Rolled-up Trousers

Terror comes to Scotland

10.23pm: Most thought it wouldn't happen here. The grim reality of today's events have left most people I've been speaking to extremely depressed. For me though, it's more about anger.

I am seething. From my information from the police, this, along with the incidents in London are serious events. Let's not have any conspiratorialising.

Any thought that there is any rhyme or reason to this kind of terrorism must vanish. Here we are at the beginning of a new chapter. We have a new prime minister in the first days of his new job after any dealings with the last one became just impossible. And what do these characters put at the forefront of his agenda straight away?

Nobody has benefitted from any of this carnage, whether it's 9/11, 7/7, the cause of good decent humanity has been set back years. It's not going to win any hearts, change any minds. If it's about advancing Muslim causes, I can't think of how anything has been advanced - quite the opposite.

Car crashes and burns at Glasgow Airport

5.15pm: News has come in of the car which crashed into and set ablaze Glasgow airport. Hope no one is hurt. I was picking up my brothers along with my two children from that very door just a few hours earlier. 

Early news suggests it was deliberate. If so, can't express how angry this makes me. Would also fit into the pattern of the car incidents in London in the last couple of days. Very disturbing, and I pray there is no more.

Pro-Israelis influence the weather

Israellycool manages to get CNN weather maps to recognise Jerusalem as part of Israel. There was indignation on the blog that it was giving the weather for Arab towns that haven't existed since 1948.

No mention of what happened to these towns in 1948 though - here, here, here and here

Tony was listening

Tony Blair, Middle East peace envoy, on 4 June 2003:

I say, with the greatest respect to the right hon. Gentleman, that the fact is that in the end there have been many claims made about the Iraq conflict. It was claimed that hundreds of thousands of people were going to die in it; that it would be my Vietnam; that the middle east would be in flames; and—the latest claim—that weapons of mass destruction were a complete invention by the British Government. The truth is that some people resent the fact that it was right to go to conflict. We won the conflict; thanks to the magnificent contribution of the British troops, Iraq is now free, and we should be proud of that.
source

Courtesy of a comment on Blairwatch
 

Islamic mortgages the solution to Scotland's housing crisis?

From the Herald:

Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, said it was "possible" that the private sector could get involved in so-called shared equity schemes, where housebuyers pay for a proportion of the property and another party pays for the remainder.

Ms Sturgeon's comments came just a week after she ruled out any expansion of private sector involvement in the NHS. So far, only the public sector has been involved in the shared equity scheme, with housing associations providing part of the capital to help people buy their first home.

But appearing before the local government and communities committee for the first time since the election, Ms Sturgeon said she was relaxed with the scheme being extended to involve the private sector.

She said: "We are keen to talk to mortgage lenders and others about how to lever in financial support to help people get on the property ladder."

The scheme as described above sounds very much like the ijara system of mortgages. To date, no one offers these in Scotland, despite many providers like HSBC having done so in England for many years.

If it is such a system, this is finally very good news for the country's Muslims. I get calls every week asking if there are any developments in the area yet, and despite murmers of some of the Scottish banks doing something, nothing tangible has appeared.

However, it may be something entirely different. I'm not clear how any of this would help get people onto the property ladder - normally the requirements are pretty much the same as the conventional market.

Background on the Misbah story

The Guardian have revisited the Misbah story from last year, providing a full history on the relationship between Sajad Rana and Louise Campbell.

One aspect that hasn't been discussed is the role of the Northern Constabulary. It's well known that the media fell hook, line and sinker for the 'evil bearded Muslim man took his daughter to Pakistan for a forced marriage' line. What hasn't been aired is that the police in the Western Isles arranged a press conference for Louise Campbell, clearly giving the impression that Misbah had been abducted, but with her of course only pleading for her to come home rather than for her father to return her. The police would have known the true story, as no doubt they would have cleared her statement in advance. They also should have known this from the notes that Misbah left, and from the phone call she made on arrival in Pakistan. Questions have not been asked of them.

You have to feel for Louise Campbell. Clearly she's been through the wringer in these last few years, with more than her fair share of personal problems. The Guardian article concludes with the news that Kenny Campbell recently split up with her, and took their baby with him. No press conferences or stories of forced betrothal this time.

A new day has dawned, has it not?

I genuinely thought that it was a joke when Tony Blair was first touted as a Middle East peace envoy. At best it must've been an initiative to massage his ego, nothing more. Even he can't be deluded enough to think he can make a positive difference.

Then it gathered momentum. Last week's Question Time pondered his suitability, and many concluded it didn't matter what the Arabs thought of it - he's a good man in our view and that's all there is to it. This was the same week where Pakistan were told to stop interfering in UK internal affairs, as if we always mind our own business.

Blair will have as much success and impact in the role as his own Middle East envoy in the last decade, Lord Michael Levy. Either Blair is extremely biased or he's extremely limited. Probably both. Last summer he couldn't get his head round calling for both a ceasefire of Israel's Lebanon bombardment, and looking for a longterm solution to the problem. It was one or the other for him.

SFA must speak out on hijab ban

FIFA's ridiculous ban on hijab has now arrived in Scotland.

The most disappointing aspect of the latest episode in this saga is the silence of the SFA. One of their functions is to encourage the grassroots of the game, and at the very least it would be nice to see them sticking up for the locals and making representations to FIFA about the silliness of the hasty decision they recently made. Law 4 patently does not exclude the wearing of the headscarf.

More nonsense on Catholic schools

The Catholic Church is reportedly about to get the power to approve all teachers at the denomination's schools in Glasgow.

The EIS, whose opposition to Catholic schooling is well known, have really got the wrong end of the stick with their comments in the Herald today:

Last night, officials from the Glasgow branch of the EIS said they intended to oppose the council plans. Willie Hart, branch secretary, said: "The EIS nationally has a policy of equality of opportunity in employment regardless of race, religious gender or sexual orientation, and this development would appear to diminish that.

How? Has anyone said that Catholics not agreeing to the Catholic school charter would be waived through regardless? That those of other faiths cannot sign up to the charter? It's commonsense that if someone is teaching in a school that they uphold it's values. What would be EIS think if a teacher was advocating a different ethos in a secular school? That if they were deemed not up to the job that it would be discrimination? As Donald Keane wrote into the Herald to say:

I wonder what those in management of any company would do about an employee/supplier who wasn't prepared to support the company's business objectives. There is no substantive difference between that situation and the church with regard to teachers in our schools.

Home Secretary John Reid stands by the system when it comes to defending the Rushdie knighthood:

"I think we have a set of values that accrues people honours… even when they don’t agree with our point of view. That’s our way and that’s what we stand by,"

I say let's wait to hear what Scotland Yard have to say about these values first.

UK declares Baghdad as its capital city

Obviously Tony Blair hasn't gone that far. But after the BBC apologised for referring to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said:

"Jerusalem is Israel's capital. It is the right of every sovereign state to determine which city will be its capital. If this is not accepted by everyone today, I am confident it will be in the future."

In other news, the US and Israel are talking up the possibility of Tony Blair becoming the Quartet's envoy to the Middle East. This would be from minds that will next cook up Salman Rushdie as the man to negotiate with Iran.

Cameron: I'm a Zionist

"I am a Zionist," Conservative Party leader David Cameron told an audience of party supporters of Israel in London on Tuesday.

"If what you mean by Zionist, is someone who believes that the Jews have a right to a homeland in Israel and a right to their country then, yes, I am a Zionist and I'm proud of the fact that Conservative politicians down the ages have played a huge role in helping to bring this about," Cameron declared.

The Conservative leader was guest of honor at the Conservative Friends of Israel annual business lunch, which was attended by some 500 people - including half the parliamentary party, 30 Conservative parliamentary candidates, former leaders, lords and Israel's ambassador.

I'd like to know philosophically why it is that Jewish aspirations of statehood are supported more than any other. You wouldn't get Cameron saying he's a Scottish nationalist, that he was a Kurd, or that he was with any other race or ethnic background with respect to their state aspirations. He certainly wouldn't back them to establish an entity at the expense of people already living in a specific territory which had to be cleared in order to create an artificial population majority. Even the Balfour Declaration did not go as far as Cameron's latest outburst.

Muslim women abuse soldier at troops hospital

So screams the Mail on Sunday. The story doesn't profess to knowing the faith of any of the women in question who had an exchange with said soldier. Soldier in question himself said it was a "minor incident".

Funny how women in "Asian dress" are described as Muslim automatically, as if no one else would complain about the Iraq war. Would imagine they were not wearing burqas. When they don't have the bravery to have a debate or argument with soldiers in uniform, Muslim women are portrayed as repressed individuals unable to stand up for themselves.

There's no rhyme of reason to the Muslim description being whipped out. Well there is: whenever there's an opportunity to demonise. You'd never hear about British troops abusing 'Muslims' in Iraq. Now that's abuse.

What's Blair getting from Gaddafi?

The role of parliament has been revived by Alex Salmond's statement to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday regarding Tony Blair's apparent prisoner deal with Libya.

Downing Street has denied this has anything to do with the Lockerbie bomber. But it's difficult to believe that the vibrant democracy of Libya is concerned about the welfare of any of its other citizens in British jails. This is about Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, and it's pretty clear that Blair has been attempting some sort of deal.

The only question that no one is asking is what Blair thinks he is getting from this. The Herald speculates today that it's about five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. I don't think so. There may be an appeal by Al-Megrahi soon. Both governments trying to avoid embarrassing details?

Billy Goats Gruff

There are major repairs taking place on the Forth Road bridge every weekend for the next few months. I found this out when I was crossing over the other day.

There was a 20 minute delay gong south on the A90, while northbound on the A8000 the delay was 90 minutes. This despite both directions being reduced to one lane. The reason for thew discrepancy? They were charging the toll coming from Edinburgh. They were actually making people sit 90 minutes for the pleasure of being charged.

There's a huge debate about whether toll should be scrapped entirely at the moment, but common sense should surely dictate that the toll should be waived while works take place.

How many Dunblanes has Tony Blair caused?

I can't understand what all the fuss has been about regarding Cardinal Keith O'Brien's comments on abortion the other day. We knew already that he opposed it, and he is totally within his rights to say that any Catholic legislators shouldn't seek communion for supporting it, as he is perfectly entitled to call on Catholics not to vote for said MPs.

Jeremy Purvis was one example of someone who overreacted to the situation by accusing the cardinal of "hectoring" and "bullying". O'Brien may well be wrong, it depends on your views on the situation, but just like any lobbyist, he can tell anyone he likes that they are not part of his club, and that people shouldn't vote for certain candidates. Most campaign organisations wouldn't do it like that, but they would be within their rights.

That isn't to say that people can't disagree with the church's position on this issue. It is also entirely possible that many may disagree with abortion but still find the cardinal's tactics distasteful. A couple of years ago there seemed to be a many MPs adopting the position that the number of weeks at which terminations could be carried out should be cut from 24 weeks. Even David Steele, who introduced the Abortion Act, believes this. Advances in medical science have shown just how developed the foetus is even at 12 weeks. It would make tactic sense to press home this point now rather than look for repeal of the Abortion Act.

'I took a photo of Tower Bridge and was arested for terrorism'

The next day I was interviewed by police. I was told that I would be charged for possessing a book called Future Jihad, Terrorist Strategies Against The West by Walid Phares, possessing a press ID, using the term Al Qaida in my emails and essays, visiting a number of places in Britain, taking photos of Tower Bridge which show the structure of the bridge, and having pictures of military people.

They concluded that I was acting suspiciously and ‘collecting information for terrorism’. I was told that my Iraqi passport – I am a Kurd from Irbil – added to their suspicion of me. But these charges are unbelievable. I bought the book from my university bookstore for academic reasons – it is widely available ...

Read the rest at Socialist Worker