http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/en-EUMokoFeed10http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/bc/17708639fa2238c355f06cd5e151a9_160x200.jpghttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/schools_are_safe~2593188/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-07:/2007/07/08/schools_are_safe~2593188/Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:16:41 +0200 <p>Perpetuity Research, a unit of the University of Leicester, has recently undertaken a survey into school safety from the teacher’s perspective and the results are truly shocking.</p> <p>• 20% of teachers reported that they avoided certain parts of the school through fears for their safety.<br> • Attacks and threatening behaviour to teachers is the biggest reason for pupil exclusion<br> • 2/3 of teachers reported being assaulted or verbally abused by pupils in the last 12 months, with 20% reporting being bitten or punched.<br> • 1/3 said they were considering leaving school due to fear over their own safety</p> <p>Martin Gill the head of the research project stated that “Teachers avoid certain areas as they do not feel safe. They told us that playgrounds, corridors and collection points were avoided at certain parts of the day”.</p> <p>Even though I work in education I find these results shocking, profoundly depressing and a horrible testament to 10 years of “education, education, education”.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/schools_are_safe~2593188/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>leisurenewspoliticslifeeconomyentertainmenthttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/schools_are_safe~2593188/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/the_model_democracy~2593185/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-07:/2007/07/08/the_model_democracy~2593185/Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:15:47 +0200 <p>As anyone who peruses these boards will know our literate but fundamentalist neighbourhood Islamist Steph thinks that Iran is a model democracy and far more democratic than the UK and America. </p> <p>I thus it might be interesting for those who are somewhat sceptical about these claims to throw a little spotlight on Iran and what is happening in the paradise kingdom where everything is sweetness and light.</p> <p>There are ongoing disturbances due to the snap decision to ration fuel to 100 litres a month for private motorists. This was imposed with no notice and led to huge riots and the bombing of many petrol stations. The reasons for this are:<br> • the insane pricing policy that means that fuel is sold at 8p a litre which is well below production costs<br> • The fact that Iran has to import 40% of its petrol because it has not invested in refining capacity. This is despite the fact that it has the second biggest oil reserves in the world (could not organise a piss up in a brewery comes to mind)<br> The rioters are of course called ‘Imperialist stooges egged on by the West’. The problem with this assumption is that the West knew no more about the sudden imposition of rationing than did the put upon people of Iran.</p> <p>The inflation rate is 30% and living standards have fallen like a stone, leading to an exodus of the intelligentsia and skilled professionals to the West (mainly to the Great Satan as it happens).</p> <p>Just over a 1/4 of University lecturers have either not had their contracts renewed or have been sacked in the past 2 years. The authorities have also introduced a strike system whereby any student who participates in political activity not deemed as acceptable by the authorities has 2 warnings and is then dismissed for a repeat offence (better than Saudi Arabia where they would end up in jail I guess).</p> <p>The morality police are still continuing their ‘Campaign’ to prevent poor moral practices. This mainly means they are arresting, beating and harassing women whose dress is not seen as ‘Haram’ (Islamic enough) or, as seems to be one of the deadly sins in male Islamist eyes, showing any of their hair. </p> <p>The Iranian television system is of course showing its usual fair and balanced reporting and its news report on the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow stated that the main suspect is the British state itself, the state evidently did this in order to distract Muslims anger over the knighthood for Salman Rushdie (I do not jest). This is probably believed by the 25% of UK Muslims who believe that the tube and bus bombings in London were carried out by the Government and various flat earth Guardianistas who are always ready to believe every conspiracy theory involving the government.</p> <p>If the Islamic paradise on earth Iran is such a shithole, why on earth do Islamists want a Muslim state in the UK?<br> Could anyone with more than 2 functioning brain cells tell me?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/the_model_democracy~2593185/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economynewspoliticslifehttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/the_model_democracy~2593185/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/title~2553633/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/title~2553633/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:33:47 +0200 <p>I thought this was an interesting article and relevant to current happenings..</p> <p>PS to those who do not realise it </p> <p>1) Lockabie was a CIA explosion<br> 2) All the bombs and plots in the UK are by the Govt to encourage anti Islam sentiment<br> 3) Iran is a model democracy and any one opposses this view internally or externally is a US stooge/imperialist etc etc<br> 4) Honour killings in Britain are nothing to do with Islam and indeed they are the UK police fault for not intervening. All honout kilings are due to the Wests Foreign policy.</p> <p>Views of your friendly Islamist</p> <p>According to the Pew survey, Turkey is currently the most anti-US country in the world.</p> <p>Only 9% of the country favours the US, compared to 52% in 2000, putting Turkey below the Palestinian territories with 13% US approval, and Pakistan with 15%. In the United Kingdom, 51% approved of the US.</p> <p>While 37% of Turks like American science and technology, according to the survey, 81% of Turks dislike American ideas about democracy, and 83% dislike American trade habits.</p> <p>I wonder if anyone would have the guts to ask the UK population what we thought about Islam and UK Muslims who support/justify/agree with bombings in the UK ??? nope what a surprise </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/title~2553633/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/title~2553633/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/uk_the_future~2552425/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/uk_the_future~2552425/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:53:55 +0200 <p>(Abul Kasem’s note: A reader from Afghanistan sent me this account of Talibans)</p> <p>Overview<br> As a school kid, I vividly remembered the nights and days of Talibans in Afghanistan. The words most befitting to describe them are: barbaric, cruel, and inhuman. Today, I am a grown up adult. But even now, remembering those frightening days of real Islam fills my mind with terror, agony, frustration, and trepidation. I endured those Islamic terror filled days, and somehow, completed my high school under the Islamic movement of Taliban. I have a lot to say, a lot to remember, and a lot to be sad for, believe me. What the world has known about the brutalities and barbarism of the Taliban regime (read real Islam) is nothing in comparison to what we, the common people of Afghanistan have endured with extreme pain. What you will read here is the actual, first hand account of those dreadful nights and days of Talibans.</p> <p>To be honest, Talibans were the embodiment of real Islam. They were inured to mete out in full all the inhuman and barbaric Islamic principles on which the entire edifice of Islam is founded. Following the true Islamic laws, they used to behead and execute men and women in public. Public whipping was a very ordinary practice—almost a daily affair, to say it mildly. If a “Mahram”, a legal male had not accompanied a woman, she would definitely face beatings and whippings in full view of others. I guess this was certainly the manner in which Islamic retribution was meted out to women during the golden days of Muhammad’s Islam.</p> <p>For a thief, the Islamic punishment was that his /her hand would be cut off in public. Punishment for adultery committed by single male and female was whipping one hundred times, which eventually caused them to die. For the married male and female, the punishment was stoning to death, an unacceptable, inhuman, undemocratic and barbaric punishment system. Talibans banned watching Television, going to school, and learning modern sciences. Even learning of history, geography, and mathematics were totally banned. In the religious schools (Madrasa) the only activities were the recitation and the memorisation of the Qu’ran. Women had to cover themselves in Burga (a kind of clothing which covers all parts of a woman’s body). All men had to wear turbans, in the fashion of Islamic days of the seventh century. One could never dare to talk about humanity, democracy, respect for other faiths and religions. This is largely true in today’s Afghanistan even when the Talibans are no longer in power. I guess this suppression of basic human rights is endemic in all Islamic communities. They call non Muslims infidels, or pagans. The Talibans strongly believed that the non Muslims must face murder—the infidels should be killed! During Taliban days prayers were obligatory. Talibans used to shave the heads of young males. They believed that having hair on head would cause sexual temptation and more seduction in the community.</p> <p>As a 23-year-old man, living in Afghanistan, I have witnessed with my own eyes and experienced with my own person all these mind boggling events. I always remember those Taliban days. Memories of those days always make me sad, emotional, and dejected. I vividly remember how I had been beaten, humiliated, and nearly killed when I spoke in favour of tolerance, democracy, and religious freedom. More to my experience with the Talibans, I witnessed innocent people killed, women beaten up in public. During those frightful Islamic days, I soul searched about Islam—is what Taliban doing real Islam? I had questions in my mind, very penetrating questions—I wanted to analyse and find the compatibility between Islam and Taliban. Is what Islam said, was exercised by Taliban? Can we call Taliban truly Islamic? Are men really superior to women in Islam? Does Islam justify public beating of women by the Talibans? Are executions, beheadings, and stoning to death Islamic? Do these barbaric punishments conform to the standard of modern civilised world?</p> <p>To find answers to the above questions I searched and searched. What I discovered was really very disturbing. I found that the long history of Islam is truly the history of intolerance, barbarism, cruelty, war, and total apartheid treatment of women. I do not believe it was only Talibans in Afghanistan, who practiced those uncivilised conducts. We can find the same story in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and in most of Islamic countries. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/uk_the_future~2552425/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newspoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/uk_the_future~2552425/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamist_moderate_views~2552331/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/islamist_moderate_views~2552331/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:35:22 +0200 <p>Here is one of the 25% of UK Muslims who think it is all a govt plot. Follow the logic and weep for your own country folks cos these nuts have the power of the Guardianistas behind them.</p> <p>The day Gordon brown takes over,they had to find a way to make sure he follows tony Blair's track.<br> Scare tactics always work.Make people scared and they will do what you want them to do,and they will believe whatever you say.<br> All they have to do is to find a bearded man who was either born in Pakistan or was there during the last few years.Then find his cctv footage in a super store buying bleach or washing powder.Then a footage of him or some one looking like him lurking around on a public place,such as bus station or train station.<br> Then his cctv footage meeting some friends,and some more footage of him walking around something big,such as a big white bag of something,or a big box.<br> Evidence complete,early morning raid,and Britain on 'critical' alert level.</p> <p>And yes,i have a few of these qualities,i was born in Pakistan,and i have been there in the last few years,and i have a goaty <img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Am i scared? I keep a small notebook with me and note down the location and time,whenever i pass in front of a CCTV.I have been keeping a 90% accurate record since i arrived in Britain.I have thousands of entries in my small notebooks.So i can prove where and when i have been in this country during the last few years,without the police scrolling through thousands of hours of CCTV footage.That is if ever it will be needed,but who knows,who's door will be broken in an early morning raid,arrested and taken away.I don't know. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamist_moderate_views~2552331/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newspoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamist_moderate_views~2552331/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/one_of_your_friendly_every_day_islamist_~2552268/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/one_of_your_friendly_every_day_islamist_~2552268/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:23:30 +0200 <p>Here is one of the 25% of UK Msulims who think it is all a govt plot. Follow the logic and weep for your own country folks cos these nuts have the power of the Guardianistas behind them.</p> <p>The day Gordon brown takes over,they had to find a way to make sure he follows tony Blair's track.<br> Scare tactics always work.Make people scared and they will do what you want them to do,and they will believe whatever you say.<br> All they have to do is to find a bearded man who was either born in Pakistan or was there during the last few years.Then find his cctv footage in a super store buying bleach or washing powder.Then a footage of him or some one looking like him lurking around on a public place,such as bus station or train station.<br> Then his cctv footage meeting some friends,and some more footage of him walking around something big,such as a big white bag of something,or a big box.<br> Evidence complete,early morning raid,and Britain on 'critical' alert level.</p> <p>And yes,i have a few of these qualities,i was born in Pakistan,and i have been there in the last few years,and i have a goaty <img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Am i scared? I keep a small notebook with me and note down the location and time,whenever i pass in front of a CCTV.I have been keeping a 90% accurate record since i arrived in Britain.I have thousands of entries in my small notebooks.So i can prove where and when i have been in this country during the last few years,without the police scrolling through thousands of hours of CCTV footage.That is if ever it will be needed,but who knows,who's door will be broken in an early morning raid,arrested and taken away.I don't know. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/one_of_your_friendly_every_day_islamist_~2552268/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/one_of_your_friendly_every_day_islamist_~2552268/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552256/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552256/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:21:24 +0200 <p>srael the Boycot</p> <p>Israel has definitely done many things wrong and has brutalised both itself and the Palestinians of the occupied territories. HOWEVER it is the only country in the Middle East with a free press and its citizens (both Arab & Israeli) have more political and civic freedom than in any of the Arab states. Jordan slaughtered thousands of Palestinians during the Black September pogrom, Syria, Iran & Iraq have murdered untold thousands of their own citizens (especially Kurds) and have minimal civil rights (plus terribly oppress women). This is why I find the demand from the UCU (academics trade union) to boycott Israel to be so hypocritical.</p> <p>You expect the far right to be Anti Semitic, you expect the UK Muslims to be Anti Semitic (although Arabs are themselves Semites) but what I find disturbing, given European history, is the blatant anti Semitism of the liberal Guardianistas and the left. This is leading to a very unholy alliance of neo fascists, Islamofascists, liberals and the left who seemingly have nothing in common apart from their hatred of Jews.</p> <p>Ken Livingstone has displayed his bias many times; for example calling for two Jewish property developers of Iranian descent to be sent back to Iran to learn a lesson, for daring to argue with him over land for his Olympic project. He has invited speakers to City Hall who advocate suicide bombing in Israel and the murder of Gays for ‘abomination’, he likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi guard even after he had been told the reporter was Jewish and objected to his comments (would he have made a similar jibe to a Muslim reporter about Camp X ray or likening him to one of the Government sponsored ethnic cleansers in Sudan?). His left wing cronies similarly see Israel as the new South Africa and lose no opportunity to criticise the ‘Jewish State’ however they never criticise the treatment of Kurds or other minorities in Arab countries, the treatment of women in Muslim states or the 400,000 black Africans that have been slaughtered by Muslim Arabs in Sudan. Nor do they criticise the treatment of Christian or Hindu minorities in Pakistan, Indonesia etc. They are also dumb on the brutal treatment of women in Muslim communities in the UK, preparing to see every fault in Israel but are blind to any Muslim action.</p> <p>The Guardianistas are the same; they scream about British illiberalism but ignore Muslim actions. To them every Muslim death in the Middle East is caused by ‘The West’ and they ignore the fact that 99%+ of the current deaths in Iraq are from either Sunni or Shia actions and that Muslim & Arab states have happily been killing their own citizens and denying them rights long before the Iraq debacle (ask the Armenians or the Marsh Arabs). To Guardianistas, Iraq was a Nirvana before the invasion, with a liberal Saddam overseeing a garden of paradise. To Guardianistas every Muslim radical in the UK is really a Guardian reader who wants multi culturalism and believes in free speech and gender equality. On the other hand every policeman is really a BNP supporter who is a closet racist and potential murderer. They never comment on Darfur or the actions of the Taliban in slaughtering thousands of their own citizens and taking the country back to the stone age in a new Pol Pot regime where even Kite Flying is ‘Un Islamic’ and a capital offence. Where women can have their toes chopped of for going out of the house without a man to accompany her or even worse for showing any hair (what weird psychological problem do Muslim men have with women’s hair?). The Guardianistas have a wonderful way of calling for gender and sexual equality (which I believe in totally) and yet absolving Muslims from the need to treat others as equal. They call for free speech but agree with the Islamofascists that a prominent British Author should not get a knighthood because it is an insult to ‘Islam’. They however do not object to the leader of the un elected ‘Muslim Council’ calling for the death of a British Citizen or when Muslims burn the English flag in Regents Park (presumably that does not cause offence to the 97% of British people who are not Muslim).</p> <p>However academics I thought were a little more rational. Let’s look at this particular case, the logic behind it and the implications.</p> <p>• Firstly academics are very poorly paid and have lousy working conditions, most are on temporary contracts, do not have security of tenure and many are hourly paid and part time. You would have thought that maybe the union would have been spending its time fighting for their own member’ interests rather than political posturing.<br> • The academic union bases its boycott on Israeli violence to the Palestinians but no condemnation or boycott is proposed for China or Russia, or for the many African or Arab countries (not to mention Cuba or Venezuela) which persecute their own citizens and deny them academic freedom. Is violence only wrong if it is by Jews?? (or by non Muslims to Guardianistas)<br> • They want to deny dialogue with Israel and of course deny BNP speakers on campus BUT support Muslim extremists rights to speak e.g. Hizb ut Tahrir who call for suicide bombings against Jewish and Western targets, send people to terrorist training camps abroad, want to introduce Sharia law to the UK, do not want Muslims to vote or participate in Western democracy and advocate separation of Muslims from ‘Infidels’, as well as believing in the inferiority of women and non Muslims (Kuffars).<br> • The call for the boycott has engendered huge negative publicity abroad and will affect academic links with the US. Please note that most research is collaborative and the US undertakes by far the most academic research in the world and the income for Harvard alone is more than the entire UK university sector earns. The UK university sector would be devastated by a drop in US links. A number of prominent US academics have called for US academics to register with Israeli Universities which means they would be subject to a boycott and will then in return call for an academic boycott of UK universities.<br> • The NUS (hardly a reactionary body) have called it Anti Semitic and are opposing it. They know the rise of anti Semitism on campus and the rising attacks on Jewish students on campus.</p> <p>Given the irrationality and Anti Semitic nature of the left and the Guardianistas; and the sheer hatred of the Islamists in the UK to everyone who is not ‘Of their kind’ I presume the boycott will be passed and the UK will continue its downward drift towards Muslim enclaves living totally separate lives from the majority community. If they get their Sharia paradise, we may even see areas for public stoning and specific places for book burning and destruction of musical instruments. Female fashion shops will sell only Burkas in Ford Black. Schools will only run Koranic studies (for men) and women will be forced to stay at home and be ‘stupidified’ and beaten to put up with the nonsense. The Morality police will wonder the streets with canes to beat any men who do not have a beard or women unaccompanied by a male relative or in ‘UnIslamic Dress’. Welcome to Islamistan coming to your neighbourhood soon courtesy of the Guardianistas.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552256/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552256/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamists_in_the_uk_the_fifth_column~2552238/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/islamists_in_the_uk_the_fifth_column~2552238/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:15:53 +0200 <p>I accept the right of the Islamist fifth column who live in the UK to criticise Israel, America and the ‘West’ (although they never want to return to live in Muslim countries for some reason). However I would ask them to try harder to be logical and to use common sense. A good example of their ability to avoid logic can be seen in a channel 4 survey which found that 24% of Muslims in the UK “Believe the four men identified as the July 7th suicide bombers were not responsible for the attacks. The same proportion thinks the government was involved in the bombing”. The problem is of course that any terrorists can only operate if there is a sea of support to swim in. This support can be passive e.g. propaganda and verbal encouragement, or active e.g. safe houses, money, false passports, supplies etc. Given that we have at least 3m Muslims in the UK that means 750,000 of them believe that all the bomb plots are the work of the police and government and police then that is a huge sea to swim in. These fanatics are of course supported by the Guardianista brigade, who scream about their human rights without the slightest concern with the human rights of the 59+ million who do not believe in a flat earth.</p> <p>Presumably the same ‘Reality challenged’ lunatics also think the tooth fairy exists and that British people really want to live under an Islamofascist dictatorship (but we haven’t realised it yet) and that all non Muslim women really want to cover up in black Burkas and have their future decided by their male relatives. The chat rooms are currently full of apologists and conspiracy nuts i.e. the bombs in London and Glasgow are the work of the Government because it happened just when Gordon Brown became leader (the Islamists of course would never have thought about the timing themselves would they?). Their logic being it gives the government an excuse to persecute Muslims and conduct Islamaphobia. The police and public who captured the nuts in Glasgow are of course part of the conspiracy, as is the traffic warden who ticketed the car in London and the drunk who saw the smoke, and the bouncers and passers by etc etc. Ken Livingstone in his speech on the London bombs is very careful not to blame any UK Muslims of course, he presumably believes it is a Zionist US sponsored plot and the BNP are the end culprits.</p> <p>If you want the 97% (minority?) of the UK population who are not Muslim to avoid being ‘Islamaphobic’, then please do not burn our flag, please do not call for the death of British citizens for fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, or even worse writing a book you do not approve of and please observe basic standards of behaviour in terms of gender and other equalities. You cannot cry ‘Islamaphobia’ and scream about your rights, if you want to deny civil rights to others (including the 51% of the population who are women) and see non Muslims as ‘Kuffar’ scum. The fact that to call someone a Paki (short for Pakistan) is seen as racist but to call someone Kuffar which translates as unclean, infidel and without worth is not, sums up PC Guardianista Britain.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamists_in_the_uk_the_fifth_column~2552238/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economypoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/islamists_in_the_uk_the_fifth_column~2552238/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/if_you_hate_it_here_leave~2552227/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/if_you_hate_it_here_leave~2552227/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:14:14 +0200 <p>Whilst I cannot speak for the 97% minority (unlike unelected Muslim leaders who claim to speak for all UK Muslims) I assume the vast majority of us do not like forced marriages, object to ‘Honour Killings’, believe in gender and sexual orientation equality, support the right of authors to write books without fear of being killed for offending thin skinned fanatics and generally want minorities to make some effort to adapt to and live within the majority culture, rules and norms. </p> <p>Most of us also view religion with a degree of scepticism, whether of the moral majority US Christian model or the Islamic medieval mode and do not want religious people to have more rights than the rest of us, simply because they follow a particular cult and because certain things were written (or added) to a holy book thousands of years ago. </p> <p>If UK Muslims find the above objectionable, may I humbly suggest they look for their Sharia paradise someplace else and leave us ‘Kuffar Scum’ to our fate in hell. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/if_you_hate_it_here_leave~2552227/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicseconomynewsentertainmentlifehttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/if_you_hate_it_here_leave~2552227/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552221/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-07-01:/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552221/Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:12:04 +0200 <p>Israel has definitely done many things wrong and has brutalised both itself and the Palestinians of the occupied territories. HOWEVER it is the only country in the Middle East with a free press and its citizens (both Arab & Israeli) have more political and civic freedom than in any of the Arab states. Jordan slaughtered thousands of Palestinians during the Black September pogrom, Syria, Iran & Iraq have murdered untold thousands of their own citizens (especially Kurds) and have minimal civil rights (plus terribly oppress women). This is why I find the demand from the UCU (academics trade union) to boycott Israel to be so hypocritical. </p> <p>You expect the far right to be Anti Semitic, you expect the UK Muslims to be Anti Semitic (although Arabs are themselves Semites) but what I find disturbing, given European history, is the blatant anti Semitism of the liberal Guardianistas and the left. This is leading to a very unholy alliance of neo fascists, Islamofascists, liberals and the left who seemingly have nothing in common apart from their hatred of Jews. </p> <p>Ken Livingstone has displayed his bias many times; for example calling for two Jewish property developers of Iranian descent to be sent back to Iran to learn a lesson, for daring to argue with him over land for his Olympic project. He has invited speakers to City Hall who advocate suicide bombing in Israel and the murder of Gays for ‘abomination’, he likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi guard even after he had been told the reporter was Jewish and objected to his comments (would he have made a similar jibe to a Muslim reporter about Camp X ray or likening him to one of the Government sponsored ethnic cleansers in Sudan?). His left wing cronies similarly see Israel as the new South Africa and lose no opportunity to criticise the ‘Jewish State’ however they never criticise the treatment of Kurds or other minorities in Arab countries, the treatment of women in Muslim states or the 400,000 black Africans that have been slaughtered by Muslim Arabs in Sudan. Nor do they criticise the treatment of Christian or Hindu minorities in Pakistan, Indonesia etc. They are also dumb on the brutal treatment of women in Muslim communities in the UK, preparing to see every fault in Israel but are blind to any Muslim action. </p> <p>The Guardianistas are the same; they scream about British illiberalism but ignore Muslim actions. To them every Muslim death in the Middle East is caused by ‘The West’ and they ignore the fact that 99%+ of the current deaths in Iraq are from either Sunni or Shia actions and that Muslim & Arab states have happily been killing their own citizens and denying them rights long before the Iraq debacle (ask the Armenians or the Marsh Arabs). To Guardianistas, Iraq was a Nirvana before the invasion, with a liberal Saddam overseeing a garden of paradise. To Guardianistas every Muslim radical in the UK is really a Guardian reader who wants multi culturalism and believes in free speech and gender equality. On the other hand every policeman is really a BNP supporter who is a closet racist and potential murderer. They never comment on Darfur or the actions of the Taliban in slaughtering thousands of their own citizens and taking the country back to the stone age in a new Pol Pot regime where even Kite Flying is ‘Un Islamic’ and a capital offence. Where women can have their toes chopped of for going out of the house without a man to accompany her or even worse for showing any hair (what weird psychological problem do Muslim men have with women’s hair?). The Guardianistas have a wonderful way of calling for gender and sexual equality (which I believe in totally) and yet absolving Muslims from the need to treat others as equal. They call for free speech but agree with the Islamofascists that a prominent British Author should not get a knighthood because it is an insult to ‘Islam’. They however do not object to the leader of the un elected ‘Muslim Council’ calling for the death of a British Citizen or when Muslims burn the English flag in Regents Park (presumably that does not cause offence to the 97% of British people who are not Muslim). </p> <p>However academics I thought were a little more rational. Let’s look at this particular case, the logic behind it and the implications.</p> <p>• Firstly academics are very poorly paid and have lousy working conditions, most are on temporary contracts, do not have security of tenure and many are hourly paid and part time. You would have thought that maybe the union would have been spending its time fighting for their own member’ interests rather than political posturing.<br> • The academic union bases its boycott on Israeli violence to the Palestinians but no condemnation or boycott is proposed for China or Russia, or for the many African or Arab countries (not to mention Cuba or Venezuela) which persecute their own citizens and deny them academic freedom. Is violence only wrong if it is by Jews?? (or by non Muslims to Guardianistas)<br> • They want to deny dialogue with Israel and of course deny BNP speakers on campus BUT support Muslim extremists rights to speak e.g. Hizb ut Tahrir who call for suicide bombings against Jewish and Western targets, send people to terrorist training camps abroad, want to introduce Sharia law to the UK, do not want Muslims to vote or participate in Western democracy and advocate separation of Muslims from ‘Infidels’, as well as believing in the inferiority of women and non Muslims (Kuffars).<br> • The call for the boycott has engendered huge negative publicity abroad and will affect academic links with the US. Please note that most research is collaborative and the US undertakes by far the most academic research in the world and the income for Harvard alone is more than the entire UK university sector earns. The UK university sector would be devastated by a drop in US links. A number of prominent US academics have called for US academics to register with Israeli Universities which means they would be subject to a boycott and will then in return call for an academic boycott of UK universities.<br> • The NUS (hardly a reactionary body) have called it Anti Semitic and are opposing it. They know the rise of anti Semitism on campus and the rising attacks on Jewish students on campus.</p> <p>Given the irrationality and Anti Semitic nature of the left and the Guardianistas; and the sheer hatred of the Islamists in the UK to everyone who is not ‘Of their kind’ I presume the boycott will be passed and the UK will continue its downward drift towards Muslim enclaves living totally separate lives from the majority community. If they get their Sharia paradise, we may even see areas for public stoning and specific places for book burning and destruction of musical instruments. Female fashion shops will sell only Burkas in Ford Black. Schools will only run Koranic studies (for men) and women will be forced to stay at home and be ‘stupidified’ and beaten to put up with the nonsense. The Morality police will wonder the streets with canes to beat any men who do not have a beard or women unaccompanied by a male relative or in ‘UnIslamic Dress’. Welcome to Islamistan coming to your neighbourhood soon courtesy of the Guardianistas.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552221/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newseconomypoliticslifehttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/07/01/israel_the_boycot~2552221/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/honour_killings~2473628/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-18:/2007/06/18/honour_killings~2473628/Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:02:09 +0200 <p> Banaz Mahmod is the latest in a depressing line of ‘honour’ killings whereby young Muslim women are murdered by their family to preserve the so called family honour. It is closely linked to forced marriage and officially there are 12-15 killings a year. However everyone admits that this is a false figure because many more young women are forced to commit suicide (young Muslim women have 3X the suicide rate of the rest of the population), disappear but are not reported, or are sent back to the ‘Homeland’ where they disappear. Given women’s rights in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kurdistan etc the murders will not attract any interest from authorities.</p> <p>Killing is also just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the pressures put upon young Muslim women to conform to the family demands of ‘Honour’. Beatings are common, imprisonment, the threat of alienation from the family and community and a very common practice of taking them ‘On holiday’ to visit relatives where they are then forced to marry someone against their wishes or left. A survey in Bradford a few years ago of Muslim children’s progress threw up a result that no one anticipated. This was the disappearance of huge number of Muslim girls by the age of 16. No one is suggesting that they had been murdered (who knows) but the only conclusion the report could come to was that they had been sent away to get married. The number of boys at 16 was consistent with the numbers enrolled at school but there had been a 10% unaccounted for loss of girls of the same age.</p> <p>Amazingly Muslim mothers participate in the barbaric treatment of their daughters and in Banaz Mahmod’s case; it was her mother who lied to her about her safety that persuaded her to return home to her death. The Kurdish community then conspired to get rid of evidence and hamper the police investigation and Banaz’s sister has had to go into hiding to protect herself from the wrath of the community after being the main force behind the police investigation. </p> <p>It is beyond the average liberal western mind to understand why Muslim parents, brothers and uncles would kill/torture their own female family members and force them into marriage out of some barbaric ‘Honour’ code. But it is important that we try to understand, if we are to reduce the terrible treatment metered out to Muslim women, guilty of not wanting to be forced into a marriage or even worse (in many male Muslim eyes) of being seen talking to a man who was not of their immediate family. So let’s look at Benaz’s sad life and try to work out why her family killed her and why her mother and the general Kurdish community colluded in it.</p> <p>Banaz like many Muslim women had an arranged (forced) marriage to someone much older than her. She was beaten repeatedly and left him. She then returned home where she was told she had ‘Shamed her family’. The family was particularly sensitive to shame because Banaz’s sister Bekhal had been taken into care by the authorities after a catalogue of physical abuse by her father. Banaz then literally signed her own death warrant by becoming a girlfriend of a Kurdish man from another tribe who was a family friend. </p> <p>Her father and his brother tried to kidnap the boyfriend but he was protected by his friends. Benaz had gone to the police to ask for protection but was persuaded by her mother to come home as ‘She would be safe’ and not go to a refuge. The next day she was killed and her body put in a suitcase and buried. </p> <p>Crucially in this case Benaz had come forward to the police and they had evidence from the boyfriend and her sister. The community itself closed in and tried to prevent the police investigation. The police were also hampered because of PC which means that their every action in relation to Muslims is tempered by the fear of being called racists or even worse Islamaphobic. They thus sadly (but understandably) leave the community to police itself in a way they would never do if it was a young white women being mistreated. Eventually they succeed and the father and uncle were imprisoned along with 2 other men who participated. A number of other men have however fled to Kurdistan after being helped to escape by the Kurdish community (the irony is that the family were accepted as political refugees from Iraq).</p> <p>So what lessons can be learned?</p> <p>1) Police must investigate all indications of abuse of Muslim women by family members with the utmost rigour and there must be safe houses where they can be moved to. The presumption should be the women is telling the truth and there is an immediate threat.<br> 2) School teachers should be given training on the signs to look out for in terms of abuse as they are one of the few institutions that have access to Muslim women without their fathers being in control.<br> 3) An education campaign must be undertaken by the Muslim leaders to stress that women are equal and must not be abused (it would be great if the unelected MCB did something useful like this for a change)<br> 4) All Muslim refugees/asylum seekers and new immigrants must be instructed in terms of basic civilised values in the treatment of women. They should sign a code of conduct that stipulates their acceptance of basic human values and the men’s right to remain in the country should be affected by any mistreatment of women.<br> 5) A law banning forced marriages must be passed (a bill was rejected last year because the government did not want to alienate Muslim leaders).</p> <p>Of course little of this will happen because the government is prepared to sacrifice Muslim women on the alter of PC in order to avoid being called Islamaphobic. This Guardianiata approach can be summed up by the Guardian Newspaper reporting which stressed the police’s fault and had no condemnation of Islamic values in relation to women, the Kurdish community or even the Mother (who has not been charged).</p> <p>Could any of the Islamists on this site tell me why so many male Muslims hate women so much and treat them so badly?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/honour_killings~2473628/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicslifenewseconomyhttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/honour_killings~2473628/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/africa_and_the_failue_of_aid_sorry_st_bo~2473621/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-18:/2007/06/18/africa_and_the_failue_of_aid_sorry_st_bo~2473621/Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:01:14 +0200 <p>Many moons ago I did a politics degree and one of the units I most enjoyed was development studies. I was taken by the various theories of under development and believed (as did the vast majority of students) that all of the third worlds problems (LDCs) were due to the actions of the terrible exploitive developed world. This is of course the same misguide view that Guadianistas still hold.</p> <p>Time, travel and of course observing what is really happening in the world has shown me that the lack of development (or positive reversal) in most of Africa is not caused by the malicious actions of the wicked West taking all of Africa’s resources and robbing them blind. In reality the West has furnished untold billions in aid but instead of making the situation better it has made it worse by encouraging dependency and facilitating corruption and patronage by the power elites. Africa has had many times more money in aid (in real terms) than Europe had from America after the 2ndWW in the Marshal Plan and aid continues to pour in. Yet the continent is in the main going backwards in development terms. </p> <p>A new book by Paul Collier explains it really well; it starts with the positive news on development (it’s going really well on a global scale despite what Saint Bob says) with a drop from 40% of the world population being in absolute poverty in 1981 to less than 20% now. However there is a hard core 1b people living in about 50 failing states that are literally going backwards and the bulk of these are in Sub Saharan Africa. In 1981 10% of the worlds poor were in SSA, it is now 50% and rising and the area has 2/3 of all the world’s aid cases. </p> <p>The reasons are varied for the abject failure, over dependence on a few natural resources, poor governance, wars etc etc. However the biggest problem is Corruption and he quotes the World Bank report that African Elite hold $700bn-$800bn outside the continent and every year $150bn leaves in illicit capital flight. This is far more than the total aid sums and “Corruption cuts tax revenues by at least half”. If good governance could be achieved there could be anything up to a 3 fold increase in GDP and aid would largely be made irrelevant. </p> <p>The problem is of course that it is impossible to achieve good governance by exhortation or worthy reports. No Western Government will interfere militarily (imagine the Guardianista response and post Iraq NO ONE wants to know) and the answer from Africa’s Political elite to any complaints from the Aid Donors re corruption is to shout racism and imperialism.</p> <p>Thus the situation will get worse and more illegal immigrants will flood into Europe. Civil strife in Africa will increase and absolute poverty will rise. The West will pour in more aid which will primarily help Swiss Banks and luxury goods manufacturers (without Western Aid would Mercedes Benz go Bankrupt?).</p> <p>Has anyone got any answers??????????????????????</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/africa_and_the_failue_of_aid_sorry_st_bo~2473621/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>travelnewspoliticseconomyhttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/18/africa_and_the_failue_of_aid_sorry_st_bo~2473621/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/news_snippets~2423000/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-09:/2007/06/09/news_snippets~2423000/Sat, 09 Jun 2007 17:05:51 +0200 <p>Snippets of news from the Broadsheets</p> <p>Here are some of the lesser known items from the broadsheets that I found interesting:</p> <p>• There has been a 55% increase in crimes by under 16s on London buses which coincides exactly with Ken Livingstones free bus pass for under 16s. As someone who frequently uses London buses wherever possible I avoid them from 15.15-16.15 as they can be hell.</p> <p>• A Birmingham ‘Well Being Workshop’ has received a grant to pay for taking families from immigrant communities to stately homes and other buildings of historical significance. I think this is a good idea BUT statistically white working class visit historical buildings even less than immigrant communities and there is no such a scheme for them? Why</p> <p>• The official crime figures are fairly meaningless because few people report minor crimes if there is no insurance claim involved. Thus increasing weight is give to the annual crime survey which asks people for their experience. This is then used by the government to tell us that crime is falling. HOWEVER it does not survey under 16s who cause a high proportion of street crime. Now why do we not believe government messages?</p> <p>• Oona King (the black MP who lost seat to Gorgeous George in part because her mother was Jewish) is not known as an avowed racist but has written </p> <p>“I used to believe that housing allocation should only be done on the basis of need, but anyone who was born or brought up in Britain is never going to have the level of housing need as someone who has just arrived”. “How do you get a cohesive community if you’ve got this churn of people coming in, and others who have been here for generations having to move out”. </p> <p>If this was said by anyone who was not from a BME community it would be condemned as racism and not the common sense that it is. ?? Why has Margaret Hodge (a despicable women usually) been condemned as racist for saying exactly the same thing. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/news_snippets~2423000/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economypoliticsnewslifehttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/news_snippets~2423000/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/best_blog_from_steph~2422279/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-09:/2007/06/09/best_blog_from_steph~2422279/Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:38:53 +0200 <p>For those who do not know Steph is (claimed) a women who is an extreme anti semite, supports suicide bombings in Israel, says all Jews are really Russian and should be sent back and that everyone should live in their ethnic area e.g. only black people should live in Africa etc. Her/his political rants are normally well written and when viewed with a little distance hilarious i.e. all western democracy is a sham, only Iran has a real democracy, everyone who disagrees with her/him is a Islamist fascist, feminist, imperialist US stooge etc etc eg “I've been the target of several bullying campaigns by cybernazi trolls (mainly Zionists and Feminists)”</p> <p>The latest rant is about the Child Support Agency which he/she thinks is a fascist, imperialist, Jewish plot (presumably sponsored by the CIA) against men.<br> I quote </p> <p>“The whole concept of the CSA is fascist, the state interfering in family life and deciding how much money a parent should pay another parent for the upkeep of their child. Frankly this is something that should be left to parents as part of a voluntary arrangement. It's none of the States business - or wouldn't be in a liberal democracy! </p> <p>“Why should there be any presumption that a parent who doesn't choose to be a parent should pay anything to the parent who had his child? Mother's can abrogate their responsibilities by terminating their child or placing them up for adoption, why shouldn't men have the right to abrogate their responsibilities too? “</p> <p>“The policy of forcing parents (normally mothers) who claim benefits to apply for Child Support is state enforced whoredom” </p> <p>Sure sounds like a liberal western women to me. Of course it is terrible that society should expect the father to have a duty to pay for the child he was an equal part in creating. The women should be forced to have an abortion?</p> <p>This is Stephs world but it all pales behind the FALSE FLAG ENTRY here are some extracts</p> <p>“I maintain that Africa is Black and yes, following on that principle I'd say that Europe is white” (in the context of where people should be returned to ie it was backing up her/his statement that all Jews are really Russian and should be returned to Russia)</p> <p>"We should cut off all diplomatic, political and economic links. List Zionism as a racist ideology and refuse to recognise dual nationality with Israel. And arrest every Israeli war criminal who sets foot on European soil." (this means every Israeli citizen as her definition is that they are all war criminals by living in Israel)</p> <p>“These European Jewish gangsters, terrorists and religious fanatics murdered, raped, tortured and tried to completely ethnically cleanse the indigenous Palestinian population to make way for their very European, Jewish Fascist State, with the assistance of the British government.”</p> <p>"It's all very well talking about Israeli civilians, but every Israeli adult is a militant."</p> <p>"There is a very clear good versus evil situation. The creation of Israel was a crime against humanity - an act of pure evil."</p> <p>"Israel was formed by Holocaust survivors it was formed by terrorists, fascists and gangsters." (all Holocaust survivors who went to Israel were Fascist??)</p> <p>“The Palestinians don't deliberately target children, Israel does. Blowing up a disco or bar is targeting people of military age, who have either served in the military occupation or are eligible to - legitimate targets.”</p> <p> (on bombings) “As long as it isn't deliberately aimed at a child and is carried out to end the Occupation - yes I do! I also think the same about all attacks on Occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - they are morally justified”. Hmm a UK citizen who supports the killing of UK service personnel????????????</p> <p>“The only democracy in the Middle East is Iran, all the groups claiming to support democratic reform in Iran are thoroughly undemocratic, monarchists, Zionists, secular fascists and a fanatical terrorist cult, who makes the Nazis looks good. Iran is an Islamic democracy like America is a secular democracy, only constitutional Iran's model is more democratic.</p> <p>“I'd happily see Turkey become an Islamic republic, it's better than a secular fascist state run by a military junta. </p> <p>“The Guardian is fanatically anti Iranian and notoriously dishonest on the Middle East. I know you think it's left wing paper but really it's not. I don't believe the Guardian is worth reading. I'm sick of the blatant New Labour and Zionist propaganda and bold face lies. (and here was me thinking the Guardian was left wing, anti Israel and left wing) </p> <p>“Ahmadinejad is the most philosophical and intellectual president in the World today, he compete with Chavez and Castro as a left wing visionary. </p> <p>“I see nothing morally wrong with Arabs forced to live under the Saudi regime, assassinating one of the Saudi royal family.</p> <p>“Many of our Western traditions are really learned off the Muslims, even democracy. (I thought demos was a Greek word?)</p> <p>“(There is not) any evidence that al-Qaeda was involved in 911. As far as I can see al-Qaeda is an America invention,</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/best_blog_from_steph~2422279/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>entertainmenteconomynewspoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/09/best_blog_from_steph~2422279/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/the_best_blog_on_here~2386755/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-03:/2007/06/03/the_best_blog_on_here~2386755/Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:20:45 +0200 <p>Best Blog<br> The most illuminating and (as long as you look at it in the right way) funny blog has to be Stephs FALSE FLAG. The blog itself is the usual Anti American Anti UK Anti Western Islamist rant but it is the comments that follow that make it truly brilliant.</p> <p>Before reading the comments I did not know that</p> <p>1) All Jews in Israel are really Russian and should be sent back to Russia<br> 2) That the concentration camp survivors from Europe who set up Israel were Fascists, Imperialist, Criminal Terrorists<br> 3) That everyone should go back to their ethnic homeland e.g. all blacks to Africa etc<br> 4) That it is ok to kill Israeli women and children because they are Zionist<br> 5) That Israel targets Palestinian children but Palestinians only target Israeli military targets<br> 6) That Iran is the most perfect democracy (presumably not if you are a women, gay, liberal, a Christian a Sunni etc etc)<br> 7) That every bad thing in the world is a Western Imperialist plot<br> 8) That the Taliban is very popular in Afghanistan and are a beacon of light </p> <p>It truly is great fun to read and will either confirm your views that the world has gone crazy or at the very least entertain you. Of course Steph also believes we have no free speech in the West (see other blogs) and thus she will I guess soon have the knock on the door as we are a ‘Fascist State’. It is amusing that the most fervent Islamists always have addresses in Europe and yet hate us so much?</p> <p>Why not go and live in an Islamic state if it is so much freer and open than the fascist west??????????????????????????????????????????</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/the_best_blog_on_here~2386755/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>entertainmentlifepoliticseconomynewshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/the_best_blog_on_here~2386755/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/judge_a_people_country_by_its_foes~2386626/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-03:/2007/06/03/judge_a_people_country_by_its_foes~2386626/Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:00:15 +0200 <p>Using the adage my enemies enemy is my friend, then perhaps there is mileage in judging a country or a people by its enemies. The logic being if you hate the enemies then the country or people cannot be all wrong.<br> Israel and the Jews are hated by the extreme left, the extreme right, Islamists and the Guardianista Liberal Fascists. As I have minimal respect for these groups perhaps I should be pro Israel????</p> <p>What do you think?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/judge_a_people_country_by_its_foes~2386626/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economylifenewspoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/03/judge_a_people_country_by_its_foes~2386626/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/favourite_books_i_have_read_lately~2373799/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-01:/2007/06/01/favourite_books_i_have_read_lately~2373799/Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:54:35 +0200 <p>I lover readiong but find it hard nowdays to read fiction (could be an age thing. The best 4 books I have read over the last few months are</p> <p>1) Freakeconomics: very witty, wise and revealing<br> 2) The Islamist by Ed Hussein: Frightening but absorbing I have worked in Newham College adn remeber the stabbing as well as the ISlamisation of Tower Hamlets College. Explains how we have got in this mess<br> 3) Donnie Brascoe: Just a really good read<br> 4) The Biography of Gordon Ramsey: Yes he is an arrogent arsehole but read the book to see how to survive the ultimate dysfunctional family</p> <p>I have tried reading fiction but for the past 5 years or so just read the end and then dont bother. I like biographies, history books and most political books (with the big P) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/favourite_books_i_have_read_lately~2373799/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>entertainmentnewsleisurepoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/favourite_books_i_have_read_lately~2373799/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/pay_tax_and_be_hated_the_guardianistas_s~2371934/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-06-01:/2007/06/01/pay_tax_and_be_hated_the_guardianistas_s~2371934/Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:50:33 +0200 <p>I am a media whore in that I read the Guardian and the Telegraph to get two contrasting takes on life and the Telegraph had an interesting article on the ‘coping classes’. These are the people who pay tax, consume minimal state services, support their children’s hobbies and have strong aspirations for themselves and their offspring. I thought it was a much better term than the oft used middle class as that can mean anything. </p> <p>The thrust of the article was that the battle for Nu Labours deputy leadership is all about appearing who can be the most left wing (if you saw Newsnight you will know what they mean) but it is the coping classes who decide elections and keep the country afloat, yet receive the most hatred from the liberal chattering classes. This is what I have been thinking for a long time but it was nice to see it expressed succinctly and it reminds me of the Stalinist times in the Soviet Union, when anyone with a middle class background was sentenced to a longer prison term than someone with a working class background and people would go to great lengths to pretend they had a workers or peasant backgrounds. </p> <p>Why the liberal Guardianistas hate the coping classes baffles me, as they pay the tax to allow the army of social workers, community workers, racial equality workers and thought police to exist. All state wealth is the result of tax of some sort and yet we are meant to hate the tax payer and love the tax consumer. If the coping classes consumed state resources in the proportion of the underclass the country would be poorer than Albania. </p> <p>I am sure that would not disappoint the Guardianistas though, as long as we were equally poor and hungry they would have achieved their dream of equalty i.e. lets bring everyone down and call it tackling disadvantage. </p> <p>I wish I was young enough to emigrate as there is no future in Blairs PC think tank experiment and remember Brown hates the Middle Class even more and wants more of your wealth to spend badly by the state. PFI anyone, Millennium Dome, Olympics, Tax Credits, NHS Computer Systems etc etc etc. As Greg Dyke said last night on question time, if in any walk of life apart from politics the cock ups made by the government would have led to mass sackings. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/pay_tax_and_be_hated_the_guardianistas_s~2371934/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economylifepoliticsnewshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/06/01/pay_tax_and_be_hated_the_guardianistas_s~2371934/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/31/seperation_in_uk_schools~2368917/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-05-31:/2007/05/31/seperation_in_uk_schools~2368917/Thu, 31 May 2007 19:04:59 +0200 <p>When I read comments on education in schools etc I realise that lots of folks do not see the reality about what is going on. I am an educationalist in that I work in a variety of schools and write about education. It is not all doom and gloom but there are far more problems than the Guardianista Fascists would let you believe.<br> In a nutshell far too many inner city schools have become bastions of poverty and low expectation. In many schools in London over 80% of the pupils will not have English as a first language and at home they will inevitably speak their community language and watch films and TV in that language as well. The teaching understandably is aimed at their needs and thus the 20% who do have English as a first language suffer and thus less English speakers will go to these schools and the % of non English speakers increases. To the Guardianistas this is racism. However the non English speakers increasingly want their children to go to these mono centric schools because they feel safer that their child will be within the community and will not take on values they do not want. Indians, Jews and to a large extent Black Africans & Black Caribbean’s integrate in schools mainly because they have the same language and religion is not a driving force. Where there is separation in schools it is geographical and not be deliberate parental action.<br> Thus from 2 sides you are getting separate pressure for mono centric education. The result is poor levels of achievement in non English speaking schools (especially in any subject requiring verbal fluency) and separate development with suspicion and hatred on both sides (I run psychometric tests in school and inevitably in every London state school verbal is lower than all other scores). You also get concentrations of white working class (a misnomer as most of the parent(s) do not work) who hugely underperform but are ignored by the government because it only targets BME groups. They are drawn to far right politics because they feel alienated and are competing with the new immigrants for the white van man jobs and for social housing.</p> <p>The answer GOD KNOWS but unless someone can come up with one Enoch Powell will be proved right. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/31/seperation_in_uk_schools~2368917/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/31/seperation_in_uk_schools~2368917/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/what_is_pc~2348788/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-05-28:/2007/05/28/what_is_pc~2348788/Mon, 28 May 2007 15:54:51 +0200 <p>WHAT IS PC?</p> <p>You can support equality and be anti PC. I have no problems with anyone’s activities or beliefs from Satan to Sufi Islam and even those who like Big Brother on TV, as long as you respect that others can have contrary views. However many minority groups seem to want their rights but demand that other groups do not others e.g. Islamist views on women, gays etc.</p> <p>Ken Livingstone and the other liberal/PC mob want to decide what is and is not acceptable. The new left/liberals now think anti Semitism is ok and scream free speech when they invite a speaker from Bangladesh or Pakistan who supports suicide bombers in Israel and Iraq (and killing homosexuals) but deny free speech to anyone from the BNP and campaign against Israeli academics (it is ok to come from liberal bastions like Iran, Egypt, Syria, China, Russia etc but not from Israel).<br> The BNP are thugs and Israel has done many bad things but religious nutters who despise women, gays, infidels etc are just as bad or even worse and we should adopt a level playing field that says what is and is not acceptable or we let everything be acceptable. You cannot say 1 lot of fascist views OK but others are not. </p> <p>PC means only a liberal agenda is acceptable that sees all state institutions as institutional racist, sexist, islamaphobic etc and that all criminals and anti social thugs are misunderstood and discriminated against. In PC land the role of the middle class tax payer is to feel guilty and pay as much tax as possible to feed their love of state intervention. PC hates the white working class (who they do not understand) and ignore their needs and only see things in terms of bad state V good minorities. Thought crimes are now in order e.g. racist body language and isms that do not have to be proved but you are guilty if you are accused of them. On a race equality course for the NHS a women was told that looking into the eyes of a Muslim man could be seen as offensive and she should look down or away when talking to Muslim men. So it is ok to be sexist but we must not offend the Stone Age views of some men?<br> Any social science research that does not fit into PC views they say should be banned (e.g. research into intelligence by a professor of psychology at Leeds) and anyone who undertakes it should lose their job. Freedom of speech to those who agree with us, vilification and the sack or those who do not. Only in PC land could liberals, the socialist worker remnants and Islamofascists find common cause. How a Guardianista who supports feminism can laude an Islamist who wants women to be stoned for adultery is beyond me. But that is PC for you; all logic.<br> Lets accept that in society you can hold whatever views you want but YOU MUST accept some common currency i.e. do not preach hatred or support slaughter abroad or at home. Everyone has a right to beliefs and as long as their actions are within the laws of the land, do what you want. BUT women, Jews, infidels, gays, atheists, Satanists etc all have equal rights to you and if you want the right to preach extreme hatred you then must accept the right of others to do so from an alternate perspective. Your freedom of speech is bought at the cost of allowing others who hold different points of view to also speak. </p> <p><a href="mailto:openmindendprejudice@mail.com">openmindendprejudice@mail.com</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/what_is_pc~2348788/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newslifeeconomypoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/what_is_pc~2348788/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/title~2347338/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-05-28:/2007/05/28/title~2347338/Mon, 28 May 2007 11:39:39 +0200 <p>It’s a very cold & wet bank holiday in the UK. Obviously Global Warming is having a rest day as it’s chilly. My wife is away with the youngest and I am trying to get my oldest to revise. I also have loads of DIY t0o do but am trying to use my imagination to find alternate things to do, like anything. It’s not that I hate DIY I am just no good at it and get frustrated. I also have tenant problems at a property we own and have to sort that out (foreign students who think they can live for free). Contrary to popular opinion the biggest problem in renting are students, who may or may not have a high IQ but have the common sense of a May fly and always try it on. The worse was a crowd of Law students from a Redbrick I had once, complete dipshits.<br> But what do you do? the law is totally on the side of tenants and the house is next to a university. I rented property when I was a student in the 70s but maybe it was different times then, less rights and more obligations perhaps. Sure as hell I did not wreck anything and paid the rent on time. Anyhow that is avenue not to go down as history always makes everything rosy. I will take my son for a pizza later as a treat and break from his studies.<br> I have also got to prepare work for a load of Morrisby feedbacks I have to do. I do not mind that though as it is just simple analysis and it help the interviews go better and it is a nice small sized Private School in Surrey with supportive parents. A real comprehensive in the proper use of the word with some very bright kids and some not so gifted. I also work in a number of state schools in London and you get some bright kids there as well but unfortunately they get bullied by the 10% who should never have been inflicted on society and generally under perform according to their abilities. Sad but true despite what the Guardianistas tell us.<br> Kids with the same aptitude inevitably get higher GCSEs & A level results in private schools than they do in Inner City London Schools. I know I test thousands of them and analyse all the scores for the schools. It is depressing because despite my reactionary ways I want everyone to achieve their potential but lying about results and creating micky mouse qualifications to pretend equality does not solve anything.<br> GNVQ ICT anyone? Takes 4 hours a week, impossible to fail and by government standards is the same a 4GCSEs A-C. Most improved school in London is the John Cass School in Tower Hamlets and how did they do it? They got everyone to do a GNVQ in ICT and made Bengali (90+% of the pupils speak Bengali as a first language) a compulsory subject. Low and behold the school leapt up the league tables and became a media darling or course very few of them had passed Maths, English or Science but hey they met the 5 GCSE band didn’t they. Want to improve you’re a level results discourage students from taking maths, economics or science and get them to take media studies, business studies, communication studies, health studies, law, sports studies etc etc etc . Your results go up and you are a successful sixth form. Only downside is non of the kids get a place at the top universities who think their qualifications are a load of crap. Yes Mr Oxbridge Tutor I really feel that my work on soap operas in the UK is good preparation for a Law degree in terms of the analytical skills gained. I am also an expert at using only 1 source and depending on tutor notes and have never ever read anything that was not on my course list in getting my A in the subject. Every year A level results improve roughly in tandam with the rise in remedial classes at university in numeracy, science and literacy. Many universities now also teach students how to use multiple sources and how to structure an essay. Better A level grades have led to less able undergraduates? How is this done- answer by lowering A level standards. There are now less students from state schools at Oxbridge than 25 years ago despite huge rises in education spending and results. We are a less socially mobile country than even 10 years ago and far less than under the dragon Thatcher ?Why.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/title~2347338/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newslifepoliticseconomyhttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/title~2347338/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/ucas_2007_an_overview~2336433/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-05-26:/2007/05/26/ucas_2007_an_overview~2336433/Sat, 26 May 2007 09:31:07 +0200 <p>2007 UCAS APPLICATIONS<br> THE BROAD PICTURE</p> <p>UCAS application figures for 07 make very interesting reading. Everybody expected a rise after last years 3.4% drop (which was mainly a reaction to the large increase in 05 due to the introduction of top up fees) however the rise has far outstripped expectations. As with all figures however they need analysis in order to make best use of them.</p> <p>Overall there is a 6.4% increase in UCAS applications but for English institutions it was 7.2%, Northern Ireland and Wales were static whilst Scotland only increased by 1.9%. Applications from students aged 21-24 increased by 11.4%, students aged under 21 increased by 5.7% and overseas students by 6.6%. This indicates that the rise in costs in English universities in comparison to Wales & Scotland have had no effect in putting students off applying (or perversely seem to have encouraged it) and for all practical purposes ends the debate about ‘Top up fees’. The rise in older students is also very interesting, as it suggests they are making a rational decision on the return of a higher education qualification after exposure to the job market. </p> <p>A breakdown of winners (and occasional losers) is very revealing. I have only highlighted courses that had a 9% or more increase, an increase of 2% or less or an actual decrease (see separate spreadsheet). Given an overall increase of over 6%, courses with less than a 2% rise are doing poorly in terms of attraction. In analysing figures you always have to take into account reclassification of subjects by UCAS. In addition big increases have occurred in combination areas, thus whilst the number of students applying to single honours business studies has increased only slightly, the number applying to business combinations or allied areas such as economics, finance, management studies etc has increased hugely. Thus the popularity of business related degrees is still growing at a high rate but more are choosing to access it in a different (and in many ways more numerate) way.</p> <p>The biggest winner is travel & tourism with a 30.3% rise however this still only accounts for 12,371 applications (psychology had 77,000). Another big winner was business/admin combinations (25%) but not single subject business studies (only 1.4%). Veterinary science had a massive 22% increase but medicine decreased by 3.8%. Creative arts combinations increased by 17.1%, cinematics & photography by 11.6% and dance by 10.8%. Languages in combination with social sciences/law or business increased by 10% but combinations of European languages only by 1.1%. </p> <p>The biggest winner as a sector was science/engineering with chemical engineering showing a 17% increase, science/engineering combined with arts/humanities an increase of 15.2%, combinations of maths/computer science an increase of 15.8%, civil engineering 13%, physics 12%, zoology 11.6%, chemistry 11.3%, maths 10% and pharmacology/toxicology & pharmacy an increase of 9.4%. However computer science as a single subject only increased by .6% and electronic/electrical engineering by .2%. Information systems dropped by a huge 9.7%.</p> <p>IMPLICATIONS<br> I will analyse individual university data in my next newsletter but to take a more global view of applications to English universities.</p> <p>• Students applying to most science & engineering courses will find that there will be less flexibility on grades than in previous years and there are likely to be far fewer places in clearing, especially at the pre 92 universities.<br> • Students applying for business combinations, management studies, finance or economics will find that grade offers will be high, with little flexibility and indeed many students who in the past might have got in, will face rejections this year. However students applying for single honours business courses should be in a quite good position.<br> • Students applying for veterinary science will find it very hard to get places and their usual substitute Zoology will also be harder to get onto.<br> • Medicine students will find it easier than previous years but not those applying for subjects allied to medicine. Forensic science has lost its popularity (not before time most teachers and science employers would probably say) and students applying to this area should find it much easier to get places than in previous years. The huge drop in anatomy physiology & pathology will make entry to this area very easy for students but it has major long term implications in terms of research and post doc studies and will exacerbate the trend towards overseas post graduate students dominating many medical science areas.<br> • Students applying for single honours computer science or IT courses will find it relatively easy to get offers but less so if they have applied for computing/IT combined with another subject.<br> • Visual creative subjects have increased in popularity and it will be much harder to get offers than in previous years.</p> <p>It also seems to signal an end to the closer and downsizing of science departments and a lot of Vice Chancellors will be very red faced and under political pressure, after department closures in this area. Language departments also have some cause for optimism, although it seems that the trend is to study languages in combination with other areas.</p> <p>CONCLUSION<br> To paraphrase a famous Chinese saying, we are living in interesting times, with students seemingly wanting a more direct return from their degree in terms of earning potential and employability, a good example of this is the 16.1% increase in the very vocational degree ‘Building’. Surveys show that engineering & science degrees give far greater returns over a working lifetime than arts subjects and this message has got through in a major way. The university showing the largest increase in applications is Surrey (over 40%) and they specialise in science/technology and vocational degrees with a strong work placement element.</p> <p>Whilst science departments will be very happy I guess some arts and humanities tutors will be looking a little anxiously to the future. Computing seems to have lost its way as a single honours subject both in IT systems and computer science. The incredible rise of psychology has also been pegged to a mere 3.9% increase (still 77,000 applications). </p> <p>Gordon Collins</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/ucas_2007_an_overview~2336433/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>newslifepoliticshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/ucas_2007_an_overview~2336433/#commentshttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/uk_graduates_report~2336387/tag:openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk,2007-05-26:/2007/05/26/uk_graduates_report~2336387/Sat, 26 May 2007 09:20:04 +0200 <p>UK GRADUATE SURVEY 2006<br> I feel that careers preparation should look at the long term and believe that schools should give students (and their parents) the maximum amount of information to help in the decision process. This includes informing them on the implication of degree choice and the particular strengths (and weaknesses) of various universities. There is a huge amount of information on this area (perhaps too much) but a useful report that can be missed is the ‘UK Graduate Careers Survey’ which has been produced since 1995. The latest report dealing with the 2006 graduates has just come out and gives some fascinating insights into the last crop of graduates. It only deals with selected pre 92 universities and thus it IS NOT an overview of the sector as a whole. However independent schools will primarily be sending students to the universities used and thus it is relevant to you.</p> <p>The universities used are Aston, Bath, Belfast (Queens), Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Dublin (Trinity), Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Imperial College, Kings College, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, LSE, Loughborough, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, St Andrews, Strathclyde, UCL, Warwick and York and in total 16,452 final year students were surveyed out of a total population of 83,250 (20%). Notable absentees include Essex, Leicester, UEA, Royal Holloway, Surrey, Queen Mary College, Dundee, Swansea, Goldsmiths, Kent and Sussex.</p> <p>PLANS FOR AFTER UNIVERSITY<br> The figures show that 40% of graduates were planning to join the graduate job market after their degree which is the largest figure since 2001. The other 60% are divided between further study, travel, temporary work and not sure, with further study at 25% being the highest.</p> <p>The LSE had the highest proportion (68%) planning to go into graduate employment followed by Aston, Strathclyde, Imperial, Bath & Belfast (Queens), all over 50%. The lowest was Dublin (28%) followed by St Andrews, Leeds, Cambridge, Birmingham & Exeter, all under 35%. </p> <p>JOB APPLICATIONS<br> The group of 2006 were in general more optimistic than previous years with 20% thinking that there were ‘Plenty of jobs for finalists leaving university this year’ up from 17% in 2005. However 61% thought that ‘There are some graduate jobs, but not enough for everyone leaving university this summer’ and 19% thought ‘There are only limited graduate jobs available for those leaving university this summer’. The reality is that the number of graduates has grown by 65% during the past decade whilst graduate level vacancies have grown by a little over 10%. However this is looking at the whole university and graduate market and our attention is just on the more elite end of the market in terms of institutions. There is no doubt though, that competition for jobs in popular areas such as the City is intense and only the very best (and best prepared) will succeed, whilst in certain areas such as the NHS there has been a huge drop in current vacancies due to well publicised financial constraints. </p> <p>There were significant changes from the previous years figures with Accountancy, Actuarial Work and the Armed Forces showing major increases whilst the police (down 42%), Civil Service, Law and Sales showed major decreases. The chart for graduates intended career destinations is:<br> CAREER % of Finalists<br> Media 12.4<br> Teaching 11.9<br> Investment Banking 11.1<br> Marketing 11<br> Accountancy 10.8<br> Consulting 10.3<br> Science, R & D 9.8<br> Charity or Voluntary Work 8.6<br> Civil Service 8.5<br> Engineering 7.5<br> Law 6.6<br> Human Resources 6.2<br> General Management 5.3<br> IT 5.2<br> Finance 5<br> Sales 4.9<br> Retailing 3.9<br> Armed Forces 3.1<br> Buying or Purchasing 2.6<br> Property 2.4<br> Police 2.1<br> Actuarial Work 1.9<br> Transport or Logistics 1.7</p> <p>In choosing employers, the starting salary, work content, quality of training & development programmes, location and the ability to use the degree subject studied were by far the most important stated reasons.<br> In terms of salaries there were huge variations on what graduates expected to earn. The top 10 were:</p> <p>UNIVERSITY Expected<br> LSE £26,700<br> Oxford £25,000<br> Imperial £24,500<br> Warwick £22,600<br> UCL £22,400<br> Bath £21,400<br> Bristol £21,400<br> Durham £21,100<br> Nottingham £21,000<br> St Andrews £20,800</p> <p>The bottom ten in terms of expectations were:<br> UNIVERSITY Expected<br> Cardiff £17,700<br> Strathclyde £17,800<br> Liverpool £18,200<br> Lancaster £18,200<br> Glasgow £18,200<br> Sheffield £18,600<br> Newcastle £18,700<br> Belfast (Queens) £18,700<br> Southampton £19,100<br> Leeds £19,100</p> <p>In terms of location 40% said they intended to work in London.</p> <p>STUDENT LIFE<br> The level of satisfaction was huge with 91% agreeing with the statement ‘I’ve enjoyed being at university and would recommend it to others’ and over 80% believed that going to their university would help them secure a good job. However just 10% felt that ‘Being at university has prepared me well for the working world’.</p> <p>In terms of student debt there was little change on the previous four years with an average debt of £10,400 (£10,100 in 2003) but the level of debt varied hugely with Imperial College being the highest at £13,800 followed by LSE, Bath, UCL and Liverpool. The lowest debt was at Dublin at £5,000, followed by Strathclyde, Glasgow, Belfast and St Andrews. Perhaps surprisingly 20% said they would leave with no debts with nearly 50% of students at Imperial College saying this and one third at UCL and LSE.</p> <p>Please note that these students did not have the increased tuition fees to pay and thus you should add around £9,000 to a typical three year English degree for current school students. When asked if the increased fees would have put them off going to university 38% said it would with 41% from state schools. However this has not been seen in the 2007 UCAS applications which show a major increase to English Universities and a minimal increase to Scottish and Welsh. Also note that Scottish students have a different fees regime, whilst there are no fees in Ireland and far more Scottish, Irish and Welsh students live at home than their English counterparts.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS<br> This is a survey and thus is not what happens in reality or the prospects for the graduates 5-10 years after graduation. However I feel it does contain some very interesting information that can help schools in giving advice to pupils and parents, particularly in the sixth form.</p> <p>My main conclusions are that students at the elite end of the university spectrum enjoy university and feel it has been a good investment. Students at universities that major in science and business areas seem the most optimistic in terms of jobs and salaries (a separate survey showed that arts graduates have the least optimism in terms of jobs/salaries after graduation). However students feel they are not being well prepared for the working world by their university with only 10% being satisfied with this area.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/uk_graduates_report~2336387/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>economyhttp://openmindedprejudice.blog.co.uk/2007/05/26/uk_graduates_report~2336387/#comments