The new government that has been formed by the coalition of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats published its programme for government on Thursday 20 May. It represents a compromise between the manifestos of the two parties as presented to the electorate at the General Election.

‘1001 inventions and the Library of Secrets’ is a film that has been produced as part of the 1001 inventions project led by Professor Salim Al-Hassani and supported by many Muslim scientists and researchers. This short film has just won the prestigious ‘Best Film’ award at the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards held on 3rd May 2010.

The election saw the number of Muslims in parliament rise from 4 to 8. Muhammad Sarwar has left parliament and his son Anas Sarwar is now the MP for Glasgow Central after a comfortable victory over Osama Saeed for the Scottish National Party. Shahid Malik for Labour in Dewsbury lost to Simon Reevell of the Conservatives by over a thousand votes. However, Sadiq Khan retained his seat for Tooting and Khalid Mahmood held his seat in Birmingham Perry Bar. The six newcomers are Rushanara Ali, Shabana Mahmood, Anas Sarwar, Yasmin Qureshi, Sajid Javid and Rehman Chishti.

As election day arrives, these are seven constituencies to watch:

Bradford West will witness a contest between Marsha Singh, the sitting Labour MP, and Zahid Iqbal, the Tory challenger. It has been a traditional Labour seat but there is a considerable amount of disquiet over the poor performance of Singh and Iqbal as a successful businessman may win in a constituency that desperately needs some political leadership.