A curry maker was left stunned after being refused a market stall – because his products were halal.

Jeff Thomson, founder of Curried Away, asked for a plot on Bury's Artisan Markets. But he was shocked when Paul Barrah, who operates the markets on behalf of the town's council, replied to his email simply saying: "Hi, I'm sorry but my markets don't use halal products. Regards, Paul."

Bury council has now launched an investigation into the matter and say they will meet Mr Barrah who organises the market days in Ramsbottom, Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield, to discuss the issue.

Jeff, 62, described how he contacted Mr Barrah, saying that his business was an Asian food market selling curries and snacks to take home or eat on go.

He wrote that all his food was halal – food prepared to make it permissible to eat under Islamic law. Jeff, who is Scottish, said: "I was looking around for markets to host my stall for next year. I picked this market, emailed them and got the response back that they don't do halal.

"I was shocked because I have not come across this before. All the markets I have dealt with in the past, this hasn't been an issue. In these days of ethnic, cultural and religious integration it surprised and disappointed me to find a market operator who doesn't accept halal products. I am pleased Bury council seems to have taken the matter on board and plans to meet their market contractor."

Jeff, who used to live in Bolton, and now lives in Burnley, launched Curried Away in 2009 after retiring from a 40-year career in PR and marketing. He already trades at markets in Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Ashton-under-Lyne – and was looking to expand by selling his food in Bury.

A council spokesman said: "Bury council currently has a contract with Mr Barrah who operates Farmers Markets in Ramsbottom, Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield. The current contract runs until March 2013. We will be investigating this matter and will be seeking to meet with Mr Barrah before the next market on January 13 in Ramsbottom to discuss the issue and seek his views.

"Although it is considered that he is not in breach of his existing contract we would consider assessing the wording of any new contracts issued after March 2013 to ensure that they fall in line with the council's equality policies."

Mr Barrah declined to comment.

Manchester Evening News, 24 December 2012

You'll note that the report is headlined, in typical taboid press style, "Fury as Bury market boss tells halal curry maker: Sorry, you can't have a stall". It seems that nobody can express concern about anti-Muslim discrimination, even in the mildest and most reasonable terms, without being accused of reacting with "fury".

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Grooming children for sex is a growing scourge that cuts across all communities, West Yorkshire's chief constable warned yesterday as he met Muslim community leaders at a summit to tackle the problem.

Sir Norman Bettison insisted the crime was not a racial or cultural issue. The type of exploitation seen in cases such as the recent Rochdale scandal, in which a gang of Asian men preyed on vulnerable young white girls, was just one of its many faces, he said.

"I believe there is a problem that is very widespread, not just in Yorkshire, not just within the Muslim or Asian community, but there are girls who are vulnerable and those vulnerabilities are more and more often these days exploited," he said. "What these cases have done is they have shone a light on this type of exploitation.

Sir Norman said young girls were also seen as "easy meat" by some young white men and insisted sexual exploitation was "not a faith or a race issue". "We witness that sort of approach and attitude any Saturday night in any of our towns and cities," he said.

He also warned children are as vulnerable to sexual exploitation online as they are on the street. "There's a growing trend of exploitation, predominantly of young girls, but also young boys, for sexual ends," he said.

"It's got lots of faces. It's got groups of men on the street who are identifying and picking up vulnerable girls, but it's also got people sitting in the comfort of their sitting rooms or bedrooms. Social media opens up a newer means of sexual exploitation."

He said the summit, attended by the Bradford Council of Mosques' president Rafiq Sehgal and secretary Zulfiqar Karim, had cemented a commitment to jointly tackle the issue.

"The powerful thing is the determination and willingness of the religious leadership to be involved in preventing exploitation in the future and sending a powerful message to Muslim communities that this is abhorrent behaviour that should be stamped upon," he said.

"The reassurance that we've been getting is that the communities themselves are very keen to be involved in sending out a powerful message of abhorrence and intolerance at this criminal behaviour."

He added conversations with community leaders and agencies in other parts of West Yorkshire would soon follow.

Yorkshire Post, 30 June 2012

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Marine Le Pen, the National Front candidate for the French presidential election, accused rival President Nicolas Sarkozy of having sent "a simple message" when some Islamists were arrested on French territory, after French forces assaulted Mohamed Merah's house last month. Le Pen was speaking at a press conference with foreign journalists in her campaign headquarters at Nanterre, west of Paris.

Responding to a question from The Jerusalem Post, following the surprising absence of mentions in electoral debates of the shootings in the southern French town of Toulouse, Le Pen criticized Sarkozy, calling his crackdown on Islamists "merely electoral agitation after the Merah affair."

"A few arrested Islamists and that is all... [Sarkozy] is not dealing with the real problem of fundamentalism, although he has been in charge of national security for the past 10 years." For Le Pen, Sarkozy, like his predecessors, "deliberately downplayed the threat from Islamists who want to see France as we know it disappear in favor of Shari'a."

Going further, she accused her main rival for the voice of the right wing to have even "opened the door to the UOIF (militant Muslim organization in France) who called for the murder of Jews". "He provided the first steps to the ladder for the fundamentalists in France and internationally," she said.

Jerusalem Post, 12 April 2012

Marine Le Pen leaflet exploits Merah's killings to accuse Sarkozy and his party
of being soft on 'Islamic fundamentalism'

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