Mushy Peas takes on the Secretary of State for Education over his conception of “British values”.
Category Archives: UK
Man forces his way into home, terrorizes family from Iraq
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A woman may have been the victim of a hate crime. Police said the woman is from Iraq, and the man who beat her did because he thought she was a Muslim. She is actually Catholic.
The man forced his way into her family’s apartment off Montgomery Boulevard. Investigators said he punched the woman in the face while screaming, “I hate Muslims.” He then stole cash and gold from the home, and ripped the family’s citizenship papers into pieces.
Police think the man targeted the family. “This is a family that fled Iraq in 2007 because of religious persecution. This family is not Muslim. They’re Catholic and they fled because they were being tormented in their own county,” Officer Simon Drobik said.
The woman did not get a clear description of the man. Police think he may belong to an extremist group.
KOAT Albuquerque, 12 June 2014
See also “Woman attacked, target of violent hate crime”, KRQE News 13, 11 June 2014
Update: See “Iraqi Catholic terrorized in ABQ home”, Albuquerque Journal, 13 June 2014
In the so-called ‘Trojan horse’ debacle, Birmingham schools have become Gove’s sacrificial lamb
The problem in these schools is not an issue of radicalisation, argues Myriam Francois-Cerrah.
Spectator disgraces itself with Islamophobic cover
This is the cover to this week’s Spectator. A cartoon of a frightened child clutching the Qur’an in one hand and a scimitar in the other. How could Spectator editor Fraser Nelson possibly have thought that was a good idea?
As you can see, the main article in the magazine is by the raving neocon, Douglas (“conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board”) Murray, who Nelson apparently thinks is an entirely appropriate person to lead the Spectator‘s commentary on the so-called “Trojan horse” controversy.
Not only that, but Murray’s piece is followed by an article from Innes Bowen claiming that almost half of British mosques are run by co-thinkers of the Taliban.
The issue also contains an entirely sensible article by Matthew Parris entitled “This ‘Islamist conspiracy’ is WMD all over again”, which argues that the “Trojan horse” affair looks very much like a repetition of the neocon propaganda that provided the justification for the invasion of Iraq. Good for Matthew Parris.
But Fraser Nelson saw fit to bury that article on page 27 and omit any reference at all to it on the cover. He evidently thought it more important to promote a piece calling for support for England football team manager Roy Hodgson.
Allison Pearson thinks she’s culturally superior to Muslims
Let me quote Myriam Francois-Cerrah, a writer and Muslim convert, who told Channel 4 News on Tuesday that she rejected calls by the Prime Minister and Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, for schools to promote British values. “In many ways, the problem is creating a hierarchy of cultures when you say you need to promote British values,” she objected. “What does that say to children in a classroom whose heritage harks from outside the British Isles? It says this country has superior moral values and you are coming from some backward culture whose values you … must not consider equal to our own.”
Funnily enough, that’s exactly what we are saying, Myriam. Spot on!
Allison Pearson offers her thoughts (using that word in its loosest possible sense) on the “Trojan horse” witch-hunt.
Bradford school drawn into Islam row as reports surface of gender segregation
A Bradford school has been drawn into the row over claims that governing bodies are attempting to pursue an Islamic agenda at state schools.
It has been reported that minutes from governing body meetings at Carlton Bolling College showed that governors had regularly asked whether a broad religious agenda met the spiritual needs of students. It also reported gender segregation had taken place for trips at the Bradford secondary schools
However the school’s chairman of governors in Bradford has said attempts to link his school and the city to the Birmingham “Trojan Horse” controversy “feels like a witch hunt”. Faisal Khan was speaking following reports relating to two Bradford schools – Carlton Bolling College and Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College – neither of which are Muslim faith schools.
Mr Khan, who is chairman of governors at Carlton Bolling and a former Respect councillor who now sits on Bradford Council as an independent, said suggestions the governing body was trying to impose a strict Islamic ethos on the school were wrong.
“It’s just completely false,” he said. “It feels like a witch hunt. We’re a good school and we’re proud of the students and the staff and I think all this is just mischief-making. People need to just stand back and take a level headed approach rather than just try and destroy all this.”
Michael Gove’s toxic assault on schools is based on naked discrimination
“Gove’s assault on Muslim schools in Birmingham isn’t about British values: it’s a poisonous campaign of discrimination and intimidation”, Seumas Milne argues.
Lutfur Rahman appeals to Labour for unity in Tower Hamlets
Lutfur Rahman, re-elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets last month after voters rejected a disgraceful campaign against him, has written an article for the East London Advertiser presenting his views on the election and plans for the future.
Middlesbrough EDL march: Police warn criminal behaviour will be dealt with ‘robustly’
Police have warned that any anti-social or criminal behaviour linked to a planned English Defence League demonstration will be dealt with “robustly”. It comes as hundreds of demonstrators plan to march through Middlesbrough later this month.
Cleveland Police officers are in talks with a number of groups over plans by members of the EDL from as far afield as London and Scotland to gather in the town on June 28.
About 250 EDL supporters have already confirmed they are attending on Facebook – with organisers saying full details of the demo will be released “at a later date”. It is understood that they may try to march through residential areas, finishing at the war memorial on Linthorpe Road. It comes after a recent demonstration in Newcastle city centre in which Teesside flags could be seen.
Counter demonstrations are also being planned by groups opposed to the EDL.
Olive Tree Primary School: chair of governors responds to Ofsted stitch-up
Last week Ofsted published the report of its recent inspection at the Olive Tree Primary School in Luton. Predictably, following the pattern we have seen in Birmingham, a school that had received a broadly favourable report from inspectors less than two years ago was now found to be “inadequate”.
Ofsted stated that some of the library books at the school contained fundamentalist views that had “no place in British society”. This produced inflammatory headlines such as “‘Tough action’ may be taken at Islamic faith school after inspectors find books which ‘promotes’ stoning, lashing and execution”.
The school has issued a furious rebuttal the Ofsted report, condemning it as “half-baked” and “highly politicised”. The statement added: “The inspection and the subsequent report was not about education, it was about a right extremist, Michael Gove, whipping up racist hysteria and OFSTED dancing to his poisonous tune.”
Farasat Latif, chair of governors at Olive Tree Primary School, has followed this up with a letter to the head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw.