Tuesday October 31 2006
Abu Hamza deprived of fair trial, QC says
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Abu Hamza's convictions for soliciting murder should be quashed because years of headline-grabbing allegations that he was a terrorist made it "impossible" for him to get a fair trial, the court of appeal was told yesterday. The radical Islamic cleric was jailed in February for seven years after a jury found that speeches and sermons he had given incited racial hatred. Edward Fitzgerald QC, representing Mr Hamza, said "every adult" had been exposed to the "campaign" against the cleric, who was branded Captain Hook by some papers because of the hook he wore in place of a hand he had lost.

Royal madrassa trip called off as storm grows over air strike
By Zahid Hussain and Daniel McGrory, The Times
THE Prince of Wales’s controversial visit today to a madrassa in the border town of Peshawar has been cancelled over fears for his safety, after calls by Islamic leaders for revenge for a Pakistani airstrike that destroyed another religious school about 60 miles (100km) away. Violent anti-Western demonstrations erupted across the region after yesterday’s dawn raid on a school run by a cleric accused of sheltering al-Qaeda fighters left about 80 dead. A spokesman for the Prince said: “The Prince and the Duchess are disappointed not to be going. An alternative programme is being arranged.”

Hook son's job on Tube
By Nick Parker, The Sun
THE terrorist son of hook-handed Abu Hamza has been working on London’s Tube, The Sun can reveal. Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25 — a convicted fanatic who has glorified suicide attacks like the 7/7 slaughter — was rumbled by Underground workmates when they saw his picture in The Sun. They went straight to bosses, who told Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25, to sling his hook. But last night fury erupted over the security shambles that led to the convicted terrorist being granted astonishing access to London’s Tube network.
(See the comment on this story by Islamophobia Watch)

Monday October 30, 2006
Sultan among 99 killed in crash
By Jonathan Clayton, The Times
The revered leader of Nigeria’s Muslim community and other high-ranking national dignitaries were killed yesterday when their plane crashed soon after taking off from the capital, Abuja. Muhammadu Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual head of the country’s 55 million Muslims, was among about 100 passengers and crew who died. His son, who was a state senator, and another leading politician who was the heir to one of Nigeria’s richest men also died. Security forces sealed off the crash site in woodland, two miles from the end of the airport runway. It was the country’s third air disaster in less than a year.

Cabinet confidential
David Leigh and Rob Evans, Media Guardian
Barely has the freedom of information act come into force, than ministers have decided they want to stop journalists benefiting from it. Reporters, they claim, are overloading the system simply by making use of it. A firm of consultants employed by Lord Falconer, the constitutional affairs secretary, has pronounced that FOI is costing Whitehall £24m a year, requires 400 civil servants to administer it, and takes up ministers' valuable time with too many "very high cost cases" brought by "serial requesters" - aka journalists. These figures have been used to back up a drastic plan to cap the number of requests from media organisations.

Police call for ban on flag burning
By Stewart Tendler, The Times
Burning the flag of any country during a demonstration should be a criminal offence under proposals to crack down on extremist Muslim protesters. Senior Scotland Yard officers have submitted the idea to Lord Goldsmith, QC, the Attorney-General, as part of a range of proposals to end loopholes in public order legislation. Tarique Ghaffur, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner in charge of policing large incidents, also wants a ban on demonstrators covering their faces and powers of arrests for some public order breaches.

Arrests during Parliament protest
BBC news Online
Five people were arrested when a protest camp was set up on the green in Parliament Square. Dozens of people erected tents on the grass on Sunday as part of the "No More Fallujahs" demonstration against British action in Iraq. The protest marked the second anniversary of coalition forces beginning their assault on the city. A Metropolitan Police spokesman disputed protesters' claims that officers were dismantling the tents. According to protesters, more than 100 people camped out on Sunday night at the unauthorised demonstration. Police said the figure was nearer 50. They said five people were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of unlawfully demonstrating without authority.

And check out:
Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes faith school U-turn (Daily Mail)

Sunday October 29, 2006
Charles to call for Muslim moderation on visit to radical areas of Pakistan
By Roya Nikkhah, Massoud Ansari and Loveday Morris, Sunday Telegraph
The Prince of Wales is to call for more moderation from Muslims when he visits one of the most radical areas of Pakistan next week. In what will be seen as a highly controversial move in a country where Islamic fundamentalism is rife, Prince Charles will break with protocol during his visit and venture into some of the country's most politically sensitive areas, including those where Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding. The prince and the Duchess of Cornwall will visit regions known for their ultra-conservative approach to Islam, including the strongly pro-Taliban territory in the north-west of the country where images of women and the playing of music are banned.

Archbishop defends faith schools
BBC News Online
The Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted faith schools are not harmful to the cohesion of society. Dr Rowan Williams told the BBC he welcomed the decision to scrap plans to make new faith schools take more children from other religions. He said the government had shown there were concerns over integration "which faith schools have to play their part in resolving". The government has been criticised for abandoning its plans over quotas. Education Secretary Alan Johnson said he had dropped the idea after reaching a "voluntary agreement" with churches. But the government is now facing a battle in the House of Lords over the issue. In an interview for Radio 4's Sunday Programme, Dr Williams said concerns about the effect of faith schools on community cohesion were misplaced.

Muslim women are the key to change
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sunday Times
The arguments for and against the veil will rage on, but what increasingly alarms me is the emergence of a post 9/11 generation of young women in the West who are out to make a statement by wearing the niqab. They enjoy all the western freedoms but choose to flaunt the veil. They are the female equivalent of the radical young men who travel to Pakistan and come back wanting to blow up trains. Such men see themselves as companions of the prophet and they are “high” on religion. Both groups have completely succumbed to totalitarian seduction; they are the worst enemies of Islam, both to its image and to its chances of reformation. (Can you bear to read much more of this twaddle? - J. A.)

Still Waters Run Deep
Paul Kingsnorth, From The Ecologist (UK Watch)
As we stand looking out over Thrupp Lake, it begins to rain. The rain shakes the leaves of the oaks and the willows, and frays the surface of the water. Canada geese and swans look unconcerned as the five of us put up the hoods on our raincoats and huddle under the trees. It’s a strangely tranquil place. A 30-acre lake, bristling with wildlife, surrounded by mature trees and studded with islands on which waterfowl nest and gather – you could imagine, standing here, that there was not another human being for miles. Yet we are standing in one of the most populated parts of south-east England, only minutes away from housing estates, motorways and – ominously – one of the country’s biggest coal-fired power stations.

Licensed to Loot
Nick Robins, From The Ecologist (UK Watch)
In August 1769, two Armenian merchants, Johannes Rafael and Gregore Cojamaul, arrived at London’s docks. The two were rich men and had made their fortunes in India’s most prosperous region, Bengal. But their purpose was not to trade. Instead they sought justice from the most powerful corporation in the world: the East India Company. In March 1768, Rafael, Cojamaul and two others had been summarily arrested by the Company’s chief executive in Bengal, Harry Verelst, who then held them for more than five months under guard. When they were released, they found that the Company had pressured its puppet, the Nawab of Bengal, to ban all Armenians from the Bengal market.

Saturday October 28, 2006
Forest Gate raid porn charges are dropped
Stewart Tendler, The Times
Prosecutors will not press child pornography charges against the 23-year-old man accidentally shot during a counter-terrorist raid in Forest Gate, East London.
The decision will further embarrass Scotland Yard and enrage Muslim communities. Mohammed Abdul Kahar was shot in the shoulder by police at his home on June 2 as they searched for traces of a chemical weapon. He and his brother, Abul Koyair, were arrested but later released without charge and no evidence of a chemical weapon was found. Mr Kahar’s family said last night: “Kahar was first shot, and then very publicly accused of things he knew nothing of and of which he is completely innocent. We cannot help but observe that there was a never-ending avalanche of leaked stories to the press. “We have the right to expect that a proper inquiry be made of who provided the stories.”

Archbishop comments hit headlines
BBC News Online
The Daily Express leads with the Archbishop of Canterbury suggesting politicians should not interfere with the right to wear the veil or cross. The paper focuses on the criticism Dr Rowan Williams' remarks have attracted, and in its leader column accuses him of "missing the point". The Express' worry is with promoting an obsession with the trappings of faith. The Daily Mail calls it a dramatic intervention, but notes it was welcomed by some senior churchmen.
24.10.06: Muslims being demonised, says Livingstone
22.10.06 Talk now, or reap the whirlwind
20.10.06: Zoo publishes 'veil-friendly' spoof
19.10.06: Muslim woman wins veil victimisation claim
18.10.06: Blair backs suspension of class assistant

Tory peer to challenge faith schools retreat
James Meikle, The Guardian
The education secretary, Alan Johnson, was yesterday accused of "craven surrender" after abandoning proposals to make new faith schools take up to 25% of pupils from other faiths or secular backgrounds. His climbdown defused the anger of Roman Catholic, Jewish and Muslim authorities but will be challenged in the House of Lords on Monday when the former Conservative education secretary, Lord Baker, tries to revive the plan by amending the education and inspections bill in exactly the way Mr Johnson had originally intended.

Nottingham Faslane 365 Information day at the ASBO 3-8 Sunday. Everybody welcome
Nottingham Faslane 365, Indymedia
A day to discuss mobilising a group from Nottingham to take part in Faslane 365. We will be going up to Faslane to join a year long blockade of Britain's nuclear weapons base for two days in spring. Come along on Sunday to get more information, share ideas, make banners and eat cake! Faslane 365 is a civil resistance project aimed at the disarmament of Britain's nuclear weapons through a continuous peaceful blockade of the Trident base at Faslane. Faslane 365 will bring people together to witness and impede the nuclear facility where Britain's weapons of mass destruction are based. It will also enable us to draw attention to other urgent issues such as environment and NHS funding.

Also check out:
Briton backs imam in 'uncovered meat' row (The Times)

Friday October 27, 2006
Muslims as new Holocaust fodder?
Editorial, Muslim News
It is ironic that the Muslim Council of Britain’s non-attendance at Holocaust Day Memorials (because it feels that it is not inclusive as other genocides are not given any recognition by the British establishment) should be added to the list drawn up by ministers of British Muslims’ failings as citizens. It came just as insightful critics of this Government and faith-based commentators were drawing parallels between how the Muslims are being stigmatised and demonised now is horribly reminiscent of the way in which the Jews were in Germany in the prequel to the Holocaust. Clearly no heed was taken of the warning in last month’s The Muslim News editorial that it had become ‘open season’ for all to attack Islam and Muslims. Instead, the venom has spread even wider and deeper, with equally politically desperate Labour and the Conservatives seemingly outbidding each other in the stakes to win the latent racist “middle England” white support and distract it from the real causes of their loss of jobs, health and educational services and crime; Government over-spend in the disastrous misadventure of Iraq and the general ‘war on terror’.

Debate on veil shows how West is turning on Islam, scholar warns
Arifa Akbar, The Independent
A leading Muslim scholar has said the debate on women wearing veils highlights a growing "global polarisation" between the West and the Islamic world. Tariq Ramadan, a visiting professor at Oxford University told an interfaith conference in London yesterday that the debate sparked by Jack Straw, who said the veil hampered integration, was part of a global phenomenon in which a "them versus us" attitude was being fostered between Muslims and non-Muslims. "The atmosphere has deteriorated in the last year or so," Professor Ramadan said. "It's not only a British reality, but European and American. "To nurture this polarisation is the easiest way for politicians when we don't have social policy. The most dangerous thing is the normalisation of this discourse."

What Sheik al-Hilali said
The Australian, Australia [RN]
This is an edited transcript, by SBS translator Dalia Mattar, of Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali’s speech. “Those atheists, people of the book (Christians and Jews), where will they end up? In Surfers Paradise? On the Gold Coast? “Where will they end up? In hell. And not part-time. For eternity. They are the worst in God’s creation. “Who commits the crimes of theft? The man or the woman? The man. That’s why the man was mentioned before the woman when it comes to theft because his responsibility is providing. “But when it comes to adultery, it’s 90 per cent the women’s responsibility. Why? Because a woman possesses the weapon of seduction..." (According to the Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, 1998 - 2000, Australia has the third highest numbers of rapes per capita in the world - 0.777999 per 1,000 people).

White extremists escape terrorism charges and media scrutiny
Elham Asaad Buaras, Muslim News
Despite being accused of possessing the largest sum of chemical explosives of its type ever found domestically in Lancashire, a BNP member and a far right sympathiser will not face any terrorism related charges. Instead 49-year-old Robert Cottage, Colne and David Bolus Jackson, 62, from Nelson, appeared at a Pennine magistrate’s court charged under the Explosive Substances Act 1883. The case has also attracted little publicity despite the record haul which included the discovery of a rocket launcher, a nuclear biological suit and claims by prosecutor Christiana Buchanan that the pair had “some kind of master plan.”
 

And check out:
Veil hang-ups may pass (TES)
Manchester imam 'backs execution of gays' (Islamophobia Watch)
Nazis applaud result of Danish cartoons court case (Islamophobia Watch)

Thursday October 26, 2006
My years in a habit taught me the paradox of veiling
Karen Armstrong, The Guardian
I spent seven years of my girlhood heavily veiled - not in a Muslim niqab but in a nun's habit. We wore voluminous black robes, large rosaries and crucifixes, and an elaborate headdress: you could see a small slice of my face from the front, but from the side I was entirely shielded from view. We must have looked very odd indeed, walking dourly through the colourful carnival of London during the swinging 60s, but nobody ever asked us to exchange our habits for more conventional attire. When my order was founded in the 1840s, not long after Catholic emancipation, people were so enraged to see nuns brazenly wearing their habits in the streets that they pelted them with rotten fruit and horse dung.

Danish court throws out Islam cartoons case
Times Online and agencies
The City Court in Aarhus rejected the lawsuit brought by seven Danish Muslim groups claiming that the 12 drawings printed in Jyllands-Posten were intended to insult the prophet and make a mockery of Islam. While the cartoons may have offended some Muslims, there is no basis for the claim that the reason for printing them was to belittle their faith, the court said. Carsten Juste, Jyllands-Posten’s editor in chief, hailed the decision as a victory for free speech. "Anything but a pure acquittal would have been a disaster for press freedom and the media's possibility to fulfil its duties in a democratic society," he said.

Imam accused of 'gay death' slur
BBC News Online
A gay rights campaigner has accused an Imam of saying the execution of gay Muslims to stop the spread of disease is "for the common good of man". Dr John Casson visited Arshad Misbahi, the Imam at Manchester Central Mosque, to discuss concerns over the execution of homosexual Muslims in Iran. Dr Casson said the comments were made in a private meeting but he wrote them down afterwards. The Imam did not deny the comments but said he had been misinterpreted. Mr Misbahi said he was only talking about the Islamic perspective on homosexuality and stressed he would make a statement later on Thursday.

Anti-terror plan targets internet
BBC News Online
Ministers from the six largest European Union countries have agreed to work together to make the internet a "more hostile" place for terrorists. Home Secretary John Reid said they would seek to crack down on people using the web to share information on explosives or spread propaganda. The ministers also pledged to fight international VAT fraud, following a meeting near Stratford-upon-Avon.  This cost the UK £3bn a year, some of which funded terrorism, Mr Reid said. He said the interior ministers wanted to use the internet and other media to target young audiences with messages from "secular Muslim" role models, rather than those believing in radical ideologies.

Cleric in hijab rape claim
By Emily Dent, The Sun
ONE of Australia’s most senior Islamic clerics has triggered outrage after comparing women who don’t wear a headscarf to “uncovered meat who invite rape." Sheik Taj Aldin al Hilali - considered the most senior Islamic leader by many Muslims in Australia and New Zealand - denied he was condoning rape when he made the comments in a sermon. Hilali said: “If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside ... without cover, and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat’s? “The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.”

Also check out:
Charles wants multi-faith coronation service (Daily Mail)
Outrage as Muslim cleric likens women to 'uncovered meat' (Daily Mail)
Tories brand BBC's Taliban interview 'obscene propaganda' (Daily Mail)

Wednesday October 25, 2006
"D.O.A.P.": Be Careful What You Wish For
Zahed Amanullah, Alt.Muslim
For the angrier among you, it might be difficult to approach director Gabriel Range's controversial new film "Death of a President" (or "D.O.A.P," if you will) without a bit of schadenfreude. After all, it depicts with strong realism (though no bloodshed) the fictional assassination of President George Bush in Chicago in October, 2007. But as the film takes pains to demonstrate after the assassination scene (itself over by 20 minutes into the film), you'd be wrong to do so. After its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where it won the International Critics prize, the film's premise sparked controversy in the States with more conservative pundits and politicians of all stripes characterising it as nothing more than a leftist, Islamist fantasy.

Veiling The Issues
Tina Beattie, Open Democracy/UK watch
A Muslim woman wearing a face-veil (niqab) and sitting in the surgery of her male member of parliament is a complex and interesting phenomenon. Some might argue that she represents the best of pluralist democracy. She is a participating citizen who is in direct contact with her MP on matters that concern her, and she is a Muslim who has the confidence to dress as she wants to, even at the risk of public disapproval. But that is not how Jack Straw, the British government minister and MP for the northern English town of Blackburn, sees it.

Anti-terror plan targets internet
BBC News Online
Ministers from the six largest European Union countries have agreed to work together to make the internet a "more hostile" place for terrorists. Home Secretary John Reid said they would seek to crack down on people using the web to share information on explosives or spread propaganda. The ministers also pledged to fight international VAT fraud, following a meeting near Stratford-upon-Avon.  This cost the UK £3bn a year, some of which funded terrorism, Mr Reid said. He said the interior ministers wanted to use the internet and other media to target young audiences with messages from "secular Muslim" role models, rather than those believing in radical ideologies.

Tuesday October 24, 2006
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea the worst violators of press freedom
Reporters Without Borders
New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones. “Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom,” the organisation said, “and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly. The UK is rated joint 27th next to Lithuania out of 168 rank places, with Finland ranked 1st beside Iceland and the Netherlands.

Schools told: Ban the veil
Tom Morgan and Paul Wilkinson, Daily Express
A city with one of the country’s largest Muslim populations is to ask schools to ban veils in the classroom. Education leaders yesterday confirmed that they are drawing up guidelines stating that both teachers and pupils must not wear them during lessons. The school chiefs claim that veils – called niqabs – could stop teachers identifying troublesome children. They also fear that they could even lead to health and safety problems in Bradford, where around 15 per cent of the 470,000 population are Muslim. Spokesman Anthony Mugan said: "We would advise against the wearing of veils in schools because of reasons which will be listed in new guidelines.

Muslims being demonised, says Livingstone
James Sturcke, Guardian Online (1:30pm)
The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today said the row over whether Muslims should wear veils had parallels with the hounding of Jews in Nazi Germany. Speaking at the launch of the first ever report into Muslims living in London, Mr Livingstone said much of the ongoing debate about Muslim dress implied the community "was somehow at fault" for being at the centre of the storm. Mr Livingstone said the "vast amount of verbiage" about the issue had been "quite breathtaking" and that very little was said about barriers the community faces in Britain, such as the "systematic pattern of discrimination against Muslims in employment".

Faith schools face orders to teach other religions
Jane Merrick, Daily Mail
Faith schools could be forced to teach other religions under sweeping new powers given to school inspectors, it has emerged. They would also be told to employ teachers from different religious backgrounds in an attempt to improve community relations. The plans will be highly controversial at a time of heightened tension over religion in schools - following the case of Muslim teaching assistant Aishah Azmi's bid to wear her veil in class. They emerged as Education Secretary Alan Johnson held a summit of religious leaders over how schools can improve relations between communities.

And check out:
Taliban threaten war in Britain (The Sun)
The spy who taught me (Guardian Education)
Teachers face monitoring on faith teaching (The Times)

Monday October 23, 2006
All I want for Eid is a Bollywood spectacular
Saima Raza, The Guardian
People often ask me how I spend Eid, the celebration marking the end of Ramadan today. I usually tell them that in many ways the day is like Christmas - presents, food and feuds. But I've come to realise that a new phenomenon has become part of the festivities: the movie house. Having spent the month praying for eternal salvation, worshippers decide to take a brief intermission and visit the gods of Bollywood. In recent years, movie production companies have started scheduling releases around the festival and using channels such as Star Plus and B4U Music to herald the arrival of Eid weekend movie mania.

Comic is sent abroad to joke about the veil
Amit Roy, Daily Telegraph
Britain's first Muslim comedian is being sent to India by the British Council to make jokes about the veil. The aim of the trip by Shazia Mirza, which is expected to cost about £2,000, is to show that Britain is a free and civilised society and to build bridges with Muslims. Shazia Mirza will tell India that you can be British and a Muslim. Miss Mirza, 30, has been told she can make jokes about the burkha but has been advised "not to upset Muslims in India". Miss Mirza came to prominence immediately after September 11 when audiences were unsure how to react to her introduction. Wearing a hijab, she would say: "My name's Shazia Mirza — at least, that's what it says on my pilot's licence."

Muslim veil debate could start riots, warns Phillips
Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian
Writing at the weekend, Mr Phillips said: "All the recent evidence shows that we are, as a society, becoming more socially polarised by race and faith. The only place where this may not be true is in our schools and the main reason is that in many of our cities things cannot get any worse." Mr Phillips said Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, had been right to reveal publicly that he had asked Muslim women to remove their veils during his constituency surgeries. He criticised Muslims who had attacked Mr Straw, writing: "The so-called Muslim leaders who initially attacked Straw were wrong. They were overly defensive and need to accept that in a diverse

And check out:
Race-war 'fire' on our streets (The Sun)
Debate over Muslim dress could trigger riots, race chief warns (Daily Mail)
Veil girl’s father may have met 7/7 bomber (Daily Mail)
Police told to avoid Muslim arrests in Ramadan (Daily Mail)
Religious leaders hold talks to ease tensions over veil dispute (The Times)

Sunday October 22, 2006
Warning over UK race riot danger
BBC News Online
The polarised debate over Muslim veils could spark race riots in the UK, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality has warned. Excessive criticism of Muslims and over-sensitivity among some Muslims had grown, Trevor Phillips said. "This could be the trigger for the grim spiral that produced riots in the north of England five years ago," he told the Sunday Times. Mr Phillips backed Jack Straw's raising of the issue of veils. He said a "gentle, nuanced" debate was needed.

Talk now, or reap the whirlwind
Trevor Phillips, The Sunday Times
On one side of the trenches we have those who want a fully fledged auto-da-fé against British Muslims, in which anything any Muslim does or says must be condemned as a signal of their wilful alienation and separation; on the other hand the defensiveness of some in the Muslim communities has hardened into a sensitivity that turns the most neutral of comments into yet another act of persecution. This is not what anyone intended and it is the last thing Britain needs. This could be the trigger for the grim spiral that produced riots in the north of England five years ago. Only this time the conflict would be much worse. We need to chill.

Let us pray we have an end to faith schools
Minette Marrin, Sunday Times
An alarming image dominated the front pages of Friday’s newspapers. It was a photograph of a slim British woman shrouded in black except for a flash of her skilfully painted eyes, and naked toes. She was Aishah Azmi, the young Muslim teaching assistant in the now notorious veil dispute, on the day she won £1,100 for her hurt feelings. She might have been one of the emblematic figures of a medieval morality play, medieval as she looks. In contemporary Britain, she represents cultural chaos.

We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News
By Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday
It was the day that a host of BBC executives and star presenters admitted what critics have been telling them for years: the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism. A leaked account of an 'impartiality summit' called by BBC chairman Michael Grade, is certain to lead to a new row about the BBC and its reporting on key issues, especially concerning Muslims and the war on terror. It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air. At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians.

Ramadan arrest advice 'is lunacy'
BBC News Online
An Islamic youth organisation has condemned as "lunacy" police advice not to execute arrest warrants against Muslims at prayer times during Ramadan. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) asked detectives not to make planned arrests for reasons of religious sensitivity. But Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said: "It's stupid, lunacy, that police could even consider not arresting Muslims during Ramadan." GMP said its advice was a "request for sensitivity" and not a ban on arrests. The advice was e-mailed out to officers working in Moss Side, Hulme, Whalley Range, Rusholme, Fallowfield, Ardwick, Longsight, Gorton and Levenshulme.

Also check out:
Race chief warns of 'fire on the streets' (Independent on Sunday)
Al-Qaeda is winning the war of ideas, says Reid  (Sunday Telegraph)
Counter-terrorism unit to tackle campus extremism (Sunday Telegraph)
Race chief fears veil row divisions (Sunday Express)
Charles urged to give Christianity main role (Sunday Express)

Saturday October 21, 2006
Muslim MP tells veiled class assistant to give up fight
Paul Stokes, Daily Telegraph
The row over the Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended for failing to remove her veil during lessons deepened yesterday as a Muslim MP urged her to give up the fight. Mrs Azmi has been suspended on full pay since February. Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury, called on Aishah Azmi, 24, to drop the argument. He said: "I would appeal to Mrs Azmi just to let this thing go. There is no real support for it." He added that the tribunal ruling against her was "absolutely spot on". "I have Muslim parents in my constituency who have said they wouldn't send their children to a school where the teachers wore veils while they were teaching. "I just think there is very little support for this. She is very isolated and it would be healthy all round if she just accept the tribunal result."

Veil-case legal centre funds may be cut
William Green, Yorkshire Post
Funding for the law centre representing the Muslim teaching assistant suspended for wearing a veil during lessons may be cut as controversy over the case rages on. Kirklees Council has provided £68,000 in funding for Kirklees Law Centre this year, but is understood to want to review its relationship after spending £20,000 so far on defending itself from an employment tribunal case brought by teaching assistant Aishah Azmi.

How bombers' town is turning into an enclave for Muslims
Andrew Norfolk, The Times
SHE may have been covered in black from head to toe, but there was no disguising Aishah Azmi’s mood this week as she denounced those who would dare to challenge her right to wear a veil in the classroom. At a press conference in a smart Leeds hotel after an employment tribunal’s rejection of her discrimination claim against the junior school that had suspended her, Mrs Azmi, 24, was flanked by a team of lawyers as she faced journalists and cameras. She spoke confidently and assertively, attacking Tony Blair, pledging to continue her fight for justice and pleading the cause of fellow Muslim women who were being “treated as outcasts” across Britain.

Blair. The veil. And a new low in politics
Peter Oborne, Daily Mail
Great sea changes of thought or opinion are rare in British public life, taking place perhaps only once or twice in a generation. But there is abundant evidence that we are undergoing one now. Until only a few months ago, mainstream British politicians were extremely cautious about articulating the fears and resentments felt by many ordinary people on the subject of mass immigration. Those who spoke out publicly (Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech is the notorious example) were ostracised. Political parties which raised the issue were thrust beyond the outer margins of debate - the fate of the National Front and the BNP. This self-restraint has now vanished. Practically every day for the past two weeks, another minister has insulted the customs, habits or religious beliefs of Britain's Muslim minority.

White pupils less tolerant, survey shows
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
White youths are more likely to believe they are superior to those from other races, and their attitudes are more of a barrier to integration than those of Muslims, a study for the government has found. The findings turn on its head the current debate about integration, where a succession of cabinet ministers have told Muslims they must do more to fit in. The study, by the University of Lancaster, was sent to the Home Office in September, and is believed to be the first of its kind comparing levels of intolerance in different communities.

Also check out:
Ban it! (Daily Express)
Fury over veil rebel legal aid (The Sun)
Thinly veiled lesson in absurdity (Daily Mail)
Mosque links Tube bomber and teacher in veil storm (Daily Mail)
Tolerance, the veil and Labour opportunism (Daily Mail)

Friday October 20, 2006
I won't be treated as an outcast, says Muslim teacher in veil row
Andrew Norfolk, The Times
THE Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended after she refused to remove her veil in the classroom lost her discrimination case yesterday, but was awarded £1,000 for hurt feelings. Aishah Azmi, 24, said that she was disappointed by the ruling but vowed to continue to fight for her right to wear the niqab. She also attacked Tony Blair and other ministers who had voiced support for the position taken by the school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, where she worked.

Complaints of anti-terror police harassing Muslim communities
Damien Henderson
Intelligence gathering operations by police in Tayside, aimed at preventing a future terrorist attack, have led to a deterioration in relations with Islamic communities, a leading Muslim organisation has warned. The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) said it had received numerous complaints over moves by Special Branch officers to contact university associations, businesses and members of the Islamic community, claiming that members of the public were being subjected to harassment. It has now written to Tayside Police to lodge a formal complaint over the Special Branch Community Contact Unit (SBCCU), which was established in the wake of last year's terrorist bombings in London to provide information on potential extremism.

Veil rebel gets cash reward
Andrew Porter, The Sun
THE Muslim teaching assistant suspended for wearing a veil last night told Tony Blair to “shut up” as she was awarded £1,100 for hurt feelings. Aishah Azmi also brazenly insisted that veils should be allowed in the classroom “to help integration”. She wore the controversial black head-to-toe shroud with a tiny slit for the eyes as she rebuked the PM and other Cabinet ministers. Mrs Azmi, 24, lashed out despite winning £1,100 of taxpayers’ cash for having her feelings hurt when she was suspended from a Church of England school. Speaking through her lawyer Nick Whittingham, she told the PM and his ministers to “keep their mouths shut”.

Cameron voices veils debate fear
BBC News Online
Too many politicians are "piling in" to the debate on Muslim women who wear full-face veils, the Tory leader says. David Cameron told ITV1's Frost Tonight he was concerned British Muslims were left feeling "slightly targeted". But Mr Cameron said he sympathised with the school that suspended a teaching assistant who wore her veil in class. On Thursday, Aishah Azmi lost her religious discrimination and harassment claim but Kirklees Council was ordered to pay £1,100 for victimising her.

Muslims can never conform to our ways
W F Deedes, The Telegraph
Ministers appear whimsically to be shifting from the multi-cultural society towards an integrated one. They are whistling in the dark if they think that will play well with the followers of Islam in our midst. Muslims are rooted in their faith and it governs the way they live. It is the only faith on Earth that persuades its followers to seek political power and impose a law — sharia — which shapes everyone's style of life.

MP tells veil woman 'let it go'
BBC News Online
A Muslim teaching assistant suspended for wearing a full-face veil has been urged by her MP to give up her fight. Aishah Azmi lost her employment tribunal case for discrimination and harassment, but was awarded damages for victimisation by Kirklees Council. Her legal representative said they will take the case to "a higher court". But Dewsbury Labour MP Shahid Malik told the BBC: "I would appeal to Mrs Azmi now just to let this thing go. There is no real support for it." The chair of social and family affairs at the Muslim Council of Britain, Reefat Drabu, said the veil was not obligatory. She said Mrs Azmi's stance was "exacerbating the misunderstanding" of Islam, and making things harder for Muslim communities in Britain.

Muslim staff in Paris airport row
BBC News Online
Four Muslim baggage handlers are appealing against a decision to bar them from working at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. They say that the local government's decision to revoke their security passes is evidence of anti-Muslim discrimination. A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk. He denied the move was linked to the men's religion. Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work.

And check out:
Veil-row teacher is defeated in ‘victory for commonsense’ (Daily Mail)
Teaching assistant 'victimised' for wearing veil, tribunal rules (The Independent)
Tribunal dismisses case of Muslim woman ordered not to teach in veil (The Guardian)

Thursday October 19, 2006
No discrimination' in veil row
BBC news Online
(Headline changed from "Veil Row Assistant 'Victimized'") A Muslim classroom assistant suspended by a school for wearing a veil in lessons has lost her claim of religious discrimination at a tribunal. Aishah Azmi, 23, was asked to remove the veil after the school in Dewsbury, W Yorks, said pupils found it hard to understand her. The tribunal dismissed her claims of religious discrimination and harassment on religious grounds. But Kirklees Council was ordered to pay her £1,100 for victimising her.

And check out:
Muslim teaching assistant loses discrimination claim (The Times)
Mixed Result For Teacher (Sky News)
Muslim teacher awarded cash for 'injured feelings' (The Telegraph)

Wednesday October 18, 2006
'Why these "leaders" are a pain in the burkas'
Jon Gaunt, The Sun (co/ Islamophobia Watch)
People are sick to death with pussy-footing around Muslim sensibilities and fed up with stories about veils, crucifixes and terrorist sympathisers having more rights than the average Joe.  Last week I said let's treat Muslims the same as every other Brit and I am delighted to see that at last some politicians are waking up, smelling the coffee and realising that I am right.  It's great that Race Minister Phil Woolas has finally discovered a backbone and told the Dewsbury Dalek that she either lifts the veil or picks up her P45. David Davis from the Tories is also right to warn Muslim leaders that they are "creating apartheid by shutting themselves off."

Veils are a symbol of separation
Oonagh Blackman, Daily Mirror
TONY Blair yesterday waded into the row over Muslim veils claiming they are a mark of separation which make others feel uncomfortable. The Prime Minister also backed education chiefs who suspended teaching assistant Aishah Azmi claiming she refused to remove her niqab in class. Asked at his monthly press conference if he thought Muslims can be full members of society if they wear the veil, he replied: "That's a very difficult question. "It is a mark of separation and that is why it makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable. "No one wants to say that people don't have the right to do it. That is to take it too far. But I think we need to confront this issue about how we integrate people properly into our society."

Labour loses faith in multi-culturalism
Telegraph Leader
At his press briefing yesterday, the Prime Minister made it clear his Government's approach to cultural diversity had changed. He may have couched his position in careful language, but the conclusion was inescapable: integration, rather than multi-cultural separatism, is now official policy. By saying that he "fully supported" the decision of Kirklees council to suspend the Muslim teaching assistant who had refused to remove her veil at work, and then reinforcing this point with the observation that the veil was a "mark of separation", Mr Blair removed any doubt about the Government's position.

If this onslaught was about Jews, I would be looking for my passport
Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian
I've been trying to imagine what it must be like to be a Muslim in Britain. I guess there's a sense of dread about switching on the radio or television, even about walking into a newsagents. What will they be saying about us today? Will we be under assault for the way we dress? Or the schools we go to, or the mosques we build? Who will be on the front page: a terror suspect, a woman in a veil or, the best of both worlds, a veiled terror suspect.

All faith schools 'must cross ethnic and religious barriers'
Greg Hurst, The Times
Measures to make all faith schools open their doors to children from other religions are to be considered in an attempt to break down barriers between communities. Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, will announce today that he plans to look at the intakes of existing religious schools as part of a review of the admissions code for schools. He will tell a conference that plans to require new faith schools to admit a quarter of pupils from a non-faith background are “a start”.

And check out:
'Veils are mark of separation and make others uncomfortable' (Independent)
Plans for faiths schools may be extended (Sky News)
Veil seen as mark of separation, Blair tells Muslims (Telegraph)
Now Blair gives veils a blast (The Sun)
The veil makes people feel uncomfortable, says Blair (Daily Mail)
The school that bans Christian rings but lets Sikh pupils wear religious bracelets (Daily Mail)
Muslims say Blair's integration call divisive (Reuters)
Faith schools urged to swap staff (Guardian Education)
Stop the War Coalition issues open letter against Islamophobia (Islamophobia Watch)
Racism is the real obstacle we face (Socialist Worker)
Daily Star journalists' action blocks anti-Muslim article (Socialist Worker)

Tuesday October 17, 2006
Spat at abused.. behind the muslim veil
Jacqui Morley, Blackpool Today
I mingle with them later, on the Golden Mile, to be spat upon by a stereotype, a shaven headed man, in his 20s. I am groped by two "stags". Another, a good humoured drunk, tries to untie my veil, double knotted on the advice of helpful girls at the Hijab Centre. It spares my blushes. He swings his arm around my shoulders, tries to squeeze a breast, and takes a photo on his mobile phone.
An elderly woman in the queue at SeaLife comes to my aid. "Leave the lass alone." She makes to take my arm, then draws back unsure. I thank her. Her youngest grandchild asks "is it for Halloween?" You'd seldom find a fully veiled Muslim woman alone on the Golden Mile any night, let alone during the holy month.

Incitement to violence
Daud Abdullah, The Guardian
Where is this political opportunism taking us? Into the dark tunnel of national strife. The corrosive effect of the political and media onslaught against British Muslims is having its impact on all sections of society. What is claimed to be an assertion of free speech and democratic rights is rapidly becoming the demonisation of a community. Once they are dehumanised, who cares for their democratic, civil or human rights? Since John Reid demanded that Muslim "bullies" must be faced down and Jack Straw declared the veil a "statement of separation", ministers have fallen over themselves to make increasingly unbridled attacks on Muslims.

Spying 'is not the British way'
Catriona Davies, The Telegraph
The main focus yesterday for many Muslim students at the London School of Economics was selling cakes. The Islamic Society is holding a week of charity activities to raise money for orphans around the world. Yesterday it was cakes and arm wrestling, today it will be an egg and spoon race and sponge-throwing. It feels more like a village fete than a hot bed of extremism, but LSE was one of the universities identified as being a target for radical groups. Aabid Hanif, 21, a British Pakistani, was one of the few aware of the banned group Hizb ut-Tahir having a presence in the university. "I have seen some of their people come to lectures to ask questions," he said.

Blair backs school in veil row
Matthew Tempest, The Guardian
The prime minister today took sides in the debate over Muslim women's right to wear the veil, saying he backed the school which suspended a teacher for refusing to take off her niqab.
Mr Blair also described the veil as "mark of separation" which made people from outside the Muslim community "uncomfortable". Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, the PM refused to be drawn on the detail of the row in Dewsbury, but said he backed the school and the local education authority's handling of the case - which saw them suspend Aishah Azmi.

The veil is banned in UK hospitals
Johanna Leggatt et al, Daily Express [RN]
The backlash against the veil grew yesterday as it was banned from hospitals. Muslim medical students were barred from wearing it when they talk to hospital patients. The move was ordered to “help to aid good communications” between Muslim medical students, their colleagues and patients. Details of the purge of faceless medics surfaced as the nationwide storm about Islamic veils continued. Race minister Phil Woolas demanded the sacking of a primary school teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her veil in classes.

Catholics and Jews attack controls on faith school intakes as veils row goes on
Stephen Bates and Tania Branigan, The Guardian
The Catholic church signalled its outright opposition last night to government proposals requiring new faith schools to admit as many as a quarter of their pupils from families of other faiths or no religions. The Board of Deputies of British Jews also expressed concern, saying the amendment to the education bill would be "nonsensical" if it prevented Jewish children from going to Jewish schools.

Kelly: Extremists threat to all
Andrew Porter, The Sun
Ministers last night angrily denied fuelling “Muslim-bashing”. Abdul Bari, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Labour’s “drip feed” of statements on veil-wearing and extremism was “stigmatising” the whole Muslim community. But Communities Minister Ruth Kelly said: “The majority of Muslim groups know we are committed to working closely with them and value their contribution.” She said extremism was a concern for all communities. Replying to Mr Bari, she explained: “The public — Muslim and non-Muslim — are demanding action on these issues and as a Government we intend to take it.”

Muslim radicals to justify violence at student debate
Suruchi Sharma, EducationGuardian.co.uk
Islamists will seek to justify the use of violence at a debate this week organised by students at Trinity College Dublin.
They will be opposed by moderate Muslims, including the Turkish ambassador to Ireland, at an event organised by the Philosophical Society on Thursday. In an atmosphere where the UK government is seeking to clamp down on signs of extremism on campus the debate is guaranteed massive media interest.

Man convicted for anti Muslim banner
TivySide Advertiser
A protest in London against the publication of a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist incensed an Aberporth man, who painted an anti-Muslim slogan on a white sheet and draped it over his garden fence. The words in bold red paint stated: "Kill all Muslims who threaten us and our way of life. Enoch Powell was right." Father of two Gary John Mathewson, who was arrested for displaying the banner, told a court: "This won't stop until there is a Muslim president in the White House." And referring to MP Jack Straw questioning whether Muslim women should wear face veils he asked: "Are you going to arrest him?"Adding that during the protest in London a Muslim was dressed as a suicide bomber he asked: "Why was he not arrested?"

And check out:
'Even other Muslims turn and look at me' (The Guardian)
Only a fully secular state can protect women's rights (Polly Toynbee)
Parents play down veil row (Huddersfield Examiner)
Anti-Islamic McCarthyism (Daily Mail)
Jowell and Harman join call for Muslim women to lift veil (Daily Mail)

Monday October 16, 2006
The fashion and thought police
Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition
The war on terror has created some unlikely allies. When George Bush told us he was bombing Afghanistan in order to liberate women, many found that particularly hard to take. One of the more distasteful features of the wave of attacks on Muslims in recent weeks has been the sight of feminists lining up to support Jack Straw in his demand that women should not wear the veil in his presence. Women who claim they believe in liberation really should know better. The women’s movement of the 1960s was anti racist, coming out of the civil rights and anti war movements in the US.

'Requesting a Muslim not to wear her veil in class makes sense'
Huddersfield Examiner
A LEADING Muslim MP has backed Kirklees Council's stance over a teaching assistant who refused to remove her veil. Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik said he believed council officials had done all they could to defuse the row which has seen Aishah Azmi suspended from her post at Headfield C of E Junior School at Thornhill Lees. The 24-year-old bilingual support worker refused to remove her veil while teaching English to youngsters at the school. She is now seeking victory over the council at an industrial tribunal. But Mr Malik, private secretary to schools minister Jim Knight, said the council had acted correctly.

Universities urged to spy on Muslims
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Lecturers and university staff across Britain are to be asked to spy on "Asian-looking" and Muslim students they suspect of involvement in Islamic extremism and supporting terrorist violence, the Guardian has learned. They will be told to inform on students to special branch because the government believes campuses have become "fertile recruiting grounds" for extremists. The Department for Education has drawn up a series of proposals which are to be sent to universities and other centres of higher education before the end of the year. The 18-page document...

Kelly urges response to extremism
BBC News Online
The battle against extremism in the UK should be fought by all communities - not just Muslims - Ruth Kelly has told a meeting of local authority officials. The communities secretary said that extremism included the threat from the "still poisonous" far-right. "The new extremism we're facing is the single biggest security issue for local communities," Ms Kelly said. However, the Muslim Council of Britain says recent pronouncements by ministers have "demonised" the Muslim community.

Minister will order police and councils to identify hotspots of extremism
Alexandra Blair and Dominic Kennedy, The Times
Hotspots of Islamic extremism will be identified in schools, colleges and universities under government plans to be announced today. Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, will defy growing anger from Islamic leaders by ordering police and local authorities to root out Muslim extremists. The announcement comes after the revelation yesterday that new faith schools could be forced to offer at least a quarter of their places to pupils of other religions and non-believers. The announcement comes after the revelation yesterday that new faith schools could be forced to offer at least a quarter of their places to pupils of other religions and non-believers.

And check out:
Exclusive - we'll target Muslim hotspots (Daily Mirror)
School veil row 'not a big issue for parents' (24dash.com)
Sack the classroom veil rebel, says race minister (Daily Mail)
Muslim MP backs sacking of school assistant who wore veil (The Times)
Muslim anger as MPs speak out against wearing veils (The Herald)
Fascists back ministers over Muslims (Islamophobia Watch)
This is not about a woman's right of dress, it is about the values of our secular society (The Independent)

Sunday October 15, 2006
Teacher denies refusing to remove Muslim veil
James Tapsfield and Kim Pilling, The Scotsman
A Muslim teaching assistant who has been suspended by her school yesterday denied she had refused to take off her veil in class. Aishah Azmi insisted she had always been willing to remove the veil in front of children at Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire - but would not do so while male colleagues were present. Azmi spoke out as Ken Livingstone joined the ranks of people who want to see veils disappear, saying "most people" held the same view. The London mayor's comments follow the outcry over the issue sparked by Commons Leader Jack Straw when he revealed he asks his Muslim constituents to remove their veils in meetings.

Sack School Veil Rebel - Race Minister EXCLUSIVE
Vincent Moss, Sunday Mirror
Britain's Race Minister has stepped into the row over the primary school classroom assistant suspended for wearing a veil - by calling for her sacking. Muslim Aishah Azmi has been suspended because she refuses to remove her veil in front of male colleagues. The move followed complaints that youngsters at her school found her difficult to understand because they could not see her lips move. But Race and Faith Minister Phil Woolas says Mrs Azmi, 24, could be breaching sex discrimination rules. He said: "She should be sacked. She has put herself in a position where she can't do her job."

Tories accuse Muslims of 'creating apartheid by shutting themselves off'
Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite, The Sunday Telegraph
The Conservatives today accuse Muslim leaders of encouraging "voluntary apartheid" in Britain by shutting themselves away in closed societies and demanding protection from criticism. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, says that Britain risks social and religious divisions so profound that society's very foundations, such as the freedom of speech, will become "corroded" and that the perfect conditions for home-grown terrorism will be created. His stark intervention, in an article for The Sunday Telegraph...

Muslims are the new Jews
India Knight, The Sunday Times
Very little makes sense in this business about Jack Straw, Muslim women and veils. Aishah Azmi, a teaching assistant from Dewsbury, Yorks, was last week suspended for refusing to take her veil off in class - she was allowed to wear it everywhere else at school, but, rightly to my mind, was told by her local education authority that her pupils, who are mostly learning English as a second language, needed to see her mouth when she taught. This seems entirely sensible. The rest of the whole sorry 'debate' is anything but.

The Asian bride who died a lonely death in Britain
Mahtab Haider and David Smith, The Observer
The single-storey house has peeling paint and mildewed walls, a vegetable patch in the front yard and a wing with a rusting tin roof and wicker walls. Inside the furniture is threadbare, no fans resist the oppressive heat and, on a charpoy bed in a dank corner, lies a woman suffering emotions that few can guess the depth of. Mahmuda Begum's eyes are glassy, her expression blank and she chants over and over: 'My daughter was so beautiful. I don't believe she is dead.'

Human rights concerns fail to staunch flow of UK arms
Antony Barnett, The Observer
The British government is exporting record levels of military equipment to 19 of the 20 states its own ministers and officials have just identified as 'major countries of concern' for human rights abuses. The 20 countries were listed in the Foreign Office's annual Human Rights Report, which was launched by the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, last week. They include China, Burma, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe. But the government's arms export records reveal that concerns over human rights appear not to have prevented ministers from approving tens of millions of pounds of military sales to those same regimes.

And check out:
Veil teacher 'should be sacked' (BBC Online)
Tory 'apartheid' attack on Muslims (Observer)
Imam rescued from Glasgow mosque attack (Sunday Times)

Britain's bloggers make history
Robert Booth, The Sunday Times
Future generations may see it as the Domesday blog of 21st-century Britain. A digital time capsule detailing a day in the life of hundreds of thousands of Britons is to be posted on a website and then archived permanently at the British Library. The actors Stephen Fry and Sir Derek Jacobi, the writer Bill Bryson and television historian Bettany Hughes are among those who have already agreed to record their experiences this Tuesday for the “One Day in History” project organised by the National Trust (NT).

Saturday October 14, 2006
Galloway raises Islamophobia fear
BBC News Online
Islamophobia is a problem that must be addressed, MP George Galloway has told his Respect party's annual conference in North London. Mr Galloway's speech focused on the treatment of Muslims in Britain. He singled out Jack Straw, who sparked a row when he revealed he asks Muslim women wearing veils to his surgery if they would consider removing them. Mr Galloway said Mr Straw had joined "the Dutch auction in New Labour of who can be most beastly to a minority".

Most people want Muslims to try harder to integrate, poll reveals
Julian Glover, The Guardian
Widespread public acceptance of Britain's Muslim community runs alongside fears about the development of a divided society, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today. It reveals that voters want Muslims to do more to integrate themselves into mainstream culture. The poll, carried out in the wake of Jack Straw's criticism of the full veil worn by some Muslim women, shows voters take a largely relaxed view of British Muslim citizens, despite fears among some community leaders and politicians about social polarisation.

'If you are strangling a man, don't ask why his eyes are popping out'
Fareena Alam, The Guardian
It's not an easy time to be a British Muslim - particularly if you're trying to raise kids. Fareena Alam asks three parents how they do it. Fahim Mazhary, 52, London: "Sometimes I wish I could prevent my four teenage sons from becoming adults, because adulthood is so complicated and confusing." Rahat Karim, 52, Birmingham: "My husband, Ali, and I moved to Britain when we were small children. We had our first child when I was 18 and he was 22, so we never felt there was a generation gap. "And yet despite this, we have found it hard to bring up our two sons and our daughter here." Sara Ahmad, 28, London: "My brother, Babar Ahmad, was arrested on terrorism charges and beaten on the night of police raids on three of our family homes in December 2003.

Jack's 'Civilized' Debate Physically KICKS OFF With Imam
MPACUK
A 53-year-old imam has been punched and kicked by a man who entered a mosque in the west end of Glasgow. Strathclyde Police confirmed that the incident, at the Dawat ul Islam centre, happened at about 1800 BST on Friday. Mohammed Shamsuddin was taken to the nearby Western Infirmary, but later discharged following treatment. The suspect is described as white, possibly 35-45 years, approximately 5ft 7 to 5ft 9 tall, of medium build with short greying hair and wearing jeans. Witnesses to the attack said the suspect verbally abused Imam Shamsuddin before punching and kicking him and then hitting him with a chair and other office equipment.

Mother is denied Pill by Muslim pharmacist
Paul Stokes, The Telegraph
A Muslim chemist repeatedly refused a mother the "morning after" pill because of his religious beliefs. Jo-Ann Thomas, a school crossing patrolwoman with two children, was told that even though the item was in stock she should go to her doctor for her supplies. When she was denied the pill at a Lloyds Pharmacy near her home in Thurcroft, Rotherham, she asked why and says she was told the pharmacist was a "deeply religious Muslim".

Non-Muslims 'must wear hijab'
Michael Lea and Kathryn Lister, The Sun
NON-Muslim English girls will be ordered to wear headscarves at a new Islamic school. Madani High School in Leicester will take ten per cent of its pupils from other faiths — but insists all must cover their heads. Headteachers ruled the hijab scarf is part of the uniform. Assistant principal Zainab Elgaziari said the demand was not a problem despite the row over Muslim women’s veils. He said: “I can’t see why if a student wears a headscarf it should be an issue. It’s the same as a shirt or tie — it’s just part of our uniform.”

And check out:
Attacks on Muslims rise after veils row (Independent)
Muslim teacher defends her veil (BBC Online)
Straw refuses to back down as he faces constituents (Telegraph)
Teacher sues over right to wear the veil (Daily Mail)
Veil protestors confront Straw (The Sun)
BA suspends a Christian for wearing a cross – but lets Muslims wear hijabs (Daily Mail)

Friday 13 October, 2006
A world without taboos
Ralf Dahrendorf, Guardian Comment is Free
Not long ago, one might have concluded that, at least in Europe, there were no taboos left. A process that had begun with the Enlightenment had now reached the point at which "anything goes". Particularly in the arts, there were no apparent limits to showing what even a generation ago would have been regarded as highly offensive. Two generations ago, most countries had censors who not only tried to prevent younger people from seeing certain films, but who actually banned books. From the 1960s, such proscriptions weakened until, in the end, explicit sexuality, violence, blasphemy - while upsetting to some people - were tolerated as a part of the enlightened world.

Big Ben Pig Pen
SchNEWS
Monday 9th of October was the much publicised ‘Sack Parliament’ action, an unauthorised demonstration in the heart of the new ‘exclusion zone’ created by the 2005 Serious and Organised Crime and Punishment (SOCPA) act, which specifically makes a no-go area of the ‘Mother of all Parliaments’ and seeks to ban protest and demonstration generally (See SchNEWS 483). It was ominous from the outset. Demonstrators leaving from Brighton noticed an heavy police presence some 60 miles outside the SOCPA zone, cops armed with mugshots of known activists at Brighton station.

Miss 'axed' for keeping veil on
By Anthony France, The Sun
A Muslim teacher claims she was forced out of her job for not removing her veil in class. Pupils said they found English lessons hard to understand because they could not see Aishah Azmi’s lips moving. Bosses at Headfield Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorks, agreed Azmi, 24, could wear the veil around the school, but not while teaching. But furious Ms Azmi refused to take it off. She claimed her veil was cultural, and was then suspended. Last night a local authority source said: “How can you teach English to young kids with your face covered?”

FO's human rights report omits attacks on Lebanon
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian
The Foreign Office came under fire yesterday after omitting any criticism of Israel's attack on Lebanon in its annual human rights report. Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, told a press conference the omission was because the timing was "a little bit tight" for publication. She said she anticipated the war being dealt with more fully in next year's report. But the authors did find sufficient time to include criticism of the Lebanese-based guerrilla group Hizbullah, and one of its backers, Syria, over attacks on Israel and to provide a figure for Israeli, but not Lebanese, casualties.

The Racist 'War on Terror'
imc-uk-features
If the 'war on terror' were really about stopping terror, then you would have thought that, when the largest ever haul of bomb-making chemicals, rocket launchers and a nuclear biological suit were found by police at a house in Lancashire, the suspect would be interned for 90 days, the story would make headlines for days, and they would be assumed to be guilty. Well, that's what you would expect if the suspects were Muslims. But in this case, they are white nationalists; one of the two was the BNP candidate for the Vivary Bridge ward of Colne last May. So the police assumed he was innocent: "He's not a terrorist and it's not a bomb factory", Superintendent Neil Smith said, reassuring residents. He has been charged under the Explosives Substances Act 1883 and remanded in custody, and is due to appear in Burnley Crown Court on October 23rd. The second suspect was released without charge.

Oxford wins protest injunction case
Press Association, The Guardian
Oxford University has won a ruling that the Animal Liberation Front (ALF)'s press officer is bound by an injunction banning protests at its new biomedical research laboratory. Mr Justice Irwin said that Robin Webb, who was appointed in 1991, was a "central and pivotal figure" in the organisation who was fully adherent to its aims, strategy and tactics. He was not a journalist, but a propagandist who "echoed the threat from the ALF to the University". His was a "conscious contribution to the fear sought to be exercised by the ALF and associated groupings upon the University of Oxford and all those who co-operate with them", he said.

Other stories:
FO's human rights report omits attacks on Lebanon
Shameful legacy - British treatment of the Mau Maus
Why prison is still easier than a children's home

Thursday 12 October, 2006
Government seeks to reinvent Islam
by Louise Nousratpour, Islamophobia Watch/Morning Star
Muslim organisations accused the government on Wednesday of using its financial muscle to "socially engineer" Islamic groups with no objections to Britain's bloody foreign policy. Their warning followed a speech by Community Secretary Ruth Kelly, who warned that there would be a "significant shift" in state funding and engagement in favour of organisations which spoke out clearly against extremism. Islamic Human Rights Commission chairman Massoud Shadjareh accused the government of "using its financial muscle to socially engineer a new brand of Islam which will be subservient to its foreign policy."

Muslim Website Says Muslims Aren't Offended By Apple Store
Shahed Amanullah, Alt.Muslim
Recently, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) stated that an anonymous Islamic website in the Middle East urged Muslims to show their outrage at the Apple Store in New York City, which built a pavilion coincidentally resembling the cube shape of the Ka'aba, the ancient structure in Mecca towards which all Muslims pray (the actual structure is glass, though MEMRI referenced a black plywood cover during construction). Predictably, the post brought out cries of indignation from people upset that Muslims would be offended (yet again). But missing in the report was the name of the purported website, why it was considered authoritative on the matter, or any actual offended Muslims (our straw poll garnered a collective shrug, along with much respect for Steve Jobs, himself the son of an Arab).

So many causes, so little time
Mark Thomas, Guardian G2
Last summer, Mark Thomas' friend Sian was threatened with arrest for having a picnic in Parliament Square. The police had said her meal was a political demonstration, as she had the word "Peace" iced on a cake. Under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (Socpa), which restricts the right to demonstrate near the square, she should have got permission from the police six days before getting the victoria sponge out of its Tupperware container. Mark Thomas thus set out to make a record number of protests in one day  He managed  21 demonstrations in five hours and 15 minutes in the Socpa (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act) zone. Anyone care to try to beat it? Mass lone demonstrations are held every third Wednesday of every month in Parliament Square. Application forms to demonstrate on www.markthomasinfo.com

Wednesday 11 October, 2006
'655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion'
Sarah Boseley, The Guardian
The aftermath of a Baghdad bomb attack - a study published in the Lancet estimates that 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war. The death toll among Iraqis as a result of the US-led invasion has now reached an estimated 655,000, a study in the Lancet medical journal reports today. The figure for the number of deaths attributable to the conflict - which amounts to around 2.5% of the population - is at odds with figures cited by the US and UK governments and will cause a storm, but the Lancet says the work, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, has been examined and validated by four separate independent experts who all urged publication.

Sorry, but we can't just pick and choose what to tolerate
David Edgar, The Guardian
Well, who would have thought a bit of black cloth could have provoked such anger and such anguish. The anger is part of a growing and alarming trend. The general consensus among the anguished (such as this newspaper) is that, in Jack Straw's words, "there is an issue here". Certainly there is. The veil question has exposed a staggering level of thoughtless illiberalism, and not just where you'd expect to find it. Hot off the mark, the Express consults its readers about a ban on the veil: "An astounding 97% of Daily Express readers agreed a ban would help to safeguard racial harmony." It's not quite clear how this ban would be implemented. (Policemen ripping veils from women's faces? Asbos? Flinging wearers in jail?)
Yahya Birt: he Veil and the Limits of English Tolerance
Rushdie backs Straw in row over Muslim veils
Brown breaks ranks to back Straw over lifting Muslim veils
Muslim veil ban by HE Minister Bill Rammell
Trevor Phillips backs Straw in Veil Row, says The Sun

Funding cut-off threat by minister angers Muslim groups
Philippe Naughton, The Times
The Government was accused today of trying to engineer a subservient "state-sponsored Islam" after a Cabinet minister warned Muslim groups that they risked losing Government funding if they did not actively tackle the problem of extremism. Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, used a speech to a Muslim audience in London to call for a "fundamental rebalancing" of the Government’s relations with Muslim organisations.
Kelly penalises mosques' failure to tackle terror

Monday 09 October, 2006
Jack Straw has unleashed a storm of prejudice and intensified division
Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian
It's been quite extraordinary: one man's emotional response to the niqab - the Muslim veil that covers all but the eyes - has snowballed into a perceived titanic clash of cultures in which commentators pompously pronounce on how Muslims are "rejecting the values of liberal democracy". Jack Straw feels uncomfortable and within a matter of hours, his discomfort is calibrated on news bulletins and websites in terms of an inquisitorial demand: do Muslims in this country want to integrate? How does Straw's "I feel ..." spin so rapidly into such grandstanding?
Prescott tells Straw he is wrong over removal of veils
Suspect in terror hunt used veil to evade arrest
I could have been anyone

White terrorists don’t make the news
Black Information Link
A former British National Party member has been accused of possessing the largest amount of chemical explosives of its type ever found in the country. Officers claim that their find is the largest haul of chemicals of its kind discovered. The case has attracted little publicity as the national media continue to focus on Muslims. Cottage reportedly drives disabled children to school. Police sealed off Cottage's home and were believed to have continued their search over the weekend. His Peugeot car has been taken away for examination.

Family target of anti-Muslim slur
BBC News Online
A  Teesside family has said it fears for its safety after vandals daubed anti-Muslim graffiti on their home. The Joacph family were forced to cut short a holiday when neighbours alerted them to the racist attack on their home in Saltersgill, Middlesbrough. Slogans, including the words "kill Muslims" and "terrorists live here" were painted on walls and doors.

Sunday 08 October 2006
The new Swampy
Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times
For the hundreds of aviation executives assembled in London’s Waldorf Hilton hotel it began like any other international conference. Executives were giving slick presentations about how best to exploit the booming demand for cheap air travel — all interspersed with banquets and receptions. Then it began. Just as British Airways was about to begin its presentation, a dozen or more demonstrators burst through the door clutching brightly coloured helium balloons and sent them floating towards the ceiling. At the same time a deafening wail filled the air. Attached to the balloons were rape alarms, each of which emitted an ear-splitting scream.

Saturday 07 October, 2006
Terror Raid Rocket Launchers Chemical Explosives But No Headlines
Mathaba.net
This week a British National Party (BNP) election candidate has been accused of possessing the largest amount of chemical explosives of its type ever found in Britain. Home secretary John Reid did not hold any special press conferences and it did not make any headlines outside of local newspapers in England and one online news service. The 22 chemical components recovered by police are the largest haul ever found at a private house in the UK.

My life behind the niqab
Rahmanara Chowdhury, The Guardian
I began wearing the face veil when I was 20 and in my final year at university. I took the step after contemplating it for a year, and during this time I considered the impact it would have on my studies and my interactions with other people. I was most concerned about how other students would relate with me and how I would continue with presentations and group exercises on my course.

Incitement to hatred
Soumaya Ghannoushi, The Guardian
Watching the news or reading the papers, you'd think that Muslims were Britain 's No 1 problem. Everyone, it seems, is frantically racing to offer magic cures for this chronic disease. Islam and Muslims are only ever invoked as objects of fear and horror: terrorism, forced marriage, honour killing and fanaticism. Over the past few days, hostility to Muslims has dominated the media: from the saga of the Muslim policeman excused guard duty outside the Israeli embassy to the violent attacks on a Muslim-owned dairy in Windsor and Jack Straw's complaints about Muslim women.

Ban the veil
Padraic Flanagan, Daily Express
90% Back Jack
Rosa Prince, The Daily Mirror
We Hold You Responsible Jack - Just Like Iraq
MPACUK
Dangerous attack or fair point? Straw veil row deepens
Martin Wainwright et al, The Guardian
It isn't enough to say anyone can wear whatever they like
Martin Kettle, The Guardian
Headscarves and hijabs
Letters, The Guardian
Straw fans flames by insisting he wants women to stop wearing veils altogether
Nigel Morris, The Independent
Vexed question of the veil divides town gripped by racial suspicion
Ian Herbert, The Independent
'Remove full veils' urges Straw
BBC News Online
'People are angry. This attacks the identity of Muslims'
Nigel Bunyan, The Telegraph
3,000-year history of feminine effacement
Damian Thompson, The Telegraph
My Straw poll: extremists must be seen for what they are
Charles Moore, The Telegraph
I would prefer women not to wear the veil at all, says Straw
Anthony Browne, The Times
Anger and headscarves on streets of Blackburn
Carol Midgley
One glance took away my freedom
Ann Treneman, The Times
Straw defiant despite growing veils row
By Tim Shipman and James Tozer, The Daily Mail
Muslim fury over Straw row
David Wooding, The Sun
Brave heroes hounded out
Julie Moult et al, The Sun

Background:
Straw’s Comments Play Into The Hands of The Intolerant
Muslim Council of Britain (06/10)
Demonising Islam and Muslims
Ahmed J Versi, The Muslim News (06/10)
I want to unveil my views on an important issue
Jack Straw, Lancashire Telegraph (05/06)

Friday 06 October, 2006
Muslim PC in Israeli embassy row feared being targeted by Islamists
Rosie Cowan and Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
The Muslim police officer at the centre of a row over his exemption from guarding the Israeli embassy in London feared being targeted by Islamist extremists, it was claimed last night. As the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, ordered an inquiry into the exemption, PC Alexander Omar Basha's superiors were forced to explain their decision that he was not "emotionally equipped" to be on armed duty at the embassy during the recent Israeli-Lebanese conflict.

Take off the veil, says Straw - to immediate anger from Muslims
Matthew Taylor and Vikram Dodd, , The Guardian
Jack Straw provoked anger and indignation among broad sections of the Muslim community yesterday after he encouraged Islamic women to stop wearing veils covering their face, saying the practice hindered community relations. The former home secretary said the full veil - known as a niqab - made "better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult".
Straw: I feel uncomfortable with women wearing veils
Jack Straw: Muslim women 'should discard veils completely'

Revealed: the diversity that defines a nation
Maxine Frith, The Independent
The most detailed map of ethnic and religious diversity in Britain has been published, showing where different groups live - and how Muslim minorities in particular are at a disadvantage. From a sizeable Sikh population in a Kent town to a Bradford suburb where 73 per cent of people are Pakistani; from atheist Brighton to Leicester's large Indian population, the breakdown provides a fascinating snapshot of 21st-century Britain.

Other Stories:
One year on, Pakistan's desperate refugees pray for another miracle

Thursday 05 October, 2006
Inquiry over Muslim officer excused from embassy duty
By Devika Bhat and agencies, The Times
Sir Ian Blair called for the inquiry after The Sun newspaper reported that PC Alexander Omar Basha, who is attached to the Metropolitan Police’s Diplomatic Protection Group, asked for special dispensation not to work at the embassy because of his moral objection to Israel’s bombing of Lebanon over the summer. Mr Basha’s wife is Lebanese and he is understood to have relatives in the country.

Three nights of violence at dairy
BBC News Online
Police are appealing for calm after three nights of violence at a Berkshire dairy owned by a Muslim family. The Medina Dairy in Windsor was hit by a suspected petrol bomb on Wednesday evening, on the third night of unrest. Police said they were stepping up patrols in the area around Vale Road and would use "robust policing tactics" to bring the situation under control.

My brother is denied the help of his adopted country
Amani Deghayes, The Guardian
I am left astounded at the cruel irony. This week we learned that the British government is refusing to allow the return of my brother and other UK residents from Guantánamo Bay because it doesn't have the intelligence resources to monitor them round the clock, as the Americans appear to demand. In effect, British officials seem to be saying that, because they don't think Omar and the others are sufficiently dangerous to warrant the level of ongoing surveillance the US insists on, they are unwilling to negotiate their return. If only Omar and the seven other British residents were more "dangerous", the logic of Whitehall officials seems to have run during secret meetings with US counterparts, revealed in the Guardian on Tuesday, then perhaps we might consider your terms.

Wednesday 04 October 2006
Prophet Mohammed not perfect: Islamic scholar
Richard Kerbaj, Telegraph (RN)
A leading adviser on Islam, Ameer Ali, has attacked Muslims who “blindly” follow their faith and fail to question the veracity of the Koran, saying that even Mohammed had “flaws”. The chairman of John Howard’s Muslim advisory board yesterday warned that Islamists would continue to breed jihadis unless the Koran was “reinterpreted” for today’s society. He also said mosques were increasingly being used by imams to deliver sermons that were not open to discussion.

Monday 02 October, 2006
Let's have an open and honest discussion about white people
On Wednesday September 20 Corporal Donald Payne became the first Briton to admit to a war crime. Payne, 35, is accused of repeatedly banging the head of Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old Iraqi hotel worker, against a wall and floor until Mousa died - an accusation he denies. Payne called his Iraqi prisoners in the jail in Basra "the choir", because he liked to invite friends to hear them shriek with the pain he inflicted. "Corporal Payne enjoyed conducting what he called the choir," Julian Bevan QC told the court martial, which is taking place at Bulford Camp, in Wiltshire, and is expected to last for 16 weeks. "It was all done very openly."