British Muslim, Born and Bred

The fiasco that is MP's expenses

2009-05-09T10:34:00.001+01:00

Well I have to be honest I find it very distasteful that the beacons of our communities and mouth pieces for democracy are at it again. There is an ounce of hypocrisy here! For example, I dare you try not paying for your TV licence, your taxes or worse still I dare you not to pay your council tax? Now lets start to stretch the imagination here - I dare you to publicly shout down the government about its foreign policy and let's see if you don't get arrested under the Terrorism Act?

Some might argue that we live in a nanny state where the government would be delighted to control every aspect of our lives! So why is it then that when we the common people need to abide by laws and pay our way through life is it that MP's feel that they do not? I have to pay for my petrol to get to work, pay for the sandwich that I eat and pay for the dry cleaning of my suits...

If you think that MP's have it good I would love to see what local councillors are doing with their expenses?

The expenses scandal: Another day of revelations: (The shaming of Parliament
Author: By Andrew Grice and Michael Savage)

The minister and his nappies
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas claimed for items of women's clothing as well
tampons and nappies.

The millionairess's £25,000 for security
Barbara Follett, the Tourism Minister, claimed for private security patrols
outside her London home at a cost of over £25,000. Also expensed was claims
for more than £600 a year for pest control services and £528.75 in cleaning
bills for a Chinese rug, of which only £300 was reimbursed.

Vaz's 17 silk cushions
Head of the Home Affairs Select Committee claimed £75,500 to buy and furnish
his central London flat, despite living with his wife in a £1.15 million
property just 12 miles away.

Bradshaw's lucrative mortgage arrangement
The Health Minister and Exeter MP switched the designation of his second home
to a property he shares with his partner in Hammersmith, west London.
Although the couple initially split the mortgage costs, Mr Bradshaw, - who
became the first MP to enter into civil partnership - now claims the entire
interest bill on the property, despite owning only half of it.

£37,000 lavished on a small flat
The Care Services Minister Phil Hope claimed more than £37,000 on refurbishing
and furnishing a modest two-bedroom flat in south London. In just over four
years the expense is understood to have covered home maintenance that
included a new kitchen, wooden flooring and a dining room table. He also
charged the taxpayer for a £120 new barbeque and £61 for gardening materials
- despite Commons rules that say MPs can only claim for the cost of
maintaining a garden. The Corby and East Northants MP responded he was
acting within parliamentary rules and that the purchases were necessary to "live
in a habitable residence and replacements only occurred when furniture and
fittings were worn out."

£200,000 profit on taxpayer-funded flat
The former environment minister Barry Gardiner allegedly made a profit of
nearly £200,000 after buying a Westminster flat and claiming thousands of
pounds to renovate the property, before selling it on four year later. The
Brent North MP's main home is only eight miles from Parliament.

The £286 Christmas decorations claim
The government's chief lawyer put through a £286 expenses claim for her
Christmas tree and baubles. The solicitor general put the claim through as "miscellaneous
items" but Commons officials spotted that the receipts were for
decorations and refused to pay.

£22,500 to treat dry rot
The Luton MP apparently spent £22,500 of taxpayers' money treating dry rot at
her and her husband's seaside house 100 miles from her constituency - days
after switching her "second home" there. Over four years Ms Moran
also spent thousands of pounds on three separate properties, switching
between Westminster, Luton and Southampton and renovating each home in turn,
according to the Telegraph.

View full article here

The Database Nightmare

2009-05-07T21:33:00.000+01:00

No one likes to think that rapists, muggers or burglars might get away from justice after having committed a crime! But surely there must come a point where we have to consider that not everyone is indeed a rapist, muggeror burglar - especially when they have been released without charge from the Police themselves!

To me it is simple - this government has lost touch with the common sense that the majority of us need OUR government to have. For example, if you have committed a crime and have been sentenced in a court of law then it makes sense that you are monitored for as long as is necessary.

However, we live in a democracy and the government is there as a servant to the people and not as masters! It is important that we are able to exercise our democratic right because it is this one thing above all that allows British law stand out to protect British citizens....

PassionateVoice

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Can't you just tell it's nearly elections time!

2009-05-05T18:55:00.007+01:00

Well here we go then, it's that time of the four yearly cycle where MP's of all description suddenly appear out of the woodwork.

Apparently I have two MEP's that have been doing a wonderful job for my local area. Now why am I amazed at that? Well for two simple reasons;

I have never heard of either of them, and
I have never heard anything from them!

Anyway, upon receiving an unsolicited flyer through my letterbox I decided to give them a call. When I got through I asked whether the person on the other end would he be able to answer my question 'depends upon the question' - brilliant... My question was a simple one - why is it that, whilst Britain has troops fighting on two fronts in the name of democracy, our local MP's and Councillors are seemingly doing little to actively promote local democracy? Where's my evidence? Well ask your everyday Muslim neighbour about what their local authority are doing to engage local Muslims to take some of the responsibility required to strengthen community cohesion between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities and how they are actively promoting local democracy to enable robust debate surrounding the Muslim 'problem'?

Stunned silence. I could feel myself being mentally placed in the 'weirdo' box.

'I'll have to get the MEP's to ring you back on that one!'

My response - 'well we'll see just how desperate they are for my vote because if they don't call back then they will be reinforcing my views that local politics is better off when the 'little man' is kept at arms length....

Nu Labour is dead - What next for British Muslims?

2009-05-04T12:56:00.005+01:00

So it's almost done - the dawn of Nu Labour is over! Whether it was Tony or Gordon the end was inevitable.

There is much scorn over Tony's decision to invade Iraq and I wont digress into his special relationship with George W Bush. The interesting thing here, though, is not that Tony ignored the views of millions of British citizens or the fact the legality of the war was suspect but the fact that when it came to the vote in Parliament many Labour MP's supported the war. There is nothing new here other than the fact that these same Labour MP's probably have a sizeable Muslim population in their respective constituencies that either don't know that their local MP voted for the war or don't care to know.

What's my point? Well with an upcoming general election these same MP's will start their campaigns promoting and celebrating what they have done for their communities whilst all the while praying that no one cares to question their parties views on Iraq, Afghanistan or indeed the Muslim 'problem'. I know of one town, Rotherham, in the north of England where Dennis Mcshane MP backed the war. Dennis will do his best to be re-elected and I know with almost certainty that he will be successful. How? Well whilst the British Armed forces are bravely doing what our leaders are asking of them in the name of international democracy - rightly or wrongly - our MP's will do little to promote local democracy. It is better that British Pakistani Muslims are kept ignorant and do NOT get involved in local politics. Outrage! Of course you know many hundreds of Pakistani Muslims that are actively involved in local politics... This is indeed correct BUT, ask some simple questions - when they were out canvassing for themselves and when they will be out canvassing for their local Labour MP how will they answer the questions about;

How they justified the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine to their voters - when the Labour party supported them?
How did they muster local support to lobby the government against the same wars?
How are they actively promoting local democracy especially with regards to the governments Prevent Violent Extremism strategy in their local area?

It is a sad reflection of the British Muslim community that, like the first generation of immigrants, voting Labour is the default option.... This does not mean that there is not an appetite for change. Let me assure you there is but these same councillors and MP's are seemingly doing their best to ensure that change is difficult to achieve....

PassionateVoice

(image: Robin Dude)

You 'holy' people - get off your high horses!

2009-05-03T11:18:00.001+01:00

I had a real unfortunate experience the other day - I was shown the error of my ways by a group of 'holy' people who happened to be Muslims in this case!

Now, just for clarity, I deserved to be admonished (foolishly I forwarded a 'joke' that others didn't find so funny). What I don't think that I deserved was the way that that telling off took place. Let me explain.

I have for some time been forwarding text messages that I receive from individual friends to a wider group of friends. Sometimes these messages have spiritual messages, sometimes jokes and sometimes just a quick request to follow a link to a particular website. No problem there.

Where I did get a backlash was when I sent a rather risque racial joke. Now before there are any 'holier than thou' individuals reading this who might be getting all excited let me say two things:

1. If I find a joke funny about any creed, especially my own, I share it - good or bad

2. I knew that I might have upset some people so immediately issued a full apology accepting that this might be a little too much for some and that it was not my intention to cause upset or distress.

So, the scene so far, I received a text message and thought it was funny so forwarded it to others - as I usually do. Within minutes I get responses saying that it is 'too much' please do not send any more as it is 'contrary to what Muslims should do!'. My immediate response was to reply with a full apology. Yes you are right I was stupid for not thinking before hitting the send button. However, I then started to think about what had happened. Why was it that when I sent the apology to everyone more replied saying don't worry we know it was a joke, and why was it that the ones that complained took a religious and 'holier than thou' attitude? I had made a mistake and they seemingly went out of their way to tell me.

Being the kind of person that I am I decided to ask them. Each one took the stance that they were offended and were right to complain and that these kind of actions were not what 'good' Muslims should be doing. Stunned silence. I then took it on myself to point out to these self righteous 'morals' police that;

1. surely it was better for a Muslim to shade the wrong doers 'error' with 'yep - you messed up! But as an overall good guy don't panic we're with you - Just don't do it again as this kind of thing can upset some people!'.

2. What was it about YOU that led you to take the effort to reply to a text message that YOU didn't like whilst when YOU received previous text messages that YOU did like YOU never bothered to reply to say 'well done keep up the good work'?

Cutting a long story short they couldn't see the point that I was trying to make i.e. yes I was wrong but YOU should be consistent with your own messages especially as Muslims as it was this blowing something small out of proportion that enforces the Muslim stereotype. It seems to me that sometimes some people - Muslim or otherwise - find it easier to condemn than forgive! I don't think that they appreciated taking a different perspective.

I ask this of you (Muslim or otherwise) Do Muslims who take on a holier than thou attitude need to get off their high horse - or is it just me?

Passionate Voice

(Photo by Kudaker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudaker/)