Konnie Huq and Charie Brooker are married.

Everyone at MixTogether would like to send congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple. They are a high-profile inspiration to all mixed couples, especially to those who have difficulty making a free choice of partner.

Shafilea Ahmed

It would seem that the truth may be on its way in this tragic case, but we await charges.

It is David Miliband’s commitment to a progressive English patriotism that attracted Jon Cruddas.

Today the influential blog Harry’s Place has also given the David Miliband campaign its support.

The notion of a progressive English patriotism is a groundbreaking one for the left. It is basically a recognition that the special treatment afforded to some minority groups under Labour has contributed to Labour being voted out. For MixTogether this especially would include the blind eye that has been turned to practices such as forced marriage, cousin marriage, FGM etc. under the guise of political correctness. The Dispatches: When Cousins Marry documentary shown earlier this week proved beyond reasonable doubt that such a blind eye has indeed been turned.

It seems that the sensible, common-sense money is lining up behind David Miliband. If he wins it will be encouraging to know that people like Jon Cruddas and Harry’s Place are on his side. 

Even if he does not win, the successful candidate must respect the notion of progressive English patriotism. It is a vital ingredient if Labour ever hopes to regain power.

Nothing wrong with that in itself. However, Sunny Hundal has also banned me from commenting on Pickled Politics, so I am unable to speak there and defend myself.

These are the sleazy tactics Sunny Hundal has to employ to get ahead: banning his critics and then abusing them when they cannot argue back.

Sunny Hundal - Moron In Chief

Update: Guido Fawkes has linked to this post on Dizzy Thinks today. Seems I’m not the only one who’s got Sunny Hundal’s number…

A coalition of teachers and education experts is calling on the BBC to abandon its flagging Asian Network and create a station geared specifically towards young children instead…

Susan Stranks, the broadcaster and Sound Start Group campaigner, said: “The Asian Network has had an eight year trial costing in excess of £56 million.

“This two year assessment will cost £3.6 million, saving money and supporting families with young children in every sector of the community, including those learning English as a foreign language.”

A poll by Ipsos MORI found that 23 per cent of people believe a children’s radio station should be the BBC’s highest priority. By comparison, 19 per cent favoured 5 Live Extra, 17 per cent R7, 16 per cent 6 Music, 9 per cent Radio 1Xtra, and 7 per cent the Asian Network.

Hat tip: BizAsia

Jon Cruddas: progressive English patriotism

Today Jon Cruddas came out in support of David Miliband.

The New Statesman has the exclusive on Cruddas‘ support for Miliband. Cruddas points to two speeches David Miliband made earlier this year that helped him to decide:

“I’m endorsing David,” Cruddas says now, “because of a couple of contributions he has made — one was the column on Englishness he wrote in [the N.S. 5 July issue]. Another was his Keir Hardie Memorial Lecture [on 9 July]. What was interesting to me about this was when he started talking about belonging and neighbourliness and community, more communitarian politics, which is where I think Labour has to go.

Key quote from Miliband’s column on Englishness:

[Tony Blair] failed to take sufficient account and respond fast enough to the real struggles that many communities faced in confronting the impacts of globalisation – migration, low wages and public services under strain.

As we said here back in May, one of the worst effects of migration and Multiculturalism has been a lack of willingness to tackle social problems within minority groups: forced marriage, female genital mutilation, cousin marriage and inbreeding, to name a few.

Even Sunny Hundal (who has been hiding in the shadows over the Dispatches: When Cousins Marry documentary) has had to admit that the Cruddas Miliband ticket implies a shift towards a more ‘progressive English patriotism’.

All of this can only be good news for free marriage campaigners, and so for what it is worth MixTogether & Friends would like to back David Miliband too.

Dispatches: When Cousins Marry

When Cousins Marry succeeded in presenting the danger of first cousin marriage as the public health issue that it truly is (Great Ormond Street Hospital released a statement on the dangers of cousin marriage yesterday to coincide with the programme).

The attempts by some people to politicise the debate over cousin marriage- or to paint it as ‘Islamophobic’- were deftly brushed aside by the wealth of scientific evidence on offer. With far more convincing evidence than for e.g. climate change, and heart-breaking footage of children born with crippling genetic diseases, Dispatches has moved the debate into the 21st century.

It should present no problem now for the Coalition to roll out a simple public health campaign on the dangers of cousin marriage. It will certainly save the NHS a lot of time and money.

Dispatches: When Cousins Marry also offered a subtle but damning indictment of the Labour party’s record on this kind of common-sense issue. Witness Labour’s freezing out of then Minister Phil Woolas for having the temerity to raise exactly the same point about cousin marriage in 2008.

Ex-Labour MP Ann Cryer was forced to be a lone voice on this issue by her own party, and Dispatches showed why. Contacting the MPs with the highest populations of Pakistani constituents- most of whom are Labour MPs- the producers were met with a wall of silence.

20th Century Marxist race campaigners still wield influence in significant sections of Labour’s core, and they would far rather sacrifice a few young Asian lives than antagonise the ethnic blocs who grant them their power.

No such problems for the Coalition, who are refreshingly free of race-nuts.

It is no coincidence that Dispatches: When Cousins Marry has appeared in the early days of this Lib/Con administration. There is a backlog of common-sense issues to work through, issues which Labour was ideologically unable to deal with.

Ordinary people can grasp these issues instantly. They see the problems, and the common-sense solutions. Until the Labour party can diplay the same kind of common sense, it will remain in opposition.

Despite the inclusion of a token white couple (who are not even first cousins) the show is primarily about sections of the Asian Muslim community who habitually engage in cousin marriage, and the illnesses this causes among their children.

Dispatches reveals the tragic consequences of first cousin marriage in Britain. Every year such marriages cause hundreds of children to be born with terrible disabilities; one third of whom are so ill that they die before they are five years old.

The practice is most common in Britain’s Pakistani community, in which more than 50% of people marry their first cousin, and in Bradford 75% of ethnic Pakistanis follow the tradition.

The documentary is also very definitely about the shady politics surrounding this issue.

Presenter Tazeen Ahmed remarks:

…we approached 16 MPs with a significant number of British Pakistani constituents for interview – every one of them declined. We also asked 30 MPs with high populations of British Pakistanis in their constituencies to give their views in a short survey. Only one, who wanted to remain anonymous, responded telling us that anyone who tried to talk about it risked being attacked politically. Former Labour MP Ann Cryer believes it is political correctness that is preventing politicians from raising the subject. ‘It’s fear that they’ll be accused of racism or demonization’, she says, adding that she too has been lambasted for discussing it in the past.

From MixTogether’s point of view, the programme also touches on the all-important freedom to choose a marriage partner:

However, some young people told us that they sometimes face extreme pressure from their families to marry their first cousins. I met ‘Zara’ who was born and raised in the UK. When she was 16, she was pressurised into marrying her cousin from Pakistan. She says ‘I was emotionally blackmailed, my husband’s family went on a hunger strike, they said we are going to commit suicide and that it was matter of their honour because I had been engaged to my cousin for a long time.’

All of these aspects to the programme place it squarely within the remit of Sunny Hundal, who has built a career as a journalist out of commenting on political issues that impact on the Asian community. He is currently trying to re-shape the Left and promote ‘grass roots participation’ in politics, and he has recently joined the Labour party.  Yet in recent times Hundal has made virtually no comment on forced marriage and related issues. This is sometimes left to his deputy Rumbold on Pickled Politics, but seems to never get Hundal’s personal seal of approval. He reserves comment on Muslim issues to areas where he can attack his political opponents.

Yet here is a TV programme with very obvious potential benefits to the Muslim community and to a lot of young Asians. It also highlights an area where freedom of speech is being restricted amongst our political representatives in Parliament. There is no doubt that Dispatches: When Cousins Marry will add credibility to the case being made by forced marriage campaigners.

The question is whether Hundal will put his personal credibility on the line and call for a response on this issue from his readers.

This blog will definitely be watching…

Update: Predictably no response whatsoever from Sunny Hundal. He has left it to Rumbold on Pickled Politics to do his usual performance, flagging big issues so that Hundal can wash his hands of them.

If the English Defence League or BNP were responsible for the same rate of hospitalisations of British Pakistani children as genetic disease, do you think Sunny Hundal would stay silent?

Hundal used the Asian card to get where he is, but now he won’t lift a finger to campaign personally on issues that affect real Asian kids.

Service will resume next Monday 23rd August.

Best wishes to all readers.