Monica Ali has kept a dignified silence since the “controversy” surrounding the filming of the movie of her book “erupted” last year. She has now written a brilliant comeback to the criticisms she’s received, not forgetting Prince Charles’ cowardly boycot of the film premiere last month.
She is also critical of the Guardian’s agenda of bigging […]
SURPRISE!
Bill O’Reilly the FOX-News pundit, who’s on record for having made more than a few arse-cringeingly inappropriate comments during the Hurricane Katrina broadcasts has done it again.
He started out by praising the staff and largely black clientele of the restaurant for being “very, very nice” and “tremendously respectful”. Warming to his theme, he said: “I […]
Elham Manea pleads for a Humanistic Islam:
The re-Islamisation of Arab societies gave ground to the belief that there is indeed only one version of Islam, the one exported from the heart of Saudi Arabia: Najdi Wahhabi Islam [2]. People seem to have forgotten how colorful and diverse Islamic traditions were. Islam in Tunisia or Morocco […]
Julie Burchill’s short piece on the Jade/Shilpa saga was published in Friday’s Evening Standard. You can find the article online, but I’m going to cut and paste it here.
…why you chav-haters should leave her alone
The predictable chav-baiting, prole-hating scumbags have emerged from their holes in Hampstead to abuse Jade. But I fail to see how […]
Perusing Amardeep Singh’s superb weblog, I found this write-up of a moving and illuminating essay posted on the Kafila blog by the writer and activist, Mahmood Farooqui - Walled away in faith’s defence.
Farooqui writes about a number of intertwining paradoxes: a secular, atheist Muslim living in a conservative Muslim mohalla (neighbourhood) of Delhi, the problem […]
A special one-day conference organised by the GLA, will be held in London on Saturday 20 January.
I’ll be going, if only to lend support to Mayor Ken in the debate with “leading anti-Muslim hate propagandist”, Daniel Pipes.
The conference will feature a debate between the Mayor and Daniel Pipes, […]
The new Prospect has Aziz Huq’s review of two new books (Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma and Breeding Bin Ladens by Zachary Shore) which deal with the short history of Muslim radicalisation in Europe. Huq presents a polemic-free analysis of the depressing ironies and inconsistencies of the fundamentalisms of both sides - […]
Sometimes a comic strip is worth a thousand blog posts:
Hat tip: Katy
In this new paper [PDF], published under the aegis of the Hudson Institue (a right-wing think tank), Maneeza Hossain draws a very detailed picture of the radicalisation of political Islam in Bangladesh. She argues that Bangladesh could become the major front in the global confrontation with radical Islamism.
If democracy is preserved and enhanced, Bangladesh can […]
This domestic tragedy in Handsworth could be regarded as an extreme isolated incident. But it is also representative of the circumstances of many Bangladeshi brides living isolated lives.
When Musammat Mumtahan (22) left Bangladesh to join her new husband Shuhel Miah (26) in 2002, she had dreams of finding wealth and happiness. Instead she found a […]