- Joined
- Feb 19, 2012
- Messages
- 29,957
- Reaction score
- 14,683
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
'It's ugly and dangerous': the inside story of the battle to be London mayor | Politics | The GuardianThe 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?”
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.
- 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:
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.
It is not pc to say it, I know. But the bizarre thing is not really the saying but the reality it describes.
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.
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.
I have no issue with someone being religious or of a specific religion, I care about their political views
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.
I recall something about a fatwa being issued against him a couple of years ago. Declaring him a non-Muslim (kind of an excommunication).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.
Religion dictates political views..
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.
Khan is the Muslim son of a Pakistani bus driver who grew up in public housing.
“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,”
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.
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.
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.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.
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?"
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?