Category Archives: UK

Oldknow Academy replies to Sunday Times smears

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Oldknow Academy

The Sunday Times – the newspaper responsible for presenting the transparently forged “Trojan horse” letter as genuine – has published an article by its political editor Tim Shipman based on a leaked report by the Education Funding Agency on the Oldknow Academy primary school in Birmingham.

Oldknow Academy has issued a point-by-point rebuttal of what they call a “vindictive and hate spreading article”. It states: “The contents of the article are wholly inaccurate, sensationalised and inflammatory and aimed at scaremongering the public.”

You can read the statement here.

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Thousands march against racism in Belfast

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Belfast march against racism

Thousands of people have taken part in an anti-racism march in Belfast. Organisers said it was designed to “reassure ethnic and religious minorities in Northern Ireland”. Representatives of the Muslim community and trade unions were among those who spoke at a rally ahead of a march from Writers’ Square to Belfast City Hall.

It was organised in response to an upsurge in hate crime and controversial remarks about Islam by a pastor and First Minister Peter Robinson. Pastor James McConnell made a public apology on Friday for calling Islam “heathen” and “satanic”.

Saturday’s march was led by Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Nichola Mallon, Dr Donald Watts, president of the Irish Council of Churches and Dr Mazhar M Khan, a member of Northern Ireland’s Muslim community. Amnesty International, the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU) and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) organised the event.

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Racist graffiti outside London primary school: Mother reacts furiously to media coverage

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Express Whites Not Welcome
Express reports on the ‘whites not welcome’ graffiti – omitting to reproduce the accompanying anti-Islam and anti-migrant slogans

A concerned mother has hit out at media coverage of racist graffiti at her local school after a series of articles claimed that white pupils alone were being targeted by the slurs.

Coverage of the vandalism, which was left on the entrance path to the Prince of Wales Primary School, focused entirely on just one of the messages which said “whites not welcome.”

But the mother who alerted the media to the graffiti has responded furiously to coverage by publications including the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Evening Standard who, she said, are creating “misconceptions and division.”

Jasmin Nathan, who has two sons aged nine and six at the school, sent several images of the graffiti to a number publications, including the Huffington Post UK. She has now said that she is “very disappointed and angry” that only the one image has been widely circulated.

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Progressive Christians should take on the Christian right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We need to expose the truth about certain Christian groups that are happy to ally themselves with far-right politics. Foremost among them is Christian Concern (previously called Christian Concern For Our Nation).

Christian Concern claims to speak up for Christian values in public life. They are one of the main groups behind the Coalition for Marriage, which has drawn in more moderately conservative Christians and gained significant media coverage with its outrageously untrue claim that the legalisation of same-sex marriages would allow churches to be sued for not holding them. Many middle-of-the-road Christians have been happy to endorse the group’s ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign, which encourages Christians to be open about their faith.

Rumours have long circulated that the leaders of Christian Concern held a meeting by phone with Tommy Robinson when he was leader of the English Defence League. Christian Concern last month had the opportunity to get rid of these rumours, when they were asked outright by a journalist (not me) if they were true. Christian Concern’s press officer, after consulting with its leaders, told the journalist that they had no comment to make.

Christian Concern deny being party-political – they had to apologise to their supporters in 2010 when they appeared to endorse the tiny Christian party. But in 2011, the group held a meeting on ‘Dismantling Multiculturalism’ with Gerard Batten, Ukip MEP for London. Proposals they appear to have agreed on include a ban on kosher and halal food in schools and hospitals, an end to Islamic banking in the UK and a ban on non-English signs in public (Batten has since tried to play it all down, saying these were only ideas). By last year, Christian Concern’s bulletins to supporters were commenting on Ukip’s local election success in joyful terms.

Symon Hill writes at Politics.co.uk, 6 June 2014

Belfast preacher who denounced Islam as evil issues apology

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A born-again Christian preacher who denounced Islam as “satanic” and the “spawn of the devil” has issued a public apology over remarks that ended up de-stabilising Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.

Pastor James McConnell of Belfast said he never had any intention to “arouse fear or stir up or incite hatred” towards any Muslim in the region. The preacher’s statement was issued just hours before the Police Service of Northern Ireland questioned him about his comments and allegations that he had been inciting hatred.

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The Economist defends right to incite religious hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Belfast rally against racism

The Economist has just posted a comment piece (“Ulster and Islam: Minarets and steeples”) on its Erasmus blog about the controversy unleashed by Pastor James McConnell’s diatribe against Islam and its subsequent defence by First Minister and Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson. It concludes:

Mr Robinson’s defence of the right of preachers to “denounce false doctrine” was politically inept, to put it mildly, and it showed a peculiar understanding of the role of a secular politician. But in a narrow way he is right. Under any legal regime which upholds free speech, so long as it does not advocate violence, preachers (including Islamic ones) do have the legal right to denounce beliefs that they regard as false. There were hard discussions about this when Britain introduced legislation on “religious hatred” in the wake of the 2005 London bombings; and to the relief of free-speech advocates, language which would virtually have prohibited robust religious debate was struck out.

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EDL thug Dean Kenney admits part in Birmingham riot

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dean Kenney (2)
Dean Kenney (centre of photo) with fellow EDL thugs and (right) boasting about contaminating halal chicken with bacon

A right-wing thug who boasted of contaminating supermarket Halal chicken with bacon has admitted in court to committing violent disorder at a 2,000-strong English Defence League rally. Dean Kenney, 41, from Bannister Green Villas, Felsted, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to taking part in a demonstration last July which saw EDL members, 300 anti-fascists and police clash in the town centre.

They marched to Centenary Square where then EDL leader Tommy Robinson delivered a speech outside the Symphony Hall. Then the violence started between EDL supporters and police wearing full riot gear. A portable toilet was tipped over spilling waste over the street and missiles were thrown, including bottles and cobblestones. It was estimated around £6,000 of damage was caused to a sign at the entrance to the Hyatt Hotel as demonstrators again clashed with police.

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