Category Archives: UK

Ofsted has ‘no plans’ to target inspections at Bradford over Trojan Horse row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Education bosses have played down claims that Bradford schools are to be the focus of new targeted inspections in the wake of the Trojan Horse row.

There are reports that Whitehall officials are planning to carry out snap inspections at the city amid concerns that the problems found in Birmingham schools could be repeated elsewhere in the country. Claims that Muslim governors were attempting to take over state schools in Birmingham has led to a series of inspections by the Government, the local council and Ofsted.

Ofsted placed five schools in Birmingham in special measures and said a “culture of fear and intimidation has taken grip” in some schools. A separate report by former counter terrorism chief Peter Clarke said there was evidence of an “aggressive Islamist agenda” being pursued by some schools in the city

Now a national newspaper has said that Bradford is to be the focus of new inspections by both Ofsted and officials from the Department for Education (DfE). However Ofsted said it was not aware of any plans to carry out snap inspections in Bradford and Bradford Council’s executive member for schools Coun Ralph Berry said the DfE had not raised any specific concerns about the city.

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Anger as Islamic charity with Bradford base has its bank account shut down

Posted on by Bob Pitt

 

Ummah Welfare Trust (2)

An Islamic charity with a base in Bradford has been told that its bank account is being shut down, although it has yet to be told why. Now Bradford West MP George Galloway says he will “demand” to know the reason that HSBC has decided to shut the account of the Ummah Welfare Trust.

The registered charity, which has an office on Manningham Lane, believes HSBC has taken the action because some of the money it collects goes towards humanitarian projects in Palestine. It was this week given notice that its accounts were being shut in two months’ time. Although the account closure is not expected to hit the charity too hard, members feel it was morally wrong, and are calling for a boycott of the bank.

The trust had its account with Barclays bank shut in 2008.

Shoyeb Mayat, of the Bradford office, said: “We have no idea why they made this decision. We are in the middle of our busiest time for donations. During Ramadan we get 70 per cent of the donations we get each year.”

The group provides emergency relief in 20 countries across the world, including Pakistan, Palestine and India. It said the money goes towards providing medicine and grants to vulnerable people and children whose families have been killed or injured.

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Crisis in Britain First – Dowson quits, Golding calls off mosque invasions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

JimBritain First Thank You James Dowson, the brains (and money) behind the far-right Britain First group, has resigned from the organisation and indeed from political life generally.

In a rambling resignation letter posted on the Britain First website, Dowson announces “my retirement from all political activities forthwith and my withdrawal from Britain First with immediate effect”, a decision that he attributes to “recent political and personal events and family health issues”.

In an accompanying statement, Britain First asserts that the state “persecution” Dowson has suffered in Northern Ireland has been exacerbated by a media campaign instigated by Hope Not Hate (described, bizarrely, as “the biggest far-Left group in the country”) that has sought to “portray James as the ‘evil genius’ behind the ‘far right’ in Britain”.

But another of Dowson’s motivations for leaving the organisation would appear to be his disapproval of the “mosque invasions” that Britain First has been carrying out over the past few months:

“The media have put him under enormous pressure recently regarding our invasions of mosques across Britain and understandably this has forced Jim to distance himself from these activities, notwithstanding the fact that these mosque invasions have cause considerable exposure of issues such as Muslim female genital mutilation, second class treatment of women, extremism and grooming gangs.”

Even Dowson, it seems, is embarrassed to be associated with a gang of thugs who think it’s brave to barge into places of worship and harass elderly Muslims.

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Regulator’s views on Islam come under close scrutiny

Posted on by Bob Pitt

William ShawcrossIn April, the chair of the Charity Commission told The Sunday Times: “The problem of Islamist extremism is not the most widespread problem we face in terms of abuse of charities, but is potentially the most deadly. And it is, alas, growing.”

William Shawcross might have had in mind Abdul Waheed Majeed, who travelled from the UK with a charity aid convoy to Syria and drove a truck packed with explosives into the wall of a prison in Aleppo in February. This was believed to be the first suicide attack carried out in Syria by a Briton, but whether this on its own justifies the “most deadly” assessment is up for debate.

Since February, the Charity Commission has hosted meetings for charities that work in Syria, joined a national police campaign to protect young people from the dangers of travelling there and issued 10 tips to help Muslims give safely during Ramadan. It has also opened monitoring cases and statutory inquiries into Muslim charities working in Syria, and into other Muslim charities.

Of the 20 most recent statutory inquiries announced by the commission, five involved Muslim charities. This is hugely disproportionate: out of more than 180,000 charities registered with the commission, there are perhaps 2,000 that can be defined as Muslim or Islamic.

It is hard to see where risk-based monitoring ends and bias begins. The accusation of bias was raised by Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the charity leaders group Acevo, who said last month that the chief executives of Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid, and the head of the Muslim Charities Forum, had told him the regulator was “targeting Muslim charities in a disproportionate way”.

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Bristol Muslim woman’s shock at being spat at and verbally abused

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasina KhanA Muslim woman was left shocked and in tears when she was verbally abused and spat at by a stranger ranting about the Middle East.

Hasina Khan, who was born in Bristol, was on her way to work when she was attacked by a man in Cabot Circus at about 9am on Monday. Saliva ended up on her hijab and her left hand.

The 36-year-old, who lives in Horfield, said: “I’ve experienced hostility and racism many times, from being called Paki in the street to having alcohol thrown at me.

“I remember during the 1990 Iraq invasion being pushed by a boy at school followed by ‘haha we are bombing you’, to more recent years when the world turned to topple Libya and I experienced yet again a rise in racism. In fact, every time there is aggression towards Muslims outside of the UK, I experience aggression from within the UK.

“However, nothing could prepare me for what happened on Monday. Because of Israel’s bombardment of the mainly-Muslim population of Gaza, was I again being targeted?

“I had just past Pret A Manger and a man came charging towards me with such aggression I thought he was going to punch me in the face. He was ranting and he spat in my face. I felt it fall onto my left hand.

“I was in shock at what was happening. I asked him what his problem was, but he continued to rant and said something along the lines of ‘your people are killing’ and something about ‘Middle East’ and ‘killing Christians’. He spat at me again. It was terrifying. I thought he was going to attack me at any second.

“Then my defence mechanism just kicked in and I started to shout at him. What a coward – he then started to back away. He tried to say something else, but I continued to shout at him until he left Cabot Circus. I’ve read so many reports that hate crime towards Muslim women is increasing in the UK, but nothing really prepares you for what to do if it happens and how humiliating, terrifying and dirty it makes you feel.

“I hope he is caught so he cannot terrorise and traumatise other women.”

The attacker was white, with short-brown hair and a short beard, a dark-green T-shirt with a white pattern or writing on the front, and he had two silver necklaces with silver coin-shaped pendants.

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Petition set up against Britain First, who denounce it as fascism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A petition has been set up in protest at a far right group compared to the 1930s Black Shirts which paid unannounced visits to Gillingham mosques. The signature list has so far been signed by Cllr Vince Maple and representatives from Unison, The Green Party and Mid Kent College. John Wilson, Manager at Britain First said “It’s very undemocratic of them set up a petition against us.”

Britain First activists oppose plans for a new mosque which is awaiting approval from Medway Council. The application is for a place of worship in Canterbury Street and is proposed for Croneens car park next to Gillingham rail station. The plans were due to be presented to the planning committee this month but have been delayed.

Two weeks ago, BF representatives visited Nasir Mosque in Richmond Road, Gillingham, and the Jamia Mosque in Canterbury Street, Gillingham, threatening to begin an anti-mosque campaign. Some of the reasons stated for opposing the mosque were that the segregation of men and women was against British values and de-valued women.

After the “visits” to the mosques from Britain First, Ukip reacted by sending a representative, Mark Hans, to express solidarity. Ukip MEP Janice Atkinson said: “I whole heartedly support the petition against Britain First; they’re a dangerous group who need to be looked into. It’s the Black Shirts of the 1930s all over again. It’s just the same thing again, our representative went to meet with the local Iman when they were first visited by Britain First to show him solidarity, it’s a high immigrant area and we don’t want tensions.”

Mr. Anwar Khan, Community co-ordinator at Jamia Mosque said of the petition “We really appreciate the effort of the community to support us and have enjoyed the backing and support of many local politicians since we were visited by Britain First. They’ve really supported us throughout. The planning permission doesn’t inconvenience anyone; the council will be building a new car park to replace the one we want to build on.”

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Middlesbrough football fans banned for life after Qur’an was torn up

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Love Boro Hate RacismBoro have banned three fans for life for their part in a Koran ripping incident at an away match.

Six supporters were originally given temporary bans from The Riverside after the 2-2 draw at Birmingham City in December. West Midlands Police investigated claims pages of the Islamic text had been thrown in the air and three fans were later charged.

The club was unable to confirm which supporters it has banned for life.

A spokesman told The Gazette: “Middlesbrough Football Club has banned three fans for life following an incident at Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s Stadium on December 7 2013 in which a copy of the Koran was ripped up. Another two supporters have been banned for 12 months and a sixth fan remains suspended while he remains out of the country.”

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Posted in UK

Strictly Come Dancing star repudiates Britain First

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First dupes Craig Revel HorwoodStrictly Come Dancing star Craig Revel Horwood was duped into being pictured with a far-right extremist group. The TV judge posed for a shot with a man he thought was a fan – which was then used as propaganda on Britain First’s Facebook page.

Craig tweeted: “To let all my followers know that I in no way support Britain First! Photo taken in Ramsgate during photos and signing autographs for fans.”

Britain First emerged from the collapse of the BNP and EDL and style themselves as a paramilitary force. They distribute hateful anti-Islamic propaganda on the streets and on the internet.

The Britain First Facebook page shows smiling Craig with one of the group’s activists in a picture uploaded on July 11. The caption reads: “To the delight of our activists, “Strictly Come Dancing” star, Craig Revel Horwood (pictured below with one of our activists), stopped to sign our petition for better treatment for our Armed Forces today in Ramsgate.”

The picture received 1,800 ‘likes’ and dozens of comments from the group’s supporters.

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Muslim Council of Britain rejects findings of Trojan horse report

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Birmingham Mail jihadist plotThe Muslim Council of Britain has warned education authorities “not to be sidetracked by culture wars initiated by divisive commentators”, as it rejected many of the findings of a government-commissioned report that found a co-ordinated effort by extreme Muslims to take over some Birmingham schools.

The MCB said the report, written by Peter Clarke, the former Met counter-terror chief, was guilty of “conflating conservative Muslim practices to a supposed ideology and agenda to Islamise secular schools”.

Clarke’s report highlighted a pamphlet published by the MCB in 2007 and co-authored by the former chairman of Park View Educational Trust, Tahir Alam, one of the figures most criticised in the recent raft of government reports. The report alleged that the pamphlet set out a blueprint for the takeover of schools by Muslims.

Alam retaliated early on Wednesday by claiming that Clarke had not even visited some of the schools mentioned in his report. In an interview on Radio 4, he said the Clarke report was “commissioned as part of a campaign, really, an offensive against our school, which was politically motivated”.

The MCB said the pamphlet was “under routine review” and was always aimed at being advisory in nature, helping schools engage with Muslim parents. It added it was “patently absurd” to suggest the MCB was part of a movement to take over schools or promote a “particular hardline strand of Sunni Islam that raises concerns about their vulnerability to radicalisation in the future”.

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Lord Pearson: ‘Government should stop claiming Islam is religion of peace’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pearson with Pamela GellerThe Government should stop claiming Islam is a religion of peace in the light of the Trojan horse allegations, a former leader of Ukip has said. Lord Pearson of Rannoch said the problems could only be cured from “within Islam”.

An investigation led by former anti-terror chief Peter Clarke today reported there had been a deliberate effort to introduce an “intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos” into a number of Birmingham schools. The damning report, commissioned by former Education Secretary Michael Gove in April, was highly critical of Birmingham City Council, accusing the authority of failing to support under-pressure headteachers dealing with inappropriate behaviour by governors.

Ukip former leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Education Minister Lord Nash in the House of Lords: “Do you not agree that this scandal like Muslim segregation and Islamist violence more generally are problems which arise from within Islam and can only be cured from within Islam? Given all that is happening in Africa as well, why does the Government go on intoning that Islam is a religion of peace?”

Asian Image, 23 July 2014

Pearson and Farage