Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2017

Islam can survive the current backlash

Muslims descend to Mecca for Eid al-Adha (Image: The Telegraph) I woke up yesterday morning disappointed in The Times newspaper. I don't often act this way towards a publication which I've proudly subscribed to for nearly five years. However, splashed on their Bank Holiday front cover read 'Christian child forced into Muslim foster care'. While any child forced into doing something they don't want is disturbing to say the least, I thought for them to explicitly include religion was a cheap shot. The story itself was an investigative piece. It describes a five year old girl's six month foster journey, living with a family which their second language is English. The family happened to also follow the Islamic faith and obeyed the rules the religion apparently follows. The girl was reportedly banned from eating a bacon carbonara, had a cross necklace removed and was encouraged to learn Arabic. The local authority, in Tower Hamlets in east London, refused to

Time for Diana to finally rest in peace

Princess Diana on her wedding day, 1981 (Image: Royal Fans) Death is tragic. Losing someone close can be painful beyond comprehension. In an ideal situation, following the funeral and memorial, you'd expect - and hope - that the individual who has passed to rest in peace. When I say 'rest in peace', I mean the person is laid to rest, be remembered and reminisced every now and then - without any need to gossip or speculate constantly about their past. Sadly, more often than not, this isn't the case. This 31st August marks exactly 20 years since the sudden departure of Diana, Princess of Wales and it seems as if anything is being done to build her public profile. Diana's death in 1997 shocked the world. Many adults who I talk to knew exactly where they were when they discovered her passing. Even as a six-year-old, I have some vivid memories of news broadcasts about it. Reading about how the news was reported during my time as a journalism student in my late te