Tension in the air

I attended a meeting last night regarding the upcoming demonstration by EDL in St Georges Square, Luton. The meeting took place in Bury Park Community Centre with Cllr. Hazel Simmons from Luton Borough Council and Chief Superintendent Mike Colbourne from Bedfordshire police.

I've never actually been in the Bury Park community centre so I found it rather awkward going through a narrow corridor, into another narrow corridor and then finally finding myself in big open hall. I looked at the guests and the speakers and was surprised to see, that actually, not as many people had turned up as I had imagined. From an outsiders point of view this could very well show a lack of concern from the Bury Park community. I scanned the sitting area to see if any seats were available and quickly found a seat and sat down.

Colbourne started off the meeting, explaining how much police presence will be at the protest and reassuring everyone in the meeting that they're will be enough police presence to take care of the event. When a local resident raised the issue again of police numbers, Colbourne stressed: “We've got contingencies and contingencies and contingencies. We’ve got more police officers than ever before to deal with the contingencies we have. This will be the biggest single operation we will ever run. It will probably be the biggest policing operation run in the United Kingdom with regards to the EDL. We take it incredibly seriously.”

When asked about exact police numbers Colbourne wouldn’t give exact numbers. Instead he said: "Huge numbers of police and few in our back pocket. And that’s probably as far I want to go at the moment. I don’t think it would be wise for me say ‘that’s how it’s going to work’. In the interest of safety we’ve got to be able to have some degree of manoeuvre." To say there’s a 'few in your back pocket’ isn't really reassuring. I can see some of the guests, majority of them leaders of unions, communities and local residents, are more concerned about the actual number of people who are turning up on the day for the EDL protest.

One resident in the meeting raised his concerns regarding this and how it will add fuel to the negative publicity Luton will receive: “To have that amount of people to come into Luton, that’s why the media is here. They’re only here because it’s Luton. The paper will be full tomorrow with all the news about Luton. Nothing about your policing, but about Luton and that’s what troubles me.”

Simmons seemed to have been stressing the fact that, The Mall and Galaxy will remain open and people should go if they want to: “The Mall and the Galaxy will both be open. The entrances will be policed and they will be stewarded by stewards from The Mall." She added: “It’s probably a town that Luton residents will not recognise. There will be a lot of police. The atmosphere will not be wonderful. If people want to go shopping I don’t want anybody to feel they can’t go in their own town centre. It’s your town centre. If you want to go shopping, please do go. They’ll be a lot of police there to help you and support you, so if you want to go shopping please don’t be put off in any way.” It seems strange that any 'sensible' person would want to go shopping that day, except if they thought the EDL demo was a different day.

The EDL are clearly marching in St Georges Square as a symbolic mark to provoke tension. Quite a few questions posed by the guests were why the police couldn’t ban a march a like this which is clearly going to put people off coming to the town centre and just going about their business. Cobourne answered this questions quite a few times and said on one occasion: "We’ve got an absolute responsibility to protect protesting groups. Protesting in a way that is peaceful and a way that is lawful, that is a job that the police has got to take and it’s actually enshrined in law that’s something we have to follow through."

"We can police it in a very swift and in the best policing style we’ve got, which is firm when necessary. It will be the biggest thing that we’ve seen in our police numbers. This is a national event. A national issue that’s being played out in Luton. At the moment it’s Luton that has to deal with the issue."

Tomorrows a brand new year

I just about remember what i was doing at this time last year. I was anxiously finishing a website i had to make for one of my assignments. I was also worried about what i would choose as a dissertation subject.

I feel grateful to Allah for what He has enabled me to achieve in this year. I passed university with flying colours and had the chance to go out in the path of Allah for four months to India and Bangladesh. In India i was in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata. In Bangladesh i was Dhaka, Sunamganj and Sylhet. I extended my stay in Bangladesh a month extra just so i could visit some family members whom I've never seen before. It was a nice feeling knowing there are so many people that are a part of my family.

When i think about whats there for me in the coming year i feel like the pressure is really on now. With all these good grades and experience i feel like its imperative on me to get a good job. But this, at the end of the day is all in Allah's hands. I hope this year is a good year for me.

Five months abroad...and facing the reality of finally getting a job

Graduation

I thought I’d never see the day when I would finally finish my life in education. Well here I am donning the mortar board hat and graduation gown, smiling gleefully along with the rest of my journalism classmates, signalling the end of an era. We are officially University of Bedfordshire's Journalism class of 2010. So now after three years of hard work, trying to get a degree, we have to work even more harder to get a job. This will be the real test. The test which will determine the boys from the men and the girls from the women.

However being student doesn't stop here. Even if i do get a job i will still remain a student. Learning is a lifelong process which has to be constantly sought for. I think there was a saying by god knows who, which goes something like this: "The best university after university is a good set of books." Time for me to get reading! (Not that i haven't been reading!)

I got a 1st!!!.....and oh yes, we're out of the world cup

Blood, sweat and tears have led to the culmination of me getting a first!!! My goodness, I literally feel I’m on cloud nine with this result. But let’s just get back to reality. There wasn't really any blood involved, but there was a lot of sweat yes, A LOT of sweat. I don't recall any tears, and even if there was I wouldn't say. But one thing is for sure...this result wasn’t by my efforts. It was through the help of all my lecturers, classmates, family and of course my faith in Allah, who helped through my time in university! All praises are due to Allah and thank you everyone!

This is something which will keep in high spirits for some time, thankfully, after England’s most disappointing thrashing against Germany in the world cup. And here we had all these England flags flowing with pride on top of buildings, cars, shirts, faces, and God knows what. I blame the British media for this (funnily enough). The England team has been so overrated it’s unbelievable. Yes they have some great players, but the build towards the world cup, so much analysis, speculation, assumptions...it was just driving me nuts! And the award for the most overrated player goes to...yes you’ve guessed it, Wayne Rooney. Almost everyone were betting their chances on Rooney. The guy had many moments with Man United and Everton in scoring goals but when it comes to the world stage, his previous track record just goes out the window. The real test of any professional footballer is, what I think, playing on form in the world stage and the world cup is the perfect place for this.



Personally I wanted England to go further but I knew teams like Brazil, Germany and Spain would have had them for breakfast anyway. The England players don’t seem to gel so well as a team. Maybe it’s time to get the next generation of players on board rather than the oldies we see all the time.

World cup fever

Everyone's still waving their England flags with pride as England drew with Algeria last Friday in their most disappointing match of the decade. The fate is now with their match against Slovenia where they have to win in oder to qualify to the next stages.

Today however Portugal seemed like they were enjoying themselves thoroughly after giving North Korea a good 7-0 thrashing. This gives them a perfect confident boost for their match against Brazil, which I'm looking forward to.

Carnival

Luton's one day carnival bonanza which happens once a year is set to arrive next Monday. Back in the day i used to love going to the carnival but now it just seems really strange. I don't really know what it is...maybe it's something to do with age? Who knows! But i think the last time i went to the carnival was back in 2004. The carnival back then used to travel nearly all around Luton. They kept the procession quite small this time around and restricted it to town centre. The Luton carnival which is supposed to be the biggest one day carnival in Europe has had a bit of a bad reputation in the past. It has been a breeding ground for trouble where gangs in Luton and the surrounding areas, use it as a time to spark off petty fights. Kamran Shezad was an unfortunate victim in 2005 where he was stabbed during gang violence which erupted in Wardown Park between black and Asian youths.

Things have become much more safer now thanks to the constant police presence during the carnival. There are more people involved in the carnival than ever before now , thanks to the UK Carnival Arts Festival which opened up last year next to the University of Bedfordshire. It's a centre dedicated in supporting agendas for neighbourhood renewal and regeneration, tourism development, arts in education, business development and community cohesion. Luton needs more thing like these to wipe off the bad reputation which has been created over the years.