Posts under ‘Religion’

Lutfur Rahman: the case for reinstatement

by Anton Wahlberg.

Although Tower Hamlets has the wealth distribution profile of a least developed country, the borough has made big improvements in education, housing and other social services, both under Labour control and now under an ex-Labour executive Mayor. Even so, in the media it has become a by-word for corruption and incompetence, but that reputation owes […]

Socialism and blasphemy: all authority should be ridiculed

by James Bloodworth.

Violent protests have spread across the Middle East and North Africa in response to an anti-Islamic film, The Innocence of Muslims, that was posted on YouTube. To call the film a piece of third-rate dross would be too lenient. Aesthetically the film is patently awful, and features a cast who can’t act and a set […]

Pussy Riot: back in the USSR

by David Osler.

In this country at least, the punk music I loved as a teenager lost its ability to shock long before Johnny Rotten started appearing in butter commercials. So safe has it become that brief snatches of Sex Pistols songs even made it into the Olympic opening ceremony. Not so in Russia, where it has obviously […]

The flames of hatred are still alive in the East End

by Rainsborough.

Ken Livingstone, who has developed a healthy respect for Ed Miliband, told the BBC Today programme earlier this week that his only criticism of the Labour leader was that he paid too much credence to “discredited Blairites”. There are a number of reasons as to why Labour did well in London, yet Ken Livingstone lost, […]

Ed, it’s time to apply the lessons of Bradford to the East End

by Rainsborough.

Labour leader, Ed Miliband, recently took himself back to Bradford to ‘listen’, as he had promised to do, to local people. He said he wanted to learn the lessons for Labour’s monumental drubbing at the hands of George Galloway and his ‘Respect Party’.  The lessons have of course been writ large for years. Bradford was […]

Moving on from ‘Ken and the Jews’

by Ken Livingstone.

The last week saw my relationship with the Jewish community in the headlines. I agree with those including in my own party who want to break out of the “drama” of “Ken and the Jewish community” – it’s time to move on from that, onto something less headline-grabbing but more dynamic. I understand the dismay […]

Ken and the Jews

by Jon Lansman.

Unlike Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian, I shall be voting for Ken Livingstone to be London’s Mayor, I shall be out campaigning for him and I shall be arguing against those in Labour’s ranks who, from the outset, have sought to undermine and damage his campaign. He offers the best policies for London and his […]

Mohammed Merah: French politicians should not exploit Muslim alienation

by David Osler.

Thanks to Eurostar, Paris is now a city to which affluent Londoners can head for a night out. In a space of little more than 24 hours earlier this week, I squeezed in Shemekia Copeland’s stunning live blues show at New Morning jazz club, a blow-out meal at an historic brasserie and a spot of […]

A right to wear the cross? Nearly, but not quite

by David Osler.

There is no ‘ban’ on wearing crosses at work in Britain, and 99.9% of employers large and small are happy enough to allow employees to do so. Let’s make that clear right from the outset. Nor is this country in the grip of a generalised witch hunt against those that wish to draw attention to […]

Sorry Cardinal O’Brien, but reality is redefining itself

by David Osler.

If you are still unpersuaded of the need for secularism to prevail in politics, then consider the latest religious intervention. Britain’s most senior Catholic is dominating the news agenda today with a hyperbole-laden polemic against the prospect of men being allowed to marry men, and women being allowed to marry women. Cardinal Keith O’Brien starts, […]

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