"I think I can safely speak for the majority of the community when I say that the government is guilty of double standards and an inability to tackle the issue appropriately. On the one hand we have politicians frequently scapegoating Muslims when they need to distract the public from their own failures, and on the other they think we should be grateful for the fact that they have provided us with a helpline to monitor the consequences of their actions."

Sofia Ahmed responds to Sayeeda Warsi's speech at the Tell MAMA dinner last week.

Huffington Post, 31 January 2013

View the Original article

Muslim Council of Britain assistant secretary Ibrahim Mogra replies to the Independent report claiming that he and the MCB had instructed Newcastle United's Muslim players not to wear a new shirt advertising the Wonga loan company.

See also "Newcastle United, Wonga.com and Muslims", MCB news report, 12 October 2012

View the Original article

Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman has refuted allegations that the borough has banned pork sausages from being served in schools.

Mayor Rahman responded on his blog to an article in the Daily Mail which claimed the council has banned sausages due to "religious reasons." The article stated that 85 out of 90 schools in Tower Hamlets do not offer pupils a pork option, a figure which Mayor Rahman attributed to a lack of demand.

He wrote: "The facts are that pork sausages are available to the minority of schools where there is a continuing demand for them.

"However, it is the case that in a majority of our schools there isn't any demand for them. Clearly there is no demand for pork sausages for Muslim and Jewish school pupils, but that is hardly a new development.

"At a time when there are severe pressures on local authority budgets, why should our council be obliged to waste money on unwanted pork sausages?"

East London Advertiser, 18 June 2012

View the Original article