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Late last Friday afternoon, we were informed by officers that BNP Assembly Member, Richard Barnbrook was resigning the whip at the London Assembly. It also stated that he will now sit as an independent member on the London Assembly while he has not resigned from the the BNP Party.
As per usual we are seeing the BNP self-destruct when gaining public office. In his case he was the organiser in the last local elections in Barking & Dagenham which they lost 51 to nil. So much for his organising abilities.
And quite what he means about resigning from the whip when he is the only member of the BNP on the London Assembly probably reflects badly on his intelligence. This is also probably linked to leadership challenges within the BNP. The party is clearly unravelling and we are seeing the first signs of this in London.
August 16, 2010
The month of fasting is upon us, but can we all agree when Eid ul Fitr is, at the end of the month of Ramadan?
Now, l hope this is not too much to ask, but I’ve always been very confused about the end of the month of fasting. If nothing else, it would certainly help many of us book leave from work and plan for our family time and celebration commitments. It seems to me, that various groups and mosques insist on taking a different view on which day it should fall, resulting in a difference of up to 48 hours; so, as often is the case, you have one half of London celebrating on one day, and another part on the following day! Given the Muslim calendar is a straight lunar one, you’d have thought, it would, and should be a straight forward process to agree a unified “end” date. But alas, this is not the case.
In the UK we have the ICOUK ( Islamic Crescent Moon Observation for the UK ) dealing with this very issue. They suggest the crux of the problem is that we can only sight the crescent moon (hilal) from the UK for only a few months of the year. For the remaining months, we are dependent on sightings from other parts of the world. That’s precisely what happened this year for the start of Ramadan. The hilal of Ramadan could not be sighted in the UK or East of our shores, so, not surprisingly, some started on the 10th and others on the 11th of August (depending from which part of the world the sighting is chosen). This is getting more complicated then l first thought! The only consolation is that it’s a lot less confusing then the reasoning behind why Easter always appears to move around in the calendar, and this is neither solar nor lunar!
In this respect, l like the way in which the Turkish community agree when Eid should fall, before the month of fasting begins. This then avoids the reliance on various sightings of the hilal crescent in different parts of the world and the consequent confusion and debate. This year, (I’m led to believe from reliable sources), for some reason, it’s been more straightforward then in past years, as it’s certain that we’ll be united in having Eid ul Fitr on the 10th of Sept. I say, unity is always a good thing, so more consensus please in the coming years!
August 13, 2010
With the beginning of the season almost upon us with Sunday’s curtain raiser Community Shield match at Wembley, I’ve noticed some premiership clubs in London ( Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham) have already banned the vuvuzela, the plastic trumpet which made the buzzy noise in the background of many of the games during the successful World Cup in South Africa. This is very unfortunate.
Now, l confess that l didn’t particularly take to them at the beginning of the World Cup when I was watching the first matches of the tournament on TV from London, but while l was out there, from the quarter finals onwards, for the last two weeks, l took to them when I was at the Stadiums. I found they were not so hard on the ear, even when people were blowing their vuvuzela next to me! Indeed, l welcome this africanisation of football, not just the vuvuzela but also the makoya ( Football Fan Helmet ) because they are part of the legacy of the first world cup on African soil. Their inclusion is a continuation of the trend from previous World Cups that brought us the Mexican wave from the 1986 tournament.
Furthermore, it’s not going to help our World Cup bid for 2018 and 2022 this autumn if we are seen to be party poopers, particularly by the African FIFA members. So it’s good to see that the FA have not banned the vuvuzela from this season’s curtain raiser at Wembley between Chelsea and Man United this coming Sunday. This is in keeping with the best traditions of the FA, as l am sure they never banned the rattle during the 1950s!
August 6, 2010
I always listen for news of the August monsoon rains with trepidation, as it usually means floods in the north-east of the Indian sub-continent, in the Bay of Bengal, and hence in Bangladesh. This year, for the first time I can remember, it’s hit the north-west of the sub-continent in Pakistan, along the Indus river in the north-west, the Punjab province and is soon to hit Sindh province. It’s the biggest natural disaster Pakistan has faced since independence, with more then three million people already affected, and where do you think President Zardari is? Well, he and his family are here in London, having first enjoyed a few days in Paris, and will probably be around till the end of the forthcoming weekend, after attending a rally in Birmingham to launch his son’s political career. This says a lot about his priorities. When his country needs some firm leadership, particularly from a civilian government rather than the army, he is in London plotting his son’s political future under the joint dynasty of the Bhuttos and Zardari. President Zardari was of course married to the late Benazir Bhutto. l wonder what the people of Sind will make of this, the stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which is the President’s political party, and which many observers from aboard regard as a possession of the Bhutto clan – so much so that it should really be called the BPP, or Bhutto’s People’s Party. Normally, the landed gentry of Sind look out for their ethnic brothers and sisters, and the President will no doubt go to them to install his son into political office, but if he’s still on our shores visiting his properties as well as launching his son’s career while the floods hit Sind, I’m not sure the masses will be so keen on them any more. The best thing that could happen here is if nobody bothers turning up to this rally in Birmingham. That should get the message through to them in very clear terms how badly out of kilter they are from public opinion in both Pakistan and the UK. Surely, a Bhutto would never have made such a mistake?
In the meantime, the views expressed by David Cameron last week in India, of all places (Pakistan’s presumed eternal foe) have become less significant (though largely substantiated) if you consider the activities of the ISI* in the Pakistan army, and any verbal clash President Zardari may have with him on this by the end of the working week will pale into insignificance, as ordinary Pakistanis suffer again under the hands of their political masters. It will be those who help them in their hour of need who will get their future support, not those who are plotting their family’s future monopoly of political power in Pakistan from the other side of the world.
*The Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI is the largest of three intelligence agencies in Pakistan
August 4, 2010
Putting the key in for the first time
Well, it was a revelation to be able to cycle around the local neighbourhoods like St Johns Wood, Marylebone and Paddington over the weekend and go to see relatives in Kensington through Hyde Park, but the reality is this cycle hire option doesn’t exist for most Londoners living in the suburbs and it can get expensive very quickly.
For those of us who live in West Central London, the Barclays Cycle hire scheme allows us an additional option to take journeys we would normally do by foot, bus and tube as we go about our daily lives like going to the post office, bank and leisure facilities, but when l really could have done with a bike was when I went to a wedding on Sunday night in Syon Park & to get there from Syon Lane rail station, l fell back on walking again! Thus it will have to be expanded greatly into the suburbs if it is actually going to make a real difference to the vast majority of Londoners lives who may want to use the bikes to make trips to the local train station.
The cost of the scheme will exclude many potential users, as it costs £45 for the annual subscription, for which you need a credit card, then it’s a further £3 for the key. Admittedly the first half hour is free, but after that it gets very expensive rather too quickly; and it falls down on convenience by not being Oyster compatible yet.
Finally, it still has teething problems; some of it’s cycle stations are not even built yet, for example the one in front of Paddington Green Police station, some cycle stations are not releasing their bikes, as I found out today at Frampton St station on the Edgware Road, and e-mail messages of free travel on Saturday have not materialised as TfL state this only applied for the first day of its operations.
So we still have some way to go before it becomes an integral part of Londoners’ lives.
August 2, 2010
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