Rolled-up Trousers

Renew your passport now!

Saracen draws our attention to No2ID's latest campaign, urging us to renew our passports this month - an act that would keep you off the government's upcoming biometric database for 10 years. Apply after 31 May and you will automatically get an ID card.

Extra charge for US visa because you're called Muhammad

A Muslim student had to pay extra for security checks when applying for a visa to visit the United States, because his name was Mohammed.

Mohammed Umar Haleem Khan, 22, was told by US Embassy officials that "a lot of bad people" shared his name.

The Manchester Metropolitan University student had to pay an extra $80 (£45) to have his fingerprints checked against a US terror suspect database.

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Fisk on the Walt and Mearsheimer fallout

Robert Fisk meets the authors of the now famous study into the effect of the Israel lobby in the US. If you haven't heard of it yet, here's Fisk's summary:

The two men have caused one of the most extraordinary political storms over the Middle East in recent American history by stating what to many non-Americans is obvious: that the US has been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of Israel, that Israel is a liability in the "war on terror", that the biggest Israeli lobby group, Aipac (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), is in fact the agent of a foreign government and has a stranglehold on Congress - so much so that US policy towards Israel is not debated there - and that the lobby monitors and condemns academics who are critical of Israel.

And an example of the result of this:

Across the United States, there is growing evidence that the Israeli and neo-conservative lobbies are acquiring ever greater power. The cancellation by a New York theatre company of My Name is Rachel Corrie - a play based on the writings of the young American girl crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 - has deeply shocked liberal Jewish Americans, not least because it was Jewish American complaints that got the performance pulled.

"How can the West condemn the Islamic world for not accepting Mohamed cartoons," Philip Weiss asked in The Nation, "when a Western writer who speaks out on behalf of Palestinians is silenced?

If you haven't read the analysis yet, you can find it here.

Muslim pop culture

Saracen and Indigo Jo blog about Yvonne Ridley's scathing attack on nasheed concerts and Sami Yusuf in particular. Saracen disagrees with the idea of an Islamic pop culture. I think we need firmer grounds on which to criticise than just simply saying it's copying Western precepts.

It's not just about aping other people or commercialisation. For many, music is something that uplifts the soul. People can identify with lyrics that chime with their daily experiences or a life crisis.

Personally, I'm really not into the nasheed scene, but more for the reason of me thinking it's not up to much yet. Lyrically, the songs are so basic and in your face. The best of Western music is poetic with a lot of the hidden meanings. There isn't that depth yet to the Islamic stuff. Then there's the fact that many of the biggest artists may have nice voices, but they are not performers. On stage, they are completely wooden, lacking in basic charisma.

If anyone thinks this too harsh, yes the nasheed scene is still in it's infancy and no doubt over the years, talent will develop.

Free iPod

Well, it will cost you £7.96 actually. Click here.

How it works - It appears like a bit of a scam but I know someone it actually worked for. What you need to do is:

1. Sign up for one of the advertised services. I went for the easyCinema.com (run by Stelios of easyJet etc fame) which allows me to rent DVDs direct to my home for £1.99 a time. You need to sign up for four which if you do watch films, is cheaper than going to your local rental shop and more convenient anyway.
2. Get five of your friends to sign up, or in my case hopefully five of my blog readers, who I hope I can count as friends anyway.

Freepay make their money through commissions paid by Stelios and the others, and if you manage the 5 referrals, send you an iPod.

Go here to do it. Do post a comment to let me know if you've done it.

BBC: We're biased in favour of Israel

The BBC Governors have released their impartiality review into the corporation's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

They have found that their coverage lacks historical background, that Israeli deaths get more coverage that Palestinian ones, and does not acknowledge the asymmetrical nature of the conflict i.e. that the Israelis are more powerful than the Palestinians, that they are the occupying power, and not the other way round:

2.4 The asymmetry is most strikingly manifested in the fact of Occupation. One side is wholly under the occupation of the other and, however reluctantly, necessarily endures the indignities of dependence. As some of our witnesses noted, this fact itself poses a challenge to a media organisation like the BBC committed, as our terms of reference make clear, to fairness, impartiality and balance. (While fairness and impartiality are legal requirements, balance is a concept adopted by the BBC in seeking to give effect to them.) These objectives, especially balance, work most naturally where the parties to a dispute are on an equal footing. Indeed, without care, a formulaic application of these doctrines, and in particular that of balance, to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could produce coverage which misleads from the outset.

The next England manager

You'd expect after my brief hiatus in blogging I'd be back to talk about the big affairs of state. And you'd be right.

I'm amazed that newspapers like The Sun have been championing Steve McClaren's case to be England manager, while hounding out big time names like Big Phil Scholari. Granted, the English management pool is not very deep (pop quiz - who was the last English manager to win the English league?). Why then this obsession with handicapping themselves by discounting anyone foreign?

McClaren has specialised in mid-table mediocrity for years, with his best finish in the Premiership being 7th place. He has never won anything of note. Yet, the nation is looking to him to deliver the World Cup of all things in 2010.

First there is the World Cup this year to negotiate, which now with Rooney's injury is impossible for England to win. I did actually think they had a more than decent chance - if they dropped Beckham. By moving Gerrard out to the right, a midfield attack consisting of him, Lampard and Joe Cole would be vibrant and would allow a proper sitting midfielder to operate - which every successful team needs - in the shape probably of Michael Carrick.

I'll give my proper tips nearer the time, but I have a good feeling for Holland this year.

Solitary confinement for saying "walaikum as salaam"

The Telgraph gives an insight into the life of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, now known as Hamzah, in prison after he was captured in Afghanistan.

One of his fellow detainees recounts some of the terms of his imprisonment - he is not allowed to talk about Islam, lead prayers, or even speak Arabic - he was once put into solitary confinement for return the greeting of salaam to another inmate. The Telegraph of course noted nothing strange about these terms.