Rolled-up Trousers

Williams and Shariah

I've been following the news about Archbishop Rowan Williams and his comments on shariah. While I've seen the headlines, it's only from speaking to people that I'm getting a full sense of the furore.

Which makes it sound even more silly. The country's media organs get into a tizzy over another non-story involving Muslims.

Shariah already exists in the country - I'm married under it, eat meat slaughtered by it, and bank according to it. In some cases, the law even had to be changed to accomodate this e.g. the removal of double stamp duty for Islamic mortgages. Obviously Williams was talking about such simple matters.

Washington, DC

Firstly, what a play by Eli Manning and what a catch by Tyree!

Who says I don't integrate quickly?

Got into the US without too much hassle. Was taken aside by Homeland Security, not so much for a random search but because my name "popped up". Was asked what I was doing here, what I do, whether I'd been to Pakistan and was then sent on my way.

The Primaries

I've been meaning to write about the primaries and caucus season for a while now. I'm finally putting finger to keyboard while coverage of Super Tuesday results coming in plays in the background in my hotel room.

Focus internationally has been on the foreign policy planks of the various candidates. Obviously, this matters. The US sets the agenda for international relations, and as we have seen over the last few years, if this is wrong, it will lead to disasterous results. US Presidents spend a lot of time on foreign policy, not least because of the restrictive conditions they work on when it comes to domestic issues like health and eduction (by contrast, our prime minister has a full hand to play on these fields, so quite what excuse Tony Blair had for the amount of time he spent abroad is for him to answer).

Coming to America

I'm on my way to the United States today. It's as a guest of the State Department in one of their international visitors programmes, aiming to show people the different dimensions of the country.

And you thought the only programmes the US government had for Muslims involved orange boiler suits. Maybe I should wait till I get there before typing this.

Seriously though, I'm really looking forward to it, as I did not otherwise think of visiting the US anytime soon, despite it being possibly very interesting.

Mentioning the Palestinians

A lot of criticism has come the way of George Reid for daring to mention the Palestinians during Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations in East Renfrewshire.

According to the Jewish Telegraph, the former Presiding Officer at the Scottish Parliament said:

"I find it strange, when we've been dealing with intolerance and injustice, that no one has mentioned the Palestinians," he said at Eastwood Park Theatre in Giffnock, Glasgow.

"There is a general view among politicians that there will be no peace in the Middle East until there is justice for the Palestinians."

With there being no factual inaccuracy contained therein, Labour MSP Ken Macintoch’s criticism was:

"Everyone in the Middle East is entitled to peace. And the one bastion of democracy in the region is Israel."

Some may quibble about factual accuracy here, not least Macintoch’s masters who went to war in Iraq to establish such a bastion.