Trip to Westminster

Today i went with some other journalism students on a trip to Westminster parliament. The buildings there are some of the most best looking buildings in London. What i liked about it was the history that took place here and how its all still vividly intimidating via the use of paintings, statues and architecture.

We also met an Mp called Nadine Dorris, who we all had a chat with. She's a conservative Mp for mid Beds and was very friendly and welcoming. She had a lot to say regarding the anti-war protests, so thats what i focused on when i asked her my questions. She seems to blame the police in the way they handled the situation saying they should have acted on a public order act because of the 'offensive' words they had on their placards. But she then also goes onto say they have a right to protect the human rights act of freedom of speech. Isn't she just contradicting herself?

Anyway after the interview the chair of the universities, skills and innovation select committee, Phil Willis, popped up into the room without saying hello or anything. We were also meant to interview him after Nadine but it seemed he came a little early. So Nadine thought she should head off, until our lecturer Kate decided we should take a photo alongside Nadine just so one of the journalism students could do a press release for the local press alongside the photo.

Most of my journalism class is here with Nadine in the middle wearing the red dress.

As we finished taking the pictures, Willis decided to walk out the room saying: "I've got better things to do than hanging around here". Everyone in the room was gobsmacked he actually done that with our lecturer Kate just being lost for words. After he walked out Nadine was telling us about how he is one of the rudest men in parliament who "hates" students. Willis being a Lib Dem member gave Nadine the perfect opportunity to barrage the Lib Dems of how they are the: "nastiest political party in parliament."

And he looks like such a nice guy in this photo. Well they do say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

I'm not really sure if the guy is really that bad but still, that was not a great first impression. i mean he walked out on students, the students who he needs to talk to in order to make decision in his bloody select committee. I'm just now wondering why he is the chair of such a committee, especially the one that deals with universities and tuition fees, as he had the audacity and nerve to walk out on students like that. Doesn't he think actual student views and opinions are important?

Luton anti-war protest

The media recently has been flooding in with news about the anti-war protest which was demonstrated by a group of Muslims in Luton last Tuesday. I'm actually really appalled at the amount of news coverage this incident has received.

This so called 'Muslim' group are also known as the infamous Al-Muhajiroun, who are actually banned from the UK. Before the day of the protest you could see Muslims brothers who are part of this group giving out leaflets outside mosque, encouraging them to take part in the march.

They used a certain hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad) to justify their actions:

"He among you who sees a "munkar" ( something not good ) should change it with his hand ( activism, organization, movement ). If he can not do that, then with his tongue ( by speaking out against it ). If he can not do that, then within his heart ( by always disliking what is evil or harmful ) and that ( the last option ) is the weakest ( or lowest ) of faith". - (Bukhari)

They apparently spoke out against the Royal Anglican Regiment who were marching down Luton town centre to be acknowledged for their achievements in the war. Most in Britain are damn right against the war, calling it 'illegal' so i can understand why these Muslims protested. Freedom of Speech is what protected these people from getting attacked and abused from onlookers as the police blocked any attacks coming through.


I think its fair that these people have the right to protest but the way they went about protesting was in my opinion quite bad. They just seemed very angry, making Islam seem very intimidating, provocative and hateful. This is not Islam at all. They take away all the love and mercy which the prophet Muhammad had always acted upon. During the lifetime of the prophet and his companions, people from different countries converted to Islam through character, mercy and love that they saw in the Muslims.

My question is, where is the prophetic character inside of these so called 'Muslims'. They don the Islamic dress and beard but inside they're very different. Not once do they think about how the prophet Muhammad would have reacted. He would have used his wisdom in a situation like this always looking for a way where no confrontation would ever happen. Hatred was never an option in the prophets life. In disputes he would always opt for a way where people can get along with each other. I'm also dead against this "war on Iraq" which resulted in nothing but more trouble and turmoil inside the country. The only thing i'm against here is the way these Muslims protested.
They quote the above hadith without even understanding the real meaning of the prophet's saying. Before stopping any evil, one must anaylse the situation using wisdom, and seeing if it is actually plausible to do without any detrimental consequences. These protesters just created more problems for the rest of the Muslim community in Luton to deal with.