There might be a few exploding heads on Thursday for mayor Sadiq Khan

[Peter King]

Because with just a few days to go until the polling, an opinion poll has shown that Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayoral candidate for the Labour party in the UK is leading the 8 other candidates with 20 points.

London Mayor Election Polls 2016: Labour Candidate Sadiq Khan Leads Ahead Of Thursday Voting

Khan is the Muslim son of a Pakistani bus driver who grew up in public housing. He became a human rights lawyer and eventually a politician for the Labour Party. His main rival is Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire who was kicked out of Eton for having pot in his room and not having gone to further education. He became a journalist and then a Conservative MP.

I fear some heads are going to explode from anger (maybe Farrage, Geert Wilders, LePen as well as some here LOL) when the biggest Western capital city is going to be run by a Muslim.

 

[clownboy]

I liked this because it good to see politicians comfortable in their lying behavior get pushed until their heads explode (figuratively).

 

[Peter King]

I have no issue with someone being religious or of a specific religion, I care about their political views, qualities and their behavior, if that is good than why should I disqualify him from any position purely based on their personal faith? I just do not care if someone is a Jew, Muslim, Christian or atheist (except people who are extremists or belong to cults rather than religions).

 

[Andalublue]

If Sadiq Khan wins on Thursday it will be a victory for good sense and clear heads. The Tories' campaign has been a fairly despicable exercise in dog-whistle racism engineered by their electoral Svengali, Lynton Crosby and enthusiastically cheered on by the Prime Minister with letters addressed specifically to Londoners of Indian origin raising the bogeyman of Khan's Pakistani-Muslim roots. For a politician who is supposedly in favour of assimilation and the rejection of multi-culturalism this targeting has highlighted a certain hypocrisy. One Indian voter, Anita Vasisht, on receiving a personalised letter from David Cameron, reacted like this:

The implication was that she – and other British Asians – didn’t truly belong in Cameron’s Britain. “He talked of ‘your community’. No, David, you and I are members of the same community. It felt like my prime minister was writing to tell me he doesn’t consider he and I are part of the same community. Which is not very nice, is it?”

'It's ugly and dangerous': the inside story of the battle to be London mayor | Politics | The Guardian

I love the typically British understatement of that, "which is not very nice, is it?" comment.

Khan's an experienced politician, a Muslim, a supporter of same-sex marriage, an anti-extremism campaigner, human rights lawyer, a former communities and transport minister and the best person for the job. I wish him well.

 

[joG]

If Sadiq Khan wins on Thursday it will be a victory for good sense and clear heads. The Tories' campaign has been a fairly despicable exercise in dog-whistle racism engineered by their electoral Svengali, Lynton Crosby and enthusiastically cheered on by the Prime Minister with letters addressed specifically to Londoners of Indian origin raising the bogeyman of Khan's Pakistani-Muslim roots. For a politician who is supposedly in favour of assimilation and the rejection of multi-culturalism this targeting has highlighted a certain hypocrisy. One Indian voter, Anita Vasisht, on receiving a personalised letter from David Cameron, reacted like this:


'It's ugly and dangerous': the inside story of the battle to be London mayor | Politics | The Guardian

I love the typically British understatement of that, "which is not very nice, is it?" comment.

Khan's an experienced politician, a Muslim, a supporter of same-sex marriage, an anti-extremism campaigner, human rights lawyer, a former communities and transport minister and the best person for the job. I wish him well.

I cannot really judge the individual candidates for that office. Two things, however.
- The ones elected in the past seemed sympathetic but odd choices to me.
- The Asians I had to do with, when I was living in London were much more impressive than most of the white ones I met. They also spoke better English.

 

[Andalublue]

- The Asians I had to do with, when I was living in London were much more impressive than most of the white ones I met. They also spoke better English.

That's funny. When I'm impressed by someone, it generally doesn't occur to me to link it with their skin colour or ethnicity. :shrug:

 

[joG]

That's funny. When I'm impressed by someone, it generally doesn't occur to me to link it with their skin colour or ethnicity. :shrug:

No? Then you are missing a whole (albeit non-pc) section of reality surrounding you and determining our societies.

 

[gunner]

I cannot really judge the individual candidates for that office. Two things, however.
- The ones elected in the past seemed sympathetic but odd choices to me.
- The Asians I had to do with, when I was living in London were much more impressive than most of the white ones I met. They also spoke better English.

What a bizarre thing to say.

 

[joG]

What a bizarre thing to say.

It is not pc to say it, I know. But the bizarre thing is not really the saying but the reality it describes.

 

[gunner]

It is not pc to say it, I know. But the bizarre thing is not really the saying but the reality it describes.

No. The bizarre bit is you make such a statement based on the few people out of a population over 60 million.

 

[Red_Dave]

Because with just a few days to go until the polling, an opinion poll has shown that Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayoral candidate for the Labour party in the UK is leading the 8 other candidates with 20 points.

London Mayor Election Polls 2016: Labour Candidate Sadiq Khan Leads Ahead Of Thursday Voting

Khan is the Muslim son of a Pakistani bus driver who grew up in public housing. He became a human rights lawyer and eventually a politician for the Labour Party. His main rival is Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire who was kicked out of Eton for having pot in his room and not having gone to further education. He became a journalist and then a Conservative MP.

I fear some heads are going to explode from anger (maybe Farrage, Geert Wilders, LePen as well as some here LOL) when the biggest Western capital city is going to be run by a Muslim.

Must admit that most are pretty unphased by Khan´s religion, its barely entered into the disscussion, nor should it.

Lastly as far as Nigel Farrage is concerned remember he is on record as saying that there should be more immigration from Pakistan and India and less from Eastern Europe. And again even UKIP is pretty unphased about the fact his family is from Pakistan as there has been a huge pakistani community in the UK since the 1940s.

 

[Andalublue]

Must admit that most are pretty unphased by Khan´s religion, its barely entered into the disscussion, nor should it.

Lastly as far as Nigel Farrage is concerned remember he is on record as saying that there should be more immigration from Pakistan and India and less from Eastern Europe. And again even UKIP is pretty unphased about the fact his family is from Pakistan as there has been a huge pakistani community in the UK since the 1940s.

I don't think UKIP is really a part of the conversation. On this occasion it's not them making race and religion an issue, it's the Tories in their desperation to hold onto the mayoralty.

 

[joG]

No. The bizarre bit is you make such a statement based on the few people out of a population over 60 million.

I believe I qualified my statement to say that it was my experience. Of course, five years is a certain amount of time half of which I lived in an area mostly inhabited by upper class English and expats, while the second half was in an area mostly inhabited by Asians at that time. In the company there were a lot of Brits and Asians also. But as samples go it was certainly not representative. But again, I had implied that before you bristled.

 

[gunner]

I believe I qualified my statement to say that it was my experience. Of course, five years is a certain amount of time half of which I lived in an area mostly inhabited by upper class English and expats, while the second half was in an area mostly inhabited by Asians at that time. In the company there were a lot of Brits and Asians also. But as samples go it was certainly not representative. But again, I had implied that before you bristled.

Basically, you didn't have anything to say, but you said it anyway.

 

[Orly?]

I have no issue with someone being religious or of a specific religion, I care about their political views

Religion dictates political views..

 

[Grand Mal]

Because with just a few days to go until the polling, an opinion poll has shown that Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayoral candidate for the Labour party in the UK is leading the 8 other candidates with 20 points.

London Mayor Election Polls 2016: Labour Candidate Sadiq Khan Leads Ahead Of Thursday Voting

Khan is the Muslim son of a Pakistani bus driver who grew up in public housing. He became a human rights lawyer and eventually a politician for the Labour Party. His main rival is Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire who was kicked out of Eton for having pot in his room and not having gone to further education. He became a journalist and then a Conservative MP.

I fear some heads are going to explode from anger (maybe Farrage, Geert Wilders, LePen as well as some here LOL) when the biggest Western capital city is going to be run by a Muslim.

Are you sure he's a Muslim?
All I know about him is what's in his 'Wikipedia' bio and there's no mention of his religion. It does say he was Chairman of the Fabian Society (an odd thing for a Muslim to be) and that a fatwa had been issued against him, though.

 

[Chagos]

Are you sure he's a Muslim?
All I know about him is what's in his 'Wikipedia' bio and there's no mention of his religion. It does say he was Chairman of the Fabian Society (an odd thing for a Muslim to be) and that a fatwa had been issued against him, though.

I recall something about a fatwa being issued against him a couple of years ago. Declaring him a non-Muslim (kind of an excommunication).

Of course any Imam twit can issue one of those, it would require the addressee to be Muslim though.

Not that it matters one bit.

 

[Peter King]

Religion dictates political views..

Only to a certain degree, everything in someone's life (friends, parents, school, heroes, love) can to influence someone's political view. Often the views of parents influence the political views of children, not just religious views. And it does not dictate or else no Christian/religious person would be a member of an extreme right movement/political party.

 

[Peter King]

Are you sure he's a Muslim?
All I know about him is what's in his 'Wikipedia' bio and there's no mention of his religion. It does say he was Chairman of the Fabian Society (an odd thing for a Muslim to be) and that a fatwa had been issued against him, though.

In the article I posted it says:

Khan is the Muslim son of a Pakistani bus driver who grew up in public housing.

And in his own words he says:

“I’m a Londoner, I’m European, I’m British, I’m English, I’m of Islamic faith, of Asian origin, of Pakistani heritage, a dad, a husband,”

And being of Islamic faith is IMHO someone who is a Muslim.

And yes, his faith only partly defines who he is and for that reason he has been targeted by intolerant Muslims who disagree with his more enlightened views.

 

[Grand Mal]

In the article I posted it says:



And in his own words he says:



And being of Islamic faith is IMHO someone who is a Muslim.

And yes, his faith only partly defines who he is and for that reason he has been targeted by intolerant Muslims who disagree with his more enlightened views.

Ah, okay, thanks. It was the 'in his own words' quote that matters. I missed that.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

I don't think UKIP is really a part of the conversation. On this occasion it's not them making race and religion an issue, it's the Tories in their desperation to hold onto the mayoralty.

Unfortunately as you say Lynton Crosby's style tends towards the negative (as has been accused of the PM's "Bremain" campaign). However, I believe Labour moderates and many London voters face a Hobson's choice of sorts with regard to the candidates although Khan has tried to put some supposed distance between himself and the party leadership. It's safe for Khan to say Corbyn "may be wrong on Trident and the shoot to kill policy for the police" but does he really mean this?

 

[Andalublue]

Unfortunately as you say Lynton Crosby's style tends towards the negative (as has been accused of the PM's "Bremain" campaign). However, I believe Labour moderates and many London voters face a Hobson's choice of sorts with regard to the candidates

Why would you say that when Sadiq Khan is as moderate a Labour politician as you're going to find? He's certainly never been a Corbynista.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

Why would you say that when Sadiq Khan is as moderate a Labour politician as you're going to find? He's certainly never been a Corbynista.

You're aware video footage from an interview with Iranian TV shows him describe moderate muslims as "Uncle Toms?"

 

[PeteEU]

Why would you say that when Sadiq Khan is as moderate a Labour politician as you're going to find? He's certainly never been a Corbynista.

Same reason that the "anti-Semite" crap is going on at the moment.. to torpedo Khans candidacy and that of other labour people in the elections tomorrow. The timing is awfully convenient no? An anti-semite row a week or two before a major election that could see a labour win... a row based on a public facebook page post from 3+ years ago? As you pointed out (think it was you), the Tories and their cohorts have been pushing race and religion differences during the London election...

 

[Andalublue]

You're aware video footage from an interview with Iranian TV shows him describe moderate muslims as "Uncle Toms?"

He does not call 'moderate Muslims' Uncle Toms. He IS a moderate Muslim and has the outstanding fatwas against him to show for it. He used the expression, possibly inadvisedly as it's certainly in the wrong context, to make the point "you can't pick and choose who you speak to", i.e. you have to speak to everyone, good or bad. I think you're doing a bit of Lynton Crosby's work for him there, IC.

It's looking like he's going to get a double-digit percentage victory over Goldsmith tomorrow, hopefully demonstrating that dirty campaigning, dog-whistle racism and smear tactics don't always win.

Fingers crossed.