher meat should not be slipped in to food chain, says minister
Martin Hickman, Independent
Halal and kosher meat should be labelled when it is put on sale so the public can decide whether they want to buy food from animals that have bled to death, the Food and Farming minister says. Lord Rooker said all meat from animals killed by slitting their throats should be marked, allowing customers to decide whether the suffering troubled their consciences. "I object to the method of slaughter," he said." Lord Rooker's comments were welcomed by the RSPCA...

Rivers of blood? No. Just a divided idea of what Britishness means
Madeleine Bunting The Guardian
Britishness is like a scab we can't stop scratching. One event after another propels it centre stage, where the subject proliferates questions: how are we to define it, teach it, feel it, promote it, be proud of it, symbolise it and celebrate it? Alongside this relentlessly upbeat, politically sponsored debate is another, far darker version that is having ample play in the run-up to the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech on April 20.

Urban myths and Muslim bus drivers praying (Five Chinese Crackers)
'Get off my bus, I need to pray' (Islamophobia Watch)
Torch Terror (Tom Savage, Daily Star)
France's Muslim Graves Defiled (IslamOnline)
“There is no such thing as an Islamic state” (Tabsir)
The Last Supper as a gay orgy? Uproar in Vienna… (Sylvia Westall, FaithWorld)
“What are we going to do about American women?” (Koonj the Crane)

Sunday April 06 2008 
Rushdie: I was deranged when I embraced Islam
Richard Brooks, Sunday Times
SIR SALMAN RUSHDIE has confessed that he pretended to “embrace Islam” in the hope that it would reduce the threat of Muslims acting on the fatwa to kill him. The author issued a statement in 1990 in order to defuse the row about his novel The Satanic Verses, which had provoked Muslims across the world. He claimed he had renewed his Muslim faith, had repudiated the attacks on Islam in his novel and was committed to working for better understanding of the religion across the world.

Saudi prince gives Cambridge University £8m for Islamic studies centre
By Julie Henry, Sunday Telegraph
Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally. The gift has been recommended by the university's general board and is expected to be announced in June.

Noises Off
Stewart Lee, Independent on Sunday
What do we really know of Islam, beyond the most basic stereotypes of burkas and bombs? Life of Brian brilliantly used the understanding its audience had of Christ's life to substitute a bewildered, normal bloke for him. But it's not possible to take people under the skin of Islam in the same way, when it remains a mystery to most writers and audiences. "Culturally Christian" comedians at least understand the taboos they break when writing about vicars and virgin births.

Rethink over Christ 'porn' film ban (Jamie Doward, The Observer )
The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi (Tabsir)
Forced data on forced marriage (Bradford Muslim)
Plans for Britishness army of English state school kids (Rebellion Sucks!)
The epidemic of male violence against women (Jennifer Drew, The F-Word)

Saturday April 05 2008 
Muslim is spared a speeding ban so he can drive between his two wives
Alex Dowdalls, Mail
When it comes to avoiding a ban for speeding, the courts hear every excuse in the book. But yesterday one motorist offered what must be a unique reason why he should keep his licence. Mohammed Anwar said a ban would make it difficult to commute between his two wives and fulfil his matrimonial duties. His lawyer told a Scottish court the Muslim restaurant owner has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow - he is allowed up to four under his religion - and sleeps with them on alternate nights.

Revealed: the vegetarian Eden that was home to Adam, Eve and T Rex
James Randerson, Guardian
Creationist preacher Ken Ham is used to the problems that arise from combining what he reads in the Old Testament and what scientists tell him. He has no difficulty squaring six days of creation and 6,000 years of Earth history with evidence from fossils and geological dating - for him, scientists who think the world is millions of years old are simply wrong. Ham, a US-based Australian, has been on a tour of the UK, and listening to him explain this week that most of the fossils on the Earth were left during Noah's flood...

Penny Chaplin on Iyengar yoga
By Penny Chaplin, Telegraph
For me, the report of the American researchers at Temple Medical School in Philadelphia just reinforces everything I know to be true about yoga. In every way it will improve your health, no matter how old you are. Iyengar Yoga, which is a school of yoga developed by Guruji Iyengar in India, is especially suitable for older people because it uses props and equipment that help master the more difficult poses without any serious risks. It is all about aligning the body without causing injuries.

We'll do a Chernobyl on Britain (Emma Wall, Daily Star)
Face to faith (Christian evangelism) (John Newbury, Guardian)
Olympic torch to be met by storm of protest (Jerome Taylor, Independent)
Bed Hopper Ken Livingstone (The Sun)
Boom boom! (Obsolete)
John Rentoul is a tool (Pixelisation)

Friday April 04 2008 
FA seeks power to dock points from clubs for religious abuse
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
English football clubs could be docked points from their league campaigns as part of a new zero-tolerance policy against fans who engage in antisemitic or Islamophobic abuse, the FA said yesterday. The announcement came as the FA, the Metropolitan police, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the National Association of Muslim Police attended football's first faith summit aimed at tackling such incidents on the terraces and near grounds. At present, abusive fans face being banned...

Singer Morrissey wins high court apology for racism slur
Owen Gibson, The Guardian
The music magazine Word was yesterday forced to issue a high court apology to the singer Morrissey over an album review which he claimed depicted him as a racist and a hypocrite. Following the apology in open court, Morrissey vowed to continue his libel battle with the NME, which erupted last December when his comments on immigration were splashed on the front cover. The Word piece, by David Quantick, which appeared in the March 2008 edition of the music monthly...

Torch-bearer withdraws from Olympics relay in Tibet protest
Ashling O'Connor, Times
One of the torch-bearers due to carry the Olympic flame across London last night dropped out in protest at Chinese repression in Tibet. Disabled comedian Francesca Martinez said that she felt taking part would legitimise the ongoing violence in Tibet, where recent weeks have seen authorities carry out a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters. She said: “I fully support the Tibetan cause and feel that, because of the mounting pressure and the ongoing violence in Tibet, that torch-bearers should turn down their role . . ."

Save religion and help it become a force for good, urges Blair (Riazat Butt, Guardian)
‘They do it in Saudi’, says leading member of General Synod (Pixelisation)
Religion and Culture: America v Europe (Pixelisation)
Aircraft terror plot in the news (BBC News Online)
Liberalism and conservatism part two (Bradford Muslim)
Ayman al-Zawahiri says Al-Qa’ida ‘doesn’t kill innocents’ (Pixelisation)
Blears blames Muslims for social divide (Islamophobia Watch)
Welsh soprano takes legal action against BNP (Islamophobia Watch)
Blair's jihad for faith (Asim Siddiqui, Guardian CiF)
Turkey’s Secular Fundamentalist Threat (Tabsir)

Thursday April 03 2008 
When is Doomsday?
Helen Pidd, Guardian
It is difficult to say. Even the 28-strong cult who have spent the past six months hunkered down in a cave in Penza, south-east Russia, waiting for the world to end don't have an exact date in mind. Pavel Kuznetsov, the group's leader, didn't want to be tied to one particular day, and his followers seemed content with his nebulous "April or May" prediction. Until this week, that is, when 17 of them emerged from their subterranean hiding place.

Labour is 'burying bad news' of poverty study until after elections
Andrew Grice, Independent
The Government has been accused of trying to bury bad news after delaying the publication of its annual poverty statistics until after the local elections next month. The figures, normally issued in March, will be disclosed on 2 May, the day after local authority elections in England and Wales, The Independent can reveal. Independent experts expect the statistics to show Labour is in danger of missing its flagship target of halving child poverty by 2010 and abolish it by 2020.

Officers face the sack over honour killing blunders
Adam Fresco, Times
Two Metropolitan Police officers face the sack after a young woman murdered in an honour killing was “let down” by police who showed a lack of understanding and insensitivity, the police watchdog said yesterday. Banaz Mahmod, 20, asked police for help four times and even gave them a list of five people she suspected would harm her and her lover but was not taken seriously. The Independent Police Complaints Commission found that...

Blears warns planners against creating 'social apartheid' (Anil Dawar, Guardian.co.uk)
'They picked my show because it filled their quotas' (Hannah Pool, Guardian)
Jihadi studies (Tabsir/TLS)
Anti-terror bill is a security threat says Galloway (Rebellion Sucks!)
Jewish schools criticised over 'illegal payments' (Telegraph)
Tony Blair: religion is not out of date (Jonathan Petre, Telegraph)
Terror plot jury could sit for six months (Duncan Gardham, Telegraph)
Uighurs hold protests in Western China (Pixelisation)
Anglicanism's hectic summer (Ruth Gledhill)
The Prophecy Continues to be Fulfilled (Austrolabe)
The liberal defense of murder (Obsolete)

Wednesday April 02 2008 
Church of England Synod member’s call to ban the building of any new mosques
Ruth Gledhill, Times
In an interview with London’s Premier Christian Radio, Mrs Ruoff, a former magistrate, said: “No more mosques in the UK. There are enough mosques for Muslims in this country. They don’t need any more. “You build a mosque and then what happens? You have Muslim people moving into that area, all the shops will then become Islamic, all the housing will then become Islamic and as the Bishop of Rochester has so wisely pointed out, that will be a no-go area for anyone else..."
(See also: Islamophobia Watch and No More Mosques - Inayat Bunglawala)

Muslims' fury forces schools to shelve anti-homophobia storybooks for 5-year-olds
Laura Clark, Mail
Two primary schools have withdrawn storybooks about same-sex relationships after objections from Muslim parents. Up to 90 gathered at the schools to complain about the books which are aimed at pupils as young as five. One story, titled King & King, is a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before marrying one of their brothers. Another named And Tango Makes Three features two male penguins who fall in love at a New York zoo.

BBC is too scared of Islam, says Ben Elton
Ruth Gledhill, Times
Elton, whose children attend a church school, said that the BBC was too “scared” of Islam and of jokes about Islam to let them pass. Asked about the new law on religious hatred, and whether too much deference was being shown to religious people, he said: “I think it all starts with people nodding whenever anyone says, ‘As a person of faith . . .’ “And I believe that part of it is due to the genuine fear that the authorities and the community have about provoking the radical elements of Islam.

A poisoned debate
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Guardian CiF
Lord Wakeham, chair of the House of Lords economics affairs committee, writing in yesterday's Guardian, concluded that "to assert, without rigorous evidence, that high net immigration brings huge economic benefits is simply unacceptable". I would argue that to imply that migration is a wholly negative thing, while knowing that the evidence is far more balanced, is just as unacceptable. The discussion of the committee's report (pdf) on the economics of immigration is a depressing example of what's wrong with the debate on immigration in Britain. (See also: Immigration and where to go from here - Obsolete)

How sincere is Hassan Butt? (Indigo Jo Blogs)
At odds with the gospel (Barry Morgan, Guardian)
Cardinal attacks 'aggressive' secularism gaining ground in UK (Esther Addley, Guardian)
Labour MPs attack Smith over 42-day detention (Ben Russell, Independent)
Making peace with the Mennonites (Letters, The Guardian)
Brits are paranoid (Emma Morton, The Sun)
Malaysian man gets divorced twice in one day (AP/Guardian)
Liberalism and conservatism part one (Bradford Muslim)
Back Boris urges BNP (Islamophobia Watch)
Councillor held by Special Branch at Heathrow Airport (Islamophobia Watch)
Engels on the Ottomans

Tuesday April 01 2008 
Wanted: faith in the future
Riazat Butt, Education Guardian
The Qur'an was revealed over a period of more than 20 years, with the prophet Muhammad receiving the first revelation in AD610 in the Cave of Hira, near Mecca. He was told: "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot. Read, for your Lord is most generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know." Muslim scholars therefore see the pursuit of knowledge as a duty, with the Qur'an containing several references to the rewards of learning.

Terrified, humiliated – and innocent: the evidence against 42-day detention
Colin Brown, Independent
A young Muslim woman has spoken about the appalling conditions she had to endure when she was held for 12 days without charge by police using existing powers to detain suspects in terrorist cases. Farrah* was eventually released without charge but her experience has left her angry and bewildered. After arrest, it was almost 24 hours before she was allowed to see a solicitor. She has protested to Liberty, the civil liberties group who claim there will be more such cases, if the Counter-Terrorism Bill...

Homophobia rife in British society
John Carvel, Guardian
Britain's 3.6 million lesbian, gay and bisexual people see themselves confronted by huge barriers of prejudice at every level of society, according to the first authoritative poll of their views. The poll, commissioned by the equality charity Stonewall, which said some public bodies were too "smug" about their record on discrimination, indicates that the schoolyard is the most entrenched bastion of prejudice. The YouGov poll of 1,658 gay adults found homophobic bullying in schools is...

'Terror chief told me to bomb London': British Muslim reveals how al Qaeda leader tried to recruit him (Stephen Wright, Mail)
Papers focus on immigration report (BBC News online)
Salon sued by Muslim hairdresser in headscarf (Telegraph)
Ben Elton: BBC 'scared' of Islam (Ruth Gledhill)
Scum-watch: Harassing the evil Islamic terrorist Abdul Muneem Patel (Obsolete)
Immigration and where to go from here (Obsolete)
Secularist bigot on Fitna (Islamophobia Watch)
London Assembly candidate - rape ‘no big deal’ (F-Word)
 

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