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Written by Mohammed Shabbir
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 12:06 |
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This has been the first election in which I have actively campaigned to support a candidate to gain election to the House of Commons. It provided me with an insight into the kind of democracy in which we live and how we as Muslim communities relate to it.
The first and striking feature is the fact that some of the candidates chosen from the Muslim communities were not necessarily chosen on the basis of merit but rather on the potential level of support that they could leverage. The fault here lies with the political parties themselves. The net result of this ‘clan based’ politics is that the growth and political awareness of the community is halted, it prevents candidates from actually engaging in debate around issues that are important to Bradford for example a continually waning town centre, lack of jobs, the hole in the city, educational attainment and issues around equality. This lack of debate not only disempowers voters in say Heaton, Manningham, Thornbury etc. but it also disempowers political parties, the political process, the wider community and has the potential of increasing the alienation of Muslim communities.
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Written by Atif Imtiaz
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 12:06 |
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Question: Who is arguing the most against a hung parliament?
Answer: David Cameron and Gordon Brown.
If this election was to be have won by anyone, then it was David Cameron’s to win. He has however been unable to convince the nation as a whole that he is the person to take the nation forward. The consequence is that we are now in ‘hung parliament’ territory. This means that no major party is likely to have a clear majority after the election and so the main parties will have to negotiate between themselves as to how they share power in the forthcoming government.
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Written by Shaykh Amjad Mohammed
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 12:04 |
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It was a couple of weeks ago when I had a voicemail from a journalist at Radio 4 asking me to return the call. Dutifully, I returned the call and a half an hour conversation, or interview depending on your point of view, commenced. The discussion was around the General Election, in particular an individual representing the Conservative Party. She asked, “Do you think The Conservatives have put forward a Muslim candidate for Bradford West in order to win ‘the Muslim vote’?”
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Written by Atif Imtiaz
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 10:55 |
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In times of prosperity when the majority experience an improvement in their circumstances, economic matters do not warrant significant attention. All but a small minority have jobs, people have more freedom to spend as they would like and the wealth of many increases due to the general rise in house prices. In times of recession, economic matters become more of a concern, as jobs, spending and wealth are all at risk. As Britain tentatively emerges from recession two distinct economic perspectives compete about what role the government should assume to stimulate sustainable growth.
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Written by Atif Imtiaz
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 10:29 |
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Large parts of the third generation are finding religion in a way that few predicted. Some have attempted to explain it all away as something foreign and dangerous. I have understood it as something familiar, once one gets behind the veneer of difference. Is it strange that spiritual discipline should be attractive to those who were raised in the same North that welcomed Methodism? Is marching for social justice so foreign in a place that gave rise to the labour movement? Is believing in more than the material really that problematic in ‘Wuthering Heights’ country? Behind the veneer of difference, therefore, is a familiarity that can become obvious to those who lend a listening ear to the souls that are discovering their religious selves.
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