A survey by the Pew Research Center, published last Friday, reveals that almost ten years after the 9/11 attacks and five years since the last survey, there is a continuation of tensions between the West and majority-Muslim nations. Both hold general negative stereotypes of the other, although...
Letters in The Independent today make interesting reading for those distressed at the knee-jerk reaction of the paper’s religious affairs correspondent, Jerome Taylor, who in an article online on Friday entitled, ‘Jihadist networks have long singled out Norway,’ wrote: “As of yet there...
The Socialist Worker reports on another act of vandalism on a mosque, this time in Luton. “Racist thugs vandalised a Luton mosque during the early hours of Friday morning. They spray painted “EDL” and a swastika – the symbol of Nazi Germany – on the walls, and smashed windows. “Imam...
In the wake of the Arab spring, the British government has published a strategy document entitled ‘Building Stability Overseas Strategy’ (BSOS). As the foreword states, the Arab Spring has “challenged long standing notions of stability. Challenges to oppression, if managed peacefully, can...
The BBC yesterday reported that a man involved in a racially aggravated incident, involving a pig’s head thrown on the site of a proposed mosque in Nottingham, has been sentenced. “Nottingham Magistrates heard Payne failed to stop others placing the pig’s head and had also left racist...
The Jewish Chronicle reports on a decision by the BBC to uphold a complaint against Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman for an edition of Newsnight broadcast on February 14th 2011. The complaint concerned Paxman’s failure to challenge claims made by Louise Ellman MP, accusing Hamas of using...
The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg stated in a press release yesterday that bans on full-face veils may alienate women rather than liberate them, “It is more likely that such laws – so obviously targeting the adherents of one religious faith – would...
The Guardian today reports plans by the British Museum to stage a major exhibition about the Islamic Hajj Pilgrimage to Makkah. The exhibition, which will open in January 2012, “will bring together historic and contemporary objects – including manuscripts, textiles, archaeological items and...
Some coverage in the papers (Evening Standard, The Guardian) on the publication of the ‘Report on the Operation in 2010 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and of Part 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006’ by the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC. Extracts from...
The Metro and the Daily Mail last week both reported on a recent incident at Oldham Civic Centre where a mother was told she could not breastfeed her son in public because she was in a ‘multicultural building’. The headline of the article in the Metro reads ‘Breastfeeding mother...
