Anti-terror bill a threat to academic freedom, MPs tell Theresa May
Universities should be exempt from a new counter-terror duty that could seriously restrict academic freedom of speech, MPs and peers have told the home secretary, Theresa May. Continue reading on The Guardian
Counter-terrorism and security bill: proposals and pitfalls
The counter-terrorism and security bill to be published on Wednesday will be the seventh major counter-terror law introduced in Britain since 9/11. It will be the first to introduce major coercive measures since the coalition government came to power in 2010 pledging to restore civil liberties. Continue reading on The Guardian
BBC revises Muhammad ban as BBC1 news bulletin features Charlie Hebdo cover
The BBC is revising its own rules banning the representation of the prophet Muhammad “in any shape or form”, it has emerged after a Charlie Hebdo cover featured on BBC1’s flagship 10pm news on Thursday. The news bulletin featured library footage of Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier, who was shot and killed in Wednesday’s terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine’s Paris offices, holding up a special edition of the magazine four years ago featuring a cartoon of Muhammad on its front page threatening readers with “a hundred lashes if you don’t die laughing”. Continue reading at The Guardian here…
Charlie Hebdo: Norway didn’t give in to Islamophobia, nor should France
The Charlie Hebdo killers want to provoke anti-Islam sentiment among the public, just as Anders Breivik did. But France must resist. Three and a half years ago, the far-right Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik bombed Oslo, and then gunned down dozens of young people on the island of Utøya. His rationalisation for the atrocity was to stop the “Islamisation” of Norway: that the Norwegian left had opened the country’s doors to Muslims and diluted its Christian heritage. But Norway’s response was not retribution, revenge, clampdowns. “Our response is more democracy, more openness, and more humanity,” declared the prime minister Jens Stoltenberg.…
Ofsted’s slur on the Muslim community of Park View School
Originally posted on The Guardian - read here
Don’t be distracted by the Tory turf war – Michael Gove has questions to answer
Originally posted on The Guardian - read here
Why I stand by my decision to send my son to Park View academy
Originally posted on The Guardian - read here