Pc

[ash.]

I thought the mother was dead?

nope, i saw in a magazine somewhere she's wanting to give an interview saying why she didnt agree to madonna adopting the kid.

[HairyScaryMark]

Are you being serious?

Jack Straw and Labour wouldn't dare alienate the Muslim community on purpose, given that the next UK election is looking like a close one. If Muslim organisations started calling for their members to vote Tory, Labour would be in a world of trouble, particularly in a lot of Labour strongholds. They're simply not stupid enough to do such a thing - and anyway, a lot of Labour voters are politically correct - so what would they have to gain by such a deliberate strategy? None.

Concidering how racist and reactionary a large proportion of English people are, quite a lot

I believe this strategy has something to do with discrediting Muslims as a whole with the hope non-muslim voters will rate Muslims as 'guilty by accociation'. These comments were made on a day where there were ongoing racially motivated riots in an area of West London related to the suspected proposed opening of a mosque (or rather Islamic commuity centre). Jack Straw and co will usaully point out "not all Muslims are terrorists" but never "not all terrorists are Muslims."

Labour have very little to lose from their tone against Muslims. Something well in excess of 80% of Muslim voters are not interested in voting Labour.

The strongest defence of Labour's terrorism policies at the moment tends to come through encouraging fear in the British population, in this case, the fear of Muslims.

[Mr.Mike]

forgive me for not sifting through the other 3 pages of this but...

i'm pretty sure she took off her veil for her job interview. so it's fine to take it off to get a job but not when actually working? Bullshit.

I think this is getting blown out of proportion. No-one is trying to discredit islamic tradition but I think this one individual woman is using this as an excuse to cause trouble and hopefully benefit from whatever chaoes ensues. again, I say this one individual, not islamic women in general.

also, do you really think a 5-6 yr old kid at school is going to understand the complexitys of this situation? children in their early primary school years learn a vast amount about communication and language through body language as well as spoken word and I dont think children who dont even understand why there is a problem should have their educations impacted as a result of someone wanting to make a point about religion. it's a fucking farce.

what is definately worth worrying about though, is the way papers like the sun are using stories like this to turn the whole thing into some sort of 'us VS them' arguement, which it certainly isn't. media speculation like this is far more harmful to our national way of life and our communities than any religious divides and definately more harmful than Jack Straw.

just to re state again... I have no issues with islam or headscarfs whatsoever but I think in this case it's complete nonsense that it even got to court, especially if she was willing to remove it for her interview.

as for madonna: I don't think I have the stamina to type up why what she's done is so ridiculously wrong...

[Guest Jake Wifebeater]

I thought the mother was dead?

It's strange when you think someone is dead when they're not...............

[Cloud]

Concidering how racist and reactionary a large proportion of English people are, quite a lot

What's that observation based on? I've had absolutely no problems with racism since I moved down here - in fact, most people are actually quite broad minded in their outlook. Sure, there's a couple of idiots - but there's idiots everywhere, not just England.

I believe this strategy has something to do with discrediting Muslims as a whole with the hope non-muslim voters will rate Muslims as 'guilty by accociation'.

Are you listening? Labour CANNOT afford to have such a strategy - if the Muslim vote starts going towards the Conservatives, then Labour will find a lot of their heartlands suddenly becoming big fights - which could effectively ruin any chance of Labour being relected for another 18 long years. Individuals within the Labour party may have their own agenda, but as a party, Labour are arguably the party that the Muslim vote would go to.

Jack Straw and co will usaully point out "not all Muslims are terrorists" but never "not all terrorists are Muslims."

I think in this country, we know that not all Muslims are terrorists. We don't need politicans to point it out - I think anyone that knows anything about Northern Ireland knows enough.

Labour have very little to lose from their tone against Muslims. Something well in excess of 80% of Muslim voters are not interested in voting Labour.

Got a source for that?

The strongest defence of Labour's terrorism policies at the moment tends to come through encouraging fear in the British population, in this case, the fear of Muslims.

Labour are using very Orwellian tactics at the minute, I agree. But I don't agree that they're using Muslims as a primary tactic - if anything, Labour aren't doing enough to ensure that the Muslim community is deadly aware of the threat from within.

[Mr.Mike]

"Labour aren't doing enough to ensure that the Muslim community is deadly aware of the threat from within."

i totally agreed with you until you said that.

I see what you're getting at but surely it's not just the muslim community's problem? This issue has to be resolved by everybody working in some kind of harmony. I think treating it in any way that suggests that only muslims should be trying to remedy the situation is a gross misunderstanding of the real problems.

They blatantly know about the threat from within, how could they not after the past few years?

Personally i think people should just accept that these people live here too. britain is home to muslims just as much as it is to anyone else. Communities as a whole should be trying to solve their problems together, as a community, not pointing out differences and leaving other people to fix things.

[Diesel]

I have to disagree. I know some incredibly balanced individuals - relatives and workmates - who live in the London area who have very recently developed racist views. As much as it concerns me I doubt it's coincidence.

Glasgow is also pretty bad.

Yep, I'd have to agree with that, from first-hand experience down south. It just isn't working and both sides (for want of a better expression) are equally to blame - let's make no mistake about that - and I can only see it getting worse.

[Mr.Mike]

Thing is, a lot of the bad feelings at the moment come when people see big gangs of asian youths on the streets causing trouble. problem is that they focus on the asian factor of the problem. I think if people actually opened their eyes and realised that white and black youths are just as much of a problem then we'd be getting somewhere.

Perhaps if the government could get some hold on the rapidly growing number of young offenders they might be able to nip a lot of these problems in the bud.

We have to accept that a large part of this problem comes from a particularly substantial shift in peoples lifestyles which has left a large percentage of young people with no role-models, no prospects for the future and no real family to speak of except their mates.

pretty depressing stuff all in all