To ask if it's a good thing that London has a Muslim mayor

[DoesFlossfloss]

Because my London based in-laws are not happy and I've not been following the campaign as I'm not in London so don't really care. However, we're seeing PILs this weekend and it will be up for discussion.

[lavenderdoilly]

Why don't they leave London. I'll swap if they have a nice house.I live Oop North. I bet there are all sorts of things they'd hate up here. Congrats to Sadiq Khan. Congrats to London. Seems like a decent chap who understands the importance of respect.

[LookJustCancelTheCheque]

he has intimate knowledge of the cultures of both the Briton and the Muslim

Anyone else wondering what the average 'Briton' looks like? I'm imagining straggly-haired woad-smeared types, marauding around our cities and suburbs.

[GarlicShake]

Yikes The Islamists are taking revenge!

[BertrandRussell]

Heavens, Ricardian- it's happened already!

[Ricardian]

No, Mr Khan will never shut down sharia courts. He would lose his Tooting seat if he did that.

You get that there's a by-election on June 16th, right?

[TragicallyUnbeyachted]

He's losing his Tooting seat anyway given that he's standing down as MP now he's been elected Mayor, as he always said he would do if elected.

Khan more-or-less had to put himself forward as a "British Muslim" because a big plank of Zac Goldsmith's campaign was making insinuations about the fact that he was a Muslim. If he hadn't done it there would have been a big nudge-nudge, wink-wink suggestion that he was trying to hide his religious affiliation.

[Shakeeba]

MintJulip ---- No, Mr Khan will never shut down sharia courts. He would lose his Tooting seat if he did that. The courts do serve a useful purpose sometimes for the older generation - it depends on who is dispensing advice. But outcomes are very much in favour of men. I have never been, but I have heard of the rubbish advice some women have received.

[Shakeeba]

I am Asian and live in a well known Asian area of west London. I vote Labour, but on this occasion I did not vote for Khan. I think Sadiq is very able but what I did not like about his campaign is that he was putting himself forward as a ‘British Muslim’. He defines himself like that, but London has people from all over and could be made to feel that they are unimportant in his campaign.

I would say the same if it was a British Sikh, British Hindu or British Christian ……. totally unnecessary and shows where he was pitching. FYI I am Muslim but I do object to this constant underlining of what religion a politician belongs to. It should be a private matter.

[howabout]

David Cameron has said sorry to Suliman Gani

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36272269?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_daily_politics_and_sunday_politics&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=news_central

"In a statement, Downing Street said Mr Cameron was referring to reports that Mr Gani supports "an" Islamic state.
A Number 10 spokesman said: "The prime minister is clear this does not mean Mr Gani supports the organisation Daesh and he apologises to him for any misunderstanding."
Several senior Conservatives attacked Mr Gani at the height of the London mayoral race and accused Mr Khan - who was elected London Mayor last week - of associating with extremists, an approach which Labour said was illustrative of a "divisive, dog-whistle campaign"."

[GarlicShake]

Must be them lizards. And Muslamists. Perhaps he lets them shag his St Bernard.

[Ricardian]

my politics are 'left' and I'm heartily fed up of being automatically characterised as a raving fantasist

Well someone keeps electing Livingstone to the NEC, and it isn't me

[GarlicShake]

Ricardian, my politics are 'left' and I'm heartily fed up of being automatically characterised as a raving fantasist of one sort or another.

As things go, I've ended up being somewhat of a conspiracy factist! It's called growing up, perhaps, and getting to grips with the big picture.

There are no lizard people. I don't give a stuff about Hitler's sex life. There are real humans who conspire in various ways to push their agendas, often under cover. Being aware of this doesn't make me a crazed lunatic. Neither does fighting for equality.

[Ricardian]

I think she's suggesting an International Muslamic Conspiracy.

It would be lovely to be able to go for a day reading a range of political blogs and twitter feeds without someone positing an international conspiracy of Jews Zionists, Muslims, "NeoCons", "NeoLiberals", "Bilderbergs", our lizard overlords.

When I was young, and reading a lot of SciFi, the "middle school" (Y9 and Y10 in new money) library at my bog-standard comp bizarrely bought in a set of Robert Anton Wilson and Bob Shea's trilogy "Illuminatus!" I read all three, but suggested after I'd finished that given it features, inter alia, Adolf Hitler having sex with a St Bernard (I may be fuzzy about the precise breed details) perhaps it wasn't quite ideal for the typical 14 year old. It's a fantastic romp through the crazy world of conspiracy theories, late-1960s-style, all Illuminati and buried treasure and so on. Most of it's in-jokes and meta-fiction, but looks positively sane compared to the world view of the left these days.

[GarlicShake]

I think she's suggesting an International Muslamic Conspiracy.



Them Muslamists, conspiring's what they do, innit?

Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Za'atar, Falafel ... Infiltrators! Beware!!

[Ricardian]

It is Khan's duty to give priority to Muslim interests wherever he finds them,

So he voted for same sex marriage, to howls of protest from Muslim organisations, because...?

[IPityThePontipines]

the cultures of both the Briton and the Muslim

Newflash: People can be British AND Muslim at the same time. Just like Nadiya from GBBO, Sadiq Khan and Amir Khan are.

Although that's not the first time someone has tried to argue otherwise on here.

As for the rest of your argument; it's cobblers.

[BertrandRussell]

"It is Khan's duty to give priority to Muslim interests wherever he finds them, he cannot avoid this easily"
Bollocks.

< is there a way of finding out which words you use most often on Mumsnet? I'm sure I say bollocks more often than anything else>

[motherinferior]

I think she's suggesting an International Muslamic Conspiracy.

[GarlicShake]

you are all misguided if you think Khan will be allowed to be evenhanded

Depends on how you see evenhanded, doesn't it. Whenever a woman in power promotes actions against sexism, she is called biased by those who benefit from sexism. Likewise the (rare) black politician who acts against racism.

I'm doubtful that Sadiq will do very much against religious bigotry (except something, perhaps, against that emanating from religious bodies.) He's set his stall out as a Londoner, a lawyer and businessman. That's correct. He is all those things.

He isn't obliged to stand for or against Muslim interests. Perhaps, in being a good Mayor, he'll be achieving it anyway.

[StealthPolarBear]

Well baklava he's not come out of nowhere. Is there evidence of him doing this so far.?

[CallaLilli]

It is Khan's duty to give priority to Muslim interests wherever he finds them, he cannot avoid this easily

And you know this how?

[SheHasAWildHeart]

As a British Muslim I look forward to Khan proving all the racists/bigots/islamaphobes wrong.

[Baklava101]

He could become the voice British Muslims need to speak up and speak out, and bridge the social misunderstandings between Muslims and non-Muslims.

I am sure that Mr Khan is a very nice fellow and because he has intimate knowledge of the cultures of both the Briton and the Muslim he could make a very good mayor. But I am afraid you are all misguided if you think Khan will be allowed to be evenhanded. It is Khan's duty to give priority to Muslim interests wherever he finds them, he cannot avoid this easily. It is the strongest influence because it comes from Sunni business men in his constituency and the mosque.

[howabout]

I agree religion is not irrelevant in the current context. Glasgow is my home city and it is also home to the first UK constituency to elect a Muslim MP in Mohammad Sarwar. Since his resignation from UK politics in 2013 he has been actively involved in Pakistan's politics with the parties promoting the secularisation of the Pakistan political system (as is Imran Khan who is ZG's ex BIL). He also has a history of promoting UK interests in Pakistan. His son, Anas Sarwar, was a UK Labour MP and is now an MSP. He was interviewed at the weekend about the state of the Labour party in Scotland. All the talk was of post referendum politics, autonomy of Scottish Labour, positioning in relation to the SNP and Corbyn. He has tough opposition as he will inevitably be compared with Humza Yousaf who was Scotland's youngest MSP and is the first Muslim member of the Scottish government. In his role as Minister for Europe and International Development he has been very high profile in helping to address the Syrian refugee situation and was instrumental in implementing the UK government's policy of bringing refugees direct from the Syrian camps. The first Scottish Syrian refugees are now doing great and are starting to become a part of my local community.

AS and HY went to the same Glasgow private school as most of the Glasgow South Side chattering classes of "Scottish" ethnicity. The son of a bus driver who grew up in a council flat has a much more impressive back story.

Glasgow has "People"'s bikes as a legacy of the "People Make Glasgow" Commonwealth Games. I think the necessity for dedicated cycle roads is lower because the arterial Clyde waterfront is already segregated from the road network and there are great big public parks with cycle paths running parallel to a lot of the other routes into the Centre. More importantly it tips down rain and is cold and damp most of the time.

[GREGNOIR]

I don't understand how people can claim his religion is irrelevant. His religion does matter. He's part of a religion widely disgraced and abused by the media, and he's just become the mayor! It's a fantastic step forward for this country to show that religious prejudice, is (slowly) being beaten.
Whether his religion is relevant to him being a good mayor however is yet to be seen. He could become the voice British Muslims need to speak up and speak out, and bridge the social misunderstandings between Muslims and non-Muslims.
My only gripe with his whole campaign was using the fact that he's a Muslim and, he's against terrorism as a selling point. It kind of goes with out saying that you're against terrorism... Unless you're a terrorist of course... It just felt like a cheap sell in an otherwise one sided and convincing campaign.