Diane Abbott’s remarks were shockingly generalised but held a truthful sentiment

Ok, ok. Hold the eggs. Refrain from pelleting the tomatoes just yet. Let’s joust and jostle a little. I just want you to see that Diane Abbott wasn’t all wrong.

For all of you who missed the true beloved splendour of Ms Abbott’s tweet a few days ago, she wrote: “White people love playing divide and rule”. The remark wasn’t nonchalant – the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was involved in a string of comments with Bim Adewunmi, a freelance journalist, who was expressing her disregard for the term ‘black community’ and ‘black community leaders’.

Enter George Galloway, galloping to the rescue. He later tweeted, “Diane Abbott has been my friend for 25 years; only the obtuse would think her a ‘racist’”. By that theory most newspapers and commentators could be swept into the obtuse corner. The media had gone ablaze and so too did the front- and backbenches of the right-wing, all calling for Abbott’s resignation. Even Labour leader Ed Miliband called her on her mobile as she was mid-interview with a broadcaster.

But one must surely find some common ground with the remarks. Ms Abbott herself was born in 1953 in London to Jamaican immigrants – an island indiscriminately robbed of identity and language with the British’s arrival in the 17^th Century.

A light-hearted ‘reading around the subject’ sends the mind racing. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan lies a city prominent for its pleasant weather, education standards and military establishments – going none other by the name Abbott-abad, named after Major James Abbott who founded the town, a mere one hundred years prior to the Hackney MP’s birth. There’s no denying, alongside her Cambridge History degree, her understanding of empirical Britain’s boorish behaviour in all those newfound lands.

Perhaps what made the tweet into a saga was the controversy already surrounding the sweet-talking Abbott. She got a lot of stick for sending her son James to the City of London School (an independent school, mind you) and for commenting on the ignorance about black people amongst her “blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls” at her local hospital in east London.

It could be the acrimonious memories of what their ancestors perpetrated around the world that made the English jump with shock. The destructive potencies which coloured the world map – blue, green, yellow, orange and pink to signify their presence – were defiant to get the natives fighting each other than to join forces and rid their lands of these barmy, mostly pale-skinned newcomers.

In his recent book Ghosts of Empire, Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng blamed much of Africa’s present woes on the invasive presence of the imperialists. From the sugar plantations of the Caribbean to the golden coast of his native Ghana, there was definitely a bullish approach from the British. Ask any African immigrant old enough to recount first-hand (or maybe retell the stories of ancestors) the turbulent behaviour of the men who subdued them. Abbott’s comments, however, were far too generalised but we should be able to see the truth within them.

9/11 is a cogent reminder of the all-encompassing toll of destruction

We stood and sat, lay down and crouched as we watched the true victims of those 2001 attacks mourn their dead. Their fallen had been inscribed on plinths of rock and now they had come to pay their respects.

Two mornings ago, the world held moments of silence; memorial services and sang their songs. And it was then that the important reminder hits us all (well, it should have anyway). People of all creeds, colours and races gathered in enclosed spaces and open areas in a similar cause and generally speaking, in a similar fashion. The heart-wrenching images should have evoked shock and horror at the atrocities and without reading into the crime too much, it should have been obvious to see the all-encompassing toll that death and destruction takes on the human race. No matter what the faith of those killed that morning (and in the subsequent days and months) or their parental heritage or dialect spoken, themselves and their families all suffered in the same way — crime was unstopped by the identity of these people. The fact that they had been in those areas at those times meant death clasped at them and took them away.

And if we can all take at least one thing from those terrible attacks (nonetheless while the dialogue and speculation, demonising and scaremongering may continue), maybe all those lives may not have gone in vain. Perhaps the ties of loss and mourning can unite us and raise us over our sorrows.

Sheikh Khalifa Ezzat: biography

Sheikh Khalifa Ezzat (born 11 July 1974) is the Head Imam (prayer leader) and Head of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Cultural Centre since 2008. In this role, he also serves as the Khateeb (sermon deliverer) for the Jumuah (Friday). afternoon prayers.

Before his current post, he served as Imam at the Islamic Cultural Centre (also known as the London Central Mosque) between 2005 to 2008. Prior to this, he served as Imam and Khateeb in the Ministry of Awqaf in Egypt in the years 2001 to 2005. Between 1999 and 2004, he was translator at Dar Assalam publishing house in Cairo.

For his education, he started studying at the Al-Azhar Prep School followed by the Al-Azhar Secondary School. He then enrolled at the Al-Azhar University College of Islamic Studies in English where he studied between 1995 and 1998. Whilst living in London and while working at the ICCUK, he read a Master’s degree at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Sheikh Ezzat is responsible for having translated a number of books from Arabic into English. They are listed below:

1. Freedom of Belief in Islamic Law [Abdullah Nasih ‘Ulwan]

2. Islam and Love [Abdullah Nasih ‘Ulwan]

3. Islam and sex [Abdullah Nasih ‘Ulwan]

4. Islam – the Law of Life [Abdullah Nasih ‘Ulwan]

5. Salah Ad-Din [Abdullah Nasih ‘Ulwan]

6. ALLAH [Sa‘id Hawwa]

7. The Messenger

8. Misconceptions about Islam [Ministry of Awqaf of Egypt]

9. Human Rights and Racial Discrimination in Islam [Abdul-Aziz Al-Khayat]

10. Al-Mustakhlas fi Tazkiyat An-Nafs [Purifying the Human Soul] [Sa ‘id Hawwa – editing]

11. Hajj and ‘Umrah [by Esam Anas and revised by Dr. Ali Gom’ah]

12. Forty Nawawi Hadiths [Imam An-Nawawi]

In addition, he has written the following books himself:

1. A Brief Guide to the Principles of Tajweed [Published in London by ICC]

2. Inheritance Law of Islam [in press]

3. Selection of Friday Khutbahs [in press] (http://www.iccuk.org/page.php?section=religious&page=khutbas)

4. The Life of the Four Caliphs [in press]

Maybe, Andy Gray is not a raving lunatic of anti-women values

If you’ve ever been in the unfortunate scenario of being a man in a male-dominated industry and spluttering your initial (and most definitely, truthful) thoughts on the less-competent half (or so they say), other men know how you feel. It’s rather tough though that the ones who are caught, get it where it really hurts.

Andy Gray is a recent casualty of all this ball-bashing. He recently said to a fellow commentator that he thought someone should get onto the pitch and explain the offside rule to the assistant referee. He continually jeered at her role.

And if matters hadn’t already been bad enough for the man-who-keeps-pulling-his-trousers-up-from-his-waist, his employer did little for his ailing reputation. They let the sack of potatoes continue dropping on his head. In the very few days since the first allegation of sexism, numerous videos have appeared with their publicists claiming a even upper hand in exploring the real misogynist within.

It does not surprise me. Always employers pick up their guns to their employees in bad situations – ending their tragic careers even more suddenly. Now Gray loses his one million pound-plus salary. Tough luck. I know the Glaswegian will feel despair that he didn’t air his views properly in a way that he knew he was going to be caught out. Surely any person would want to bluntly be degenerating a certain group of people if they know it would spell the end of their career?

It probably doesn’t help that the only photograph afforded of Sian Massey is very sexually suggestive and radiating an aura of what these chauvinists really want. Women as mere objects of their fantasies. Perhaps without the football identikit!

In the long term, maybe we’ve all misjudged this. Maybe, Gray is not a raving lunatic of anti-women values (he has fathered five children by four different women, you know). Perhaps he has that bit of George Galloway we all see in him: too sharp on the tongue and too fast to sprout words. We’ll never know for now but football has a long way to go before it’s equal for the sexes.

Birmingham: the minority in majority

I have never been to Birmingham. But it’s no surprise to me that white children will soon be amongst the minority – or should I say the literal ‘minority’.

In 2006, 53 per cent of children under 16 were from white families and this is due to drop substantially to 47 per cent.

So what? The West Midlands have always been perceived primarily — for the last 50 or so years at least — as the microcosmic home and hub of the migrant community in the UK. And while there’s no denying this in the history books, it’s unnerving to some it’s actually materialising after so long.

Instantly, I feel a problem with classification. Who’s to say what the ‘white’ segment of population demography really represents. Surely our divides along cultural and social lines are more than pigmentation of the skin. Or that’s to say, Asians, Africans and those of Caribbean descent make up the neatly-designated ‘black’ part of our society; thus rendering boroughs and regions up and down the country – ironically – majorly populated by the minority race.

Nonetheless, children from white families still compose the largest single group which goes back to the point of classifying. Research from the University of Manchester predicts the ethnic minorities count will rise to 64 per cent by 2026.

And it seems it’s not only migration which affects this. The movement of white families leaving Birmingham affects directly the numbers on the scale; put with the continued immigration of people from Pakistan, Africa countries and China.

The migrant communities go a long way to enriching the local tapestry and the nation’s as a whole. Some of the finest silks are woven in the Sarehole and the best kormas cooked up on Fleet Street.

The detail Birmingham provides reflects where the nation is going. In the 2001 census, 70 per cent of the population was white and 29.6 per cent a mixture of various ethnic backgrounds compared with a 90 per cent majority of the white populace in the UK.

The changing face of the city is clearly having some negative impacts. The education system is finding it hard to accommodate all the non-English speakers whilst bending backwards – attributing to poor performance in schools. But in primary schools, Asian pupils dominate owing to a stereotypical vigorous system of work and home-based emphasis.

On a larger scale, this reignites the debate about whether Birmingham will beat Leicester and Bradford to become the first majority ethnic UK city. It’s certainly cooking up in the curry house!

‘Blue Monday’: don’t lie to yourself

Oh, yes, that good ol’ gag. “We’re all in this together”, we are told. No need to fret — it’s Blue Monday: the day of the year notoriously bad on attendance, workers blocking the phone lines with this excuse or the other for a day off. The rest of us are left glum to find work in the stacks for those unwilling to trudge through the normal routine of wake-wash-wear-work.

Matters are not made easier by the coy and shy manner we are told this wretched news. The journalists must think they send a shiver down our spines, the riveting joy we have reached that day of the year again.

But I don’t deny the possibility of cumdgeonliness. The Christmas extravangaza is often larger than people’s monthly savings and this leads to strain in family relations, debt and depression that you seriously did not want another jumper from Grandma.

What really has the potential to annoy is the way we approve of people’s complaints — as though they are justified. We know they’re not. And if you’re complaining, then tough! IT’S SIMPLY ANOTHER MONDAY.

It’s good that so many schools are failing

Whether you like them or not, the “English baccalaureate” is surely one of the better condiments to come out of the Tory factory hitherto. It cuts out years of false statistic refinement and gives hardline information about schools’ performance; starting with the surprise ‘bang’ of last year’s results released just this week.

The results speak for themselves: only 15.6% of pupils achieved the English bac – 5 good GCSEs awarded at A*-C grades in English, maths, science, a foreign language, and history or geography. Under such comparatively rigid competition, it means more than 200 schools in England have failed to meet the GCSE standard; leading, under current plans, for an overhaul of curriculum and staffing through employing new headteachers.

Even on a worldwide scale, our state education system is failing. With the likes of China and India already booming economically and leading way ahead us in academics,  there’s very little question who’ll be occupying the top seats in industry a few years down the line.

Of course, the whole incentive to have the examination so suddenly is the ability to poach schools in their normal monotones; there’s no hype, no overtones and certainly no preparation. It provides clarity and a crystal clear image of where we are going wrong. The government feels it can be trusted to deal appropriately.

But what’s to be done? Well, the government proposes that if standards do not change in individual cases, headteachers will be booted out and to be taken over by more well-experienced ones. It will definitely be a struggle to get a steady flow of employable individuals – especially as the standard is so high – but there’s definitely the need to implement such an idea.

The supposed parity between traditional and harder subjects like history, Latin and chemistry alongside the likes of hairdressing, beautification courses and more vocational qualifications is a true cause of dwindling standards. The new gauge provides a level playing field for all schools whether in Wandsworth or Waltham Forest, Chingford or Berkshire, they’ll get an indifferent treatment when it comes to measuring success.

It’s worrying news for social mobility with only 4% of those in the lowest income band receiving the bac. The heart weeps. It’s time to get a grip on the barriers to equality within education: whether it be catchment areas or a matter of extra-hours tuition.

The teaching uinons have stammered that it’s unfair that the results were revealed without prior preparation. Private schools have complained about ignorance towards IGCSEs that has placed them below their maintained sector counterparts.

So far, not so good. The government’s train on the road to overhaul is hitting with vigorous engagement. But swiftly, we’ll get there.

The EU forgets Christmas and Easter. ‘Do you need to ask why?’

Ask an five-year-old. In fact, ask any teenager; ask their parents, their friends and their extended family. Christmas has become, in the process of commercialisation and mass-inclusion, just another festival of banquets, presents galore…and yes, the revered birth of the baby Jesus two thousands years ago. It’s sad that the true image has been neutralised to something futile and less meaningful to both young and old.

The European Union has taken it a step further and refused to include mention of Christian festivals in the diaries they hope to flock to young citizens.

It seems strange that the Christmas and Easter feasts should be excluded, even if argument were that many of the member states had predominately Christian populations. Perhaps this blunder exemplifies the fears of Eurospectics in the EU’s inability at representing the true values at home and on the ground.

Or maybe we’re missing the point here. Maybe the EU is seeking to increase its breadth and approaching new mores and values; it seeks to combine the old mores of Christendom ethics of the continent with the new and emerging. (Recently it was revealed that 10,000 Britons convert to Islam each year.) Turkey, a possible contender for a seat amongst Euro greats, is predominately seen as the foreigner; the nation of brown-haired Muslims. There will be a rapturous applaud from Erdoğan in Istanbul as he leaps to the phone and give Hungary a heads-up!

It’s a clear possibility that amidst all the possible efficiency at which the geopolitical organisation, Christian events just seemed too obvious to need inscription. But surely then that means they should be ‘working as normal on December 25,’ said European Catholic Commission spokeswoman Johanna Touzel.

Blunder or not, this is sure to nerve Turkey that little closer to EU membership.

Celebrity scandals and moreover weddings are not worth the paper

As a nation, we just love hearing about them. But do celebrity marriages soothe the heartthrob’s heart?

The wedding and scandals of any given celebrity plays like a symphony. Never has it seemed more appropriate to dub the lives and loves of public personalities as so representative of that great rotund king Henry VIII.

Oversights permitted (for the few and far between) crisis looms for the people who music we listen; facial features we admire and caricatures we love.

Kate Price, now, that heartthrob victim of public loving says her relationship with Alex Reid is hitting the rocks. And after just 11 months. Perhaps the nature of their matrimony is more to do with it than anything. The model had previously been married to a certain other celebrity and within months had tied the knot. Maybe just another grotesque yearning for public love and sympathy? You’re not getting any!

But there’s space for soothing. The British heart can crave the marvellous two-into-one ceremony in April when Prince William weds Kate Middleton. (Plans have just been revealed and Dr Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be conducting the ceremony. Honourably!)

One cannot help but wonder at the immense dejection or satisfaction (subject to individual emotions) these pop stars, models, personalities must feel. Surely it’s not worth the public’s attention and certainly not the reams of papers it occupies daily.

I say let’s kick the philandering ragamuffins out and provide a profoundly ionic image of marriage in that of the Prince and his soon-to-be-princess. Hip-hip-horaa!!

 

An egalitarian state education system once more!…sort of.

Our Education Secretary has high hopes and aspirations for state education system. Michael Gove is like the ‘ultimate pushy parent’ of our state: travelling back and fro the the Far East to see if ideas can rub.

In a shake-up and revival of true state education ethics, middle-class parents will be refused the chance of simply moving into catchment areas of prosperous state schools to win places for their children.

Plans are being laid out to award secondary school places on the basis of academic merit — as well as reserving laces for the less able. Children will be made to sit IQ tests and tiered into seven or eight groups accordingly. An equal number of places will be offered to applicants in each group.

The “Fair-banding” admissions schemes are seen as a way of breaking the dominance of the middle-classes in the best-performing state secondaries. Clearly, in order to work, the scheme is full of ramifications, conjectures and outrageous assumptions. First and foremost, the assumption that middle-class children will fall in the top of end of the scales. This is not always the case. Some private schools – brimming full of middle-class, stereotypical ‘snobs’ (I’m playing along with the archetypes here!) — do not always do so well. Base one still.

But the scheme still does not seem entirely fair. A real LEA dilemma would be a highly-gentrified area with a top-performing secondary or a high-ranking school on a rural-urban fringe.

With their cunning flair, the middle classes are able to dodge private schooling but manage to get the same standards. I doubt local authorities will be much barrier to this.